What should a new hotel owner do in the first months?
Keep the general manager and department heads, honour group and corporate bookings already on the books, learn the reservation and channel systems, prepare for any brand visit, read guest reviews, and defer renovations until you have seen a full first season.
A staffed hotel keeps running after the keys change hands. Guests check in, rooms are cleaned, events happen and bookings arrive through many channels. A new owner who changes too much too early risks the very things that made the property attractive. The more useful approach is to watch, learn from the people who run it and make changes once you have seen how a full season behaves.
Keep the people who run the hotel
The general manager and department heads hold the knowledge that is not in any file: which guests need special care, which suppliers deliver late and which repairs keep coming back. Meet each of them individually in the first days and ask what they would protect and what they would change. Consider how you will keep them, and talk to your lawyer about any employment terms. Our page on running a first staff meeting may help.
Honour the bookings on the books
Group, wedding and corporate bookings were made with the previous owner’s promises. Get a full list of what has been agreed, including rates, rooms held, food and event details and deposits received. Contact each organizer early, introduce yourself and confirm that nothing about their arrangement is changing. A planner who hears nothing may assume the worst.
Learn the systems and the brand’s expectations
Make sure you can sign in to the reservation system, the channel manager, the online travel listings and the payment processing, and that each account is in the right name. If the hotel carries a brand, ask what the brand does when ownership changes. Ask whether it schedules an inspection or review, and prepare for it. The hotel’s franchise agreement is for your lawyer to explain.
Read the reviews, then wait to renovate
Guest reviews show you what the previous owner could not see. Read them across all sites and sort the complaints into repeated themes. Fix the quick ones first. Hold off on large renovations until you have seen how the quiet and busy periods behave and which rooms guests praise or avoid. Plan work by what guests notice, not by what you would like to see.
Related reading
15 pages on the same subject, grouped by topic.
Buying
- Expert answerWhat should I avoid changing in my first 90 days as a new owner?
- Expert answerHow do I take over a business after closing?
- Expert answerWhat should I do in the first week after buying a business?
- GuideTaking over a business after closing
- Expert answerHow do I run the first staff meeting after buying a business?
- Expert answerShould I keep the business name or rebrand after buying?
- Expert answerHow do I switch over card payments after buying a business?
- Expert answerWhat questions should I ask a seller first?
Due diligence
Selling
Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentAfter buying a business, what is the next step?
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 04Canada Revenue AgencyGovernmentBuying a business
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