ITV West are currently showing a programme called Risky Business that follows Cosmo Fry and Lulu Anderson through the creation of The Big Sleep Hotel in Cheltenham . Their plan is simple take one old, rather ugly tax office and turn it into a chic designer hotel - with reasonable prices.
So far in the series they have missed opening night after opening night due in the main to bad (or perhaps a complete lack of) project planning. Watching the program you’d be forgiven for thinking they were new to property development and had never had any experience of running a business, let alone a hotel before - prime examples of clued up entrepreneurs they are not. Yet amazingly they’ve actually done all this before with The Big Sleep Hotel in Cardiff! As I watch I can’t help wonder why on earth anyone would invest £5 Million pounds into any business run by these two, let alone a hotel business, notorious as it is for low margins and high startup costs.
That being said, there is something very likeable about the pair of them, Fry in particular is charming in a quirky old money British way. You also have to admire (even if Formica is not to your taste) their vision and their commitment to their vision. Though if I was one of their investors I’d insist on hiring a project manager for the next hotel.
If you’d like to read more about them and their experience starting The Big Sleep Hotels then visit CaterSearch .
This blog is about business opportunities and ideas that I spot, think of or hear about and think are useful and interesting. It is intended to provide ideas and inspriation for you to help you find the right business idea for you to then grow it into a successful business.
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