Post: #1

Hello! I am new to this website and have been reading some really interesting threads, however I must ask, has anybody considered being a hotelier? By hotelier I mean owning hotels all over the world (boutique or chain.) I am currently in high school and plan on going to college next year, except not in the traditional manner, I hope to go to Les Roches Marbella in Spain to study hospitality. I feel as though this career path would be tremendously rewarding and cater to the lifestyle of a international playboy. Reason being that if you work for a company like the 4 seasons right out of school you can make 6 figures a year. PLUS the ability to travel all over the world to wherever you want, ideally you could save up enough money to start your own botique hotel and open many around the world. Has this crossed the mind of anybody else? Plausible or not?

P.S. Has anyone been to Marbella? I feel like it'd be an amazing place to potentially make amazing connections!

Post: #2

Hotels would be awesome to.work with! Hospitality can be frustrating, but you get to interface with travelers and do some traveling of your own. I think this is a great long term dream that you have. But also, remember that hospitality is a business and you can benefit from business classes as well.

It will take much time and/or much effort to own multiple hotels, but nothing is impossible. It might help to learn some extra languages because many starting positions in the industry lean toward multilingual applicants.

Post: #3

I would guess that most international hotel chain *owners* got that way with preestablished fortunes.

Starting from scratch you probably don't want to get too big and attract too many middle class tourists.

I could see you setting up a solo hotel in an ultra rich place like marbella and using that to peddle some luxury vacation sites in like Bora Bora, Cayman, etc.

Or settin up a solo hotel and researching where the clients do business, and pursuing small hotels in those places. A discrete exclusive business hotel.

Realize that you will probably be far away from the market of young university talent who tend to go for hostels. Young chicks are looking for logistics and the whimsical experience, usually not the luxury until they find a sugar daddy.

I bet you could fucking OWN the scene in marbella if you get a hotel rolling for the luxury but then start a more modest hostel on the same site. Like so me kind of "university exchange" hostel. Rich older fly guys getting to go to the same lobby, lounge, bar, and restaurant as young travelling co-eds? Girls would flock and rich dudes would flock.

Post: #4

a good place would be to learn how ian schrager and andre balazs got their starts. they either came from money or partnered with the mafia.

Post: #5

I've thought about building and owning a hotel and I think there is huge potential. If you are going to build, the key is to not build in the United States or any other area with high construction cost. In the United States and similar markets, construction cost run about $125 to $150 per square foot. So to build even a little tiny 50 room hotel it will cost you millions. Internationally it can be 60% to 70% less depending on the area.

If you want one in the United States, I guess a better option to building would be to buy a hotel below replacement cost and that way you can get in cheaper. The potential downside of that is the hotel's past (bad) reputation and would likely needs lots of upgrades. But still, I think owning a hotel in the United States doesn't sound as fun as running one in South America, Eastern Europe, or South East Asia.

Post: #6

(09-01-2012 12:19 PM)Grit Wrote:  I would guess that most international hotel chain *owners* got that way with preestablished fortunes.

Starting from scratch you probably don't want to get too big and attract too many middle class tourists.

I could see you setting up a solo hotel in an ultra rich place like marbella and using that to peddle some luxury vacation sites in like Bora Bora, Cayman, etc.

Or settin up a solo hotel and researching where the clients do business, and pursuing small hotels in those places. A discrete exclusive business hotel.

Realize that you will probably be far away from the market of young university talent who tend to go for hostels. Young chicks are looking for logistics and the whimsical experience, usually not the luxury until they find a sugar daddy.

I bet you could fucking OWN the scene in marbella if you get a hotel rolling for the luxury but then start a more modest hostel on the same site. Like so me kind of "university exchange" hostel. Rich older fly guys getting to go to the same lobby, lounge, bar, and restaurant as young travelling co-eds? Girls would flock and rich dudes would flock.

Could you explain your last two paragraphs a little more? Thanks!

Post: #7

(09-01-2012 01:31 AM)polymath Wrote:  Hotels would be awesome to.work with! Hospitality can be frustrating, but you get to interface with travelers and do some traveling of your own. I think this is a great long term dream that you have. But also, remember that hospitality is a business and you can benefit from business classes as well.

It will take much time and/or much effort to own multiple hotels, but nothing is impossible. It might help to learn some extra languages because many starting positions in the industry lean toward multilingual applicants.

Thanks for your response! I am truly a people person (unfortunately not on a level of getting them into my bed, hence why I am on this website!) so the dealing with people aspect would not be a problem to me at all! Also I have definitely considered getting a MBA or something of the sorts after Hospitality school to add some more credibility and respect to my name, probably somewhere like NYU or some other metropolitan school.

Post: #8

(09-01-2012 12:53 AM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  Hello! I am new to this website and have been reading some really interesting threads, however I must ask, has anybody considered being a hotelier? By hotelier I mean owning hotels all over the world (boutique or chain.) I am currently in high school and plan on going to college next year, except not in the traditional manner, I hope to go to Les Roches Marbella in Spain to study hospitality. I feel as though this career path would be tremendously rewarding and cater to the lifestyle of a international playboy. Reason being that if you work for a company like the 4 seasons right out of school you can make 6 figures a year. PLUS the ability to travel all over the world to wherever you want, ideally you could save up enough money to start your own botique hotel and open many around the world. Has this crossed the mind of anybody else? Plausible or not?

P.S. Has anyone been to Marbella? I feel like it'd be an amazing place to potentially make amazing connections!

I currently work in a small boutique hotel. The person you describe is my boss to a T. It's not as glamorous as you might think though, the amount you have to know is mind-boggling, even with hotel school. It is not a low-stress situation, but it does pay well and lend well to the international playboy lifestyle. When you do land a job you will be expected to commit for at least a year or two, but with enough experience and competence, yes, you will have hotels all over the world willing to pay you to move to their hotel and run it. I've known hotel managers who get posted up in Thailand, France, Hungary, all within several years. It's certainly an interesting lifestyle, but again, depending on which hotel you work for, can be incredibly stressful. You will have owners breathing down your neck 24/7 to ensure profitability. If you're good at what you do and can run a tight ship then the rewards are profound.

Post: #9

(09-02-2012 02:02 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(09-01-2012 12:53 AM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  Hello! I am new to this website and have been reading some really interesting threads, however I must ask, has anybody considered being a hotelier? By hotelier I mean owning hotels all over the world (boutique or chain.) I am currently in high school and plan on going to college next year, except not in the traditional manner, I hope to go to Les Roches Marbella in Spain to study hospitality. I feel as though this career path would be tremendously rewarding and cater to the lifestyle of a international playboy. Reason being that if you work for a company like the 4 seasons right out of school you can make 6 figures a year. PLUS the ability to travel all over the world to wherever you want, ideally you could save up enough money to start your own botique hotel and open many around the world. Has this crossed the mind of anybody else? Plausible or not?

P.S. Has anyone been to Marbella? I feel like it'd be an amazing place to potentially make amazing connections!

I currently work in a small boutique hotel. The person you describe is my boss to a T. It's not as glamorous as you might think though, the amount you have to know is mind-boggling, even with hotel school. It is not a low-stress situation, but it does pay well and lend well to the international playboy lifestyle. When you do land a job you will be expected to commit for at least a year or two, but with enough experience and competence, yes, you will have hotels all over the world willing to pay you to move to their hotel and run it. I've known hotel managers who get posted up in Thailand, France, Hungary, all within several years. It's certainly an interesting lifestyle, but again, depending on which hotel you work for, can be incredibly stressful. You will have owners breathing down your neck 24/7 to ensure profitability. If you're good at what you do and can run a tight ship then the rewards are profound.

Thanks for the response! May I ask which where you work? And would you think it would be safe to say that the phrase "Work Hard, Play Hard" and being a hotel owner synonymous?

Post: #10

(09-02-2012 05:02 PM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  

(09-02-2012 02:02 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(09-01-2012 12:53 AM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  Hello! I am new to this website and have been reading some really interesting threads, however I must ask, has anybody considered being a hotelier? By hotelier I mean owning hotels all over the world (boutique or chain.) I am currently in high school and plan on going to college next year, except not in the traditional manner, I hope to go to Les Roches Marbella in Spain to study hospitality. I feel as though this career path would be tremendously rewarding and cater to the lifestyle of a international playboy. Reason being that if you work for a company like the 4 seasons right out of school you can make 6 figures a year. PLUS the ability to travel all over the world to wherever you want, ideally you could save up enough money to start your own botique hotel and open many around the world. Has this crossed the mind of anybody else? Plausible or not?

P.S. Has anyone been to Marbella? I feel like it'd be an amazing place to potentially make amazing connections!

I currently work in a small boutique hotel. The person you describe is my boss to a T. It's not as glamorous as you might think though, the amount you have to know is mind-boggling, even with hotel school. It is not a low-stress situation, but it does pay well and lend well to the international playboy lifestyle. When you do land a job you will be expected to commit for at least a year or two, but with enough experience and competence, yes, you will have hotels all over the world willing to pay you to move to their hotel and run it. I've known hotel managers who get posted up in Thailand, France, Hungary, all within several years. It's certainly an interesting lifestyle, but again, depending on which hotel you work for, can be incredibly stressful. You will have owners breathing down your neck 24/7 to ensure profitability. If you're good at what you do and can run a tight ship then the rewards are profound.

Thanks for the response! May I ask which where you work? And would you think it would be safe to say that the phrase "Work Hard, Play Hard" and being a hotel owner synonymous?

Can't give out that kind of personal info on a forum or in PMs to people I don't know, but it's a small boutique hotel, 80 rooms, in a nice neighborhood on the westside in Los Angeles.

Work Hard, Play Hard is the official motto of ANYONE in the hospitality industry.

If you want to get to the point of Hotel General Manager, you have to spend years learning the ropes as a bellboy, front desk agent, rooms management, restaurant management, learn a decent amount about engineering&maintenance, PR, sales, private events, profits/finances, and on and on. Hotels are one of the most challenging and multifaceted venues in hospitality. That said, there are folks in upper management who lack the skills that I just mentioned, but they don't get very far. I'm talking about the cream of the crop; dudes that run Four Seasons and Starwood properties and such.

Post: #11

(09-02-2012 05:29 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(09-02-2012 05:02 PM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  

(09-02-2012 02:02 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(09-01-2012 12:53 AM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  Hello! I am new to this website and have been reading some really interesting threads, however I must ask, has anybody considered being a hotelier? By hotelier I mean owning hotels all over the world (boutique or chain.) I am currently in high school and plan on going to college next year, except not in the traditional manner, I hope to go to Les Roches Marbella in Spain to study hospitality. I feel as though this career path would be tremendously rewarding and cater to the lifestyle of a international playboy. Reason being that if you work for a company like the 4 seasons right out of school you can make 6 figures a year. PLUS the ability to travel all over the world to wherever you want, ideally you could save up enough money to start your own botique hotel and open many around the world. Has this crossed the mind of anybody else? Plausible or not?

P.S. Has anyone been to Marbella? I feel like it'd be an amazing place to potentially make amazing connections!

I currently work in a small boutique hotel. The person you describe is my boss to a T. It's not as glamorous as you might think though, the amount you have to know is mind-boggling, even with hotel school. It is not a low-stress situation, but it does pay well and lend well to the international playboy lifestyle. When you do land a job you will be expected to commit for at least a year or two, but with enough experience and competence, yes, you will have hotels all over the world willing to pay you to move to their hotel and run it. I've known hotel managers who get posted up in Thailand, France, Hungary, all within several years. It's certainly an interesting lifestyle, but again, depending on which hotel you work for, can be incredibly stressful. You will have owners breathing down your neck 24/7 to ensure profitability. If you're good at what you do and can run a tight ship then the rewards are profound.

Thanks for the response! May I ask which where you work? And would you think it would be safe to say that the phrase "Work Hard, Play Hard" and being a hotel owner synonymous?

Can't give out that kind of personal info on a forum or in PMs to people I don't know, but it's a small boutique hotel, 80 rooms, in a nice neighborhood on the westside in Los Angeles.

Work Hard, Play Hard is the official motto of ANYONE in the hospitality industry.

If you want to get to the point of Hotel General Manager, you have to spend years learning the ropes as a bellboy, front desk agent, rooms management, restaurant management, learn a decent amount about engineering&maintenance, PR, sales, private events, profits/finances, and on and on. Hotels are one of the most challenging and multifaceted venues in hospitality. That said, there are folks in upper management who lack the skills that I just mentioned, but they don't get very far. I'm talking about the cream of the crop; dudes that run Four Seasons and Starwood properties and such.

Ah, understandable! That is awesome, that's probably my favorite motto! I think the school I am looking at will prepare very well for a GM career or some other high end job. But, I think I should get maybe a MBA if I wanted to own in a higher end hotel like Starwood or 4 Seasons. Would you agree?

Post: #12

(09-02-2012 05:37 PM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  

(09-02-2012 05:29 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(09-02-2012 05:02 PM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  

(09-02-2012 02:02 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(09-01-2012 12:53 AM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  Hello! I am new to this website and have been reading some really interesting threads, however I must ask, has anybody considered being a hotelier? By hotelier I mean owning hotels all over the world (boutique or chain.) I am currently in high school and plan on going to college next year, except not in the traditional manner, I hope to go to Les Roches Marbella in Spain to study hospitality. I feel as though this career path would be tremendously rewarding and cater to the lifestyle of a international playboy. Reason being that if you work for a company like the 4 seasons right out of school you can make 6 figures a year. PLUS the ability to travel all over the world to wherever you want, ideally you could save up enough money to start your own botique hotel and open many around the world. Has this crossed the mind of anybody else? Plausible or not?

P.S. Has anyone been to Marbella? I feel like it'd be an amazing place to potentially make amazing connections!

I currently work in a small boutique hotel. The person you describe is my boss to a T. It's not as glamorous as you might think though, the amount you have to know is mind-boggling, even with hotel school. It is not a low-stress situation, but it does pay well and lend well to the international playboy lifestyle. When you do land a job you will be expected to commit for at least a year or two, but with enough experience and competence, yes, you will have hotels all over the world willing to pay you to move to their hotel and run it. I've known hotel managers who get posted up in Thailand, France, Hungary, all within several years. It's certainly an interesting lifestyle, but again, depending on which hotel you work for, can be incredibly stressful. You will have owners breathing down your neck 24/7 to ensure profitability. If you're good at what you do and can run a tight ship then the rewards are profound.

Thanks for the response! May I ask which where you work? And would you think it would be safe to say that the phrase "Work Hard, Play Hard" and being a hotel owner synonymous?

Can't give out that kind of personal info on a forum or in PMs to people I don't know, but it's a small boutique hotel, 80 rooms, in a nice neighborhood on the westside in Los Angeles.

Work Hard, Play Hard is the official motto of ANYONE in the hospitality industry.

If you want to get to the point of Hotel General Manager, you have to spend years learning the ropes as a bellboy, front desk agent, rooms management, restaurant management, learn a decent amount about engineering&maintenance, PR, sales, private events, profits/finances, and on and on. Hotels are one of the most challenging and multifaceted venues in hospitality. That said, there are folks in upper management who lack the skills that I just mentioned, but they don't get very far. I'm talking about the cream of the crop; dudes that run Four Seasons and Starwood properties and such.

Ah, understandable! That is awesome, that's probably my favorite motto! I think the school I am looking at will prepare very well for a GM career or some other high end job. But, I think I should get maybe a MBA if I wanted to own in a higher end hotel like Starwood or 4 Seasons. Would you agree?

No. An MBA would do very little for you unless you were simply an investor. There are business administration types I've worked around and noone takes them seriously. They focus on numbers and have no real world experience. They do well with corporations like Subway and large scale operations like that. You don't need a 4 year business degree to tackle the business side of hotels and restaurants, you need real world experience and a few books will do the job. I know what percentages I need to hit as a chef to be profitable. Labor cost, food cost, what are comps should not exceed, what our liquor sales should be like, what portion of payroll should go to managers vs hourly employees, shit like that. The legal aspect is another side you need to know very well if you're going to be managing that many employees. You should know the key issues your company faces from the labor department in whatever state/country you're in and make sure your company is compliant to a T to avoid liability issues.

Post: #13

That makes sense... Thank you very much for your input and advise thedude3737 !

Post: #14

(09-01-2012 12:53 AM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  P.S. Has anyone been to Marbella? I feel like it'd be an amazing place to potentially make amazing connections!

I have been to Marbella, lived there for a few months in fact. Moreover, I was looking at doing the exact same thing, setting up a boutique hotel in or around Marbella.

However, I abandoned it after coming to the conclusion that it was not a viable financial proposition, at least at that time.

I wasn't looking at anything big. I was hoping to start a smaller, niche boutique hotel, 10 to 15 rooms. But, any property of that size in Marbella itself, that could be converted to a hotel, or was running as a hotel was in the 1.5 million Euros price range.

I don't have that kind of money, but with a combination of partners and some bank loans, I could have pulled it together.

I looked at average room rates, occupancy levels, expenses, bank repayments etc. and it just wasn't worth it. Remember that the season in Marbella only runs from April to October. From November to March it is practically a ghost town.

A better option may be to find an under served location that has the potential to become the next hot destination. If you are just starting out, it would be very expensive to open up in established locations like Marbella, LA etc.

Post: #15

Gentlemen,

any books/magazines you can suggest on building and operating a boutique hotel. i'm looking at doing a project in Africa and looking at it as a lifestyle business.

Post: #16

(09-01-2012 10:56 PM)tnoonan2013 Wrote:  

(09-01-2012 12:19 PM)Grit Wrote:  I would guess that most international hotel chain *owners* got that way with preestablished fortunes.

Starting from scratch you probably don't want to get too big and attract too many middle class tourists.

I could see you setting up a solo hotel in an ultra rich place like marbella and using that to peddle some luxury vacation sites in like Bora Bora, Cayman, etc.

Or settin up a solo hotel and researching where the clients do business, and pursuing small hotels in those places. A discrete exclusive business hotel.

Realize that you will probably be far away from the market of young university talent who tend to go for hostels. Young chicks are looking for logistics and the whimsical experience, usually not the luxury until they find a sugar daddy.

I bet you could fucking OWN the scene in marbella if you get a hotel rolling for the luxury but then start a more modest hostel on the same site. Like so me kind of "university exchange" hostel. Rich older fly guys getting to go to the same lobby, lounge, bar, and restaurant as young travelling co-eds? Girls would flock and rich dudes would flock.

Could you explain your last two paragraphs a little more? Thanks!

Sure. Open a luxury hotel, stick about 20 hostel rooms (2 bunkbeds= 4 beds per room) in the back that can be pressure washed clean (kidding, but barebones basic), and dont advertise them. Put them on a couchsurfing account for example.. The idea is to get some poor college chicks circulating around the place. Pool in view of the lobby? Pool in view of an attached restaurant?

You will pull local high rollers into the hotel to eat who wouldnt normally spend money. You will get word of mouth business from locals who notice that you have a constant flow of cute and bubbly travellers.

Post: #17

I read once that a fellow racked up like 8k notches as a hotelier. He was like the Wilt Chamberlain of Paris or something.
But yeah, one of the few guys to have more notches than Charlie Sheen.

Post: #18

(09-13-2012 06:07 AM)Hades Wrote:  I read once that a fellow racked up like 8k notches as a hotelier. He was like the Wilt Chamberlain of Paris or something.
But yeah, one of the few guys to have more notches than Charlie Sheen.

He wasn't a hotelier, just some guy who worked at one. A doorman or concierge or something.