Tourism

Tourism has always been a lucrative business from time immemorial, for human has been known for ages to indulge in diverse means of leisure and fun. This humans need to amuse has remained unchanged over the years. However, what has fluctuated over time has been humans medium of amusement. In the fifteenth century, even during the Elizabethan days, humans means of amusement was basically through gladiators fights. Today, human has developed diverse means of amusement which can be generally categorized as Tourism. Tourism includes sightseeing, holidaying and other sorts of entertainment.
Of more interest in tourism is hotel business, of which I am particularly interested in and indeed looking forward to having a private hotel of mine in the nearest future. All across the globe, organizations, individuals and even governments are investing into hotel business, which is enough reason to believe that the business can not be over explored. However, since there are many already involved in the business, the competition has become very keen, thus for any particular hotel to enjoy high patronage, it must be ready to have not only exquisite environment and services, but also peculiar services to attract clienteles across the globe.
To begin with, I would not want to subscribe to any franchise. I would rather prefer to jump start on my own, simply because I believe the market is large enough for everybody to capture hisher customers. Besides, franchise would only mean that all the services of my hotel must conform to a standardized pattern of another hotel, which I subscribed to its franchise. I would not only want a unique identity for my hotel, but also want total autonomy. Again, franchise would not only mean that some services are imposed on my hotel, it would also mean that I would not be allowed to input any radical innovational, as it pleases me into the hotel. Finally, I would not want to share any profit with established companies which I subscribe franchise from.
In discussing hotel business, one must talk about average-daily-rate (ADR), I intend to follow the historical rule that states that a hotel ought to endeavour to generate 1 in ADR per 1,000 in value per room (and now also states that a hotel should generate 1,000 in value per room per 1 in ADR) ONeill (2003). This rule has been observed in hotel business for several decades and I am not ready to deviate from the rule. However, it must be noted that ADR fluctuates along with the economy, but if the rule is vehemently observed, one would always survive the occasional rise and fall.
Yet again, it important to choose a location of good interest, for in tourism, location is quite important to the business. A location with unique features naturally draws the attention of tourists, which invariably means good interest to the business. I would therefore ensure that the location of the hotel will be a place of great interest to all and sundry, preferably a serene and natural environment, with either a sea or even an ocean nearby. Water is usually attractive to many, for it can be used for diverse recreation such as swimming, surfing, diving and other beach activities. Today, several companies in the tourism business are developing the culture of building hotels at such locations. Besides, ocean view from the distance of one rooms window could be such a wonderful sight to behold at any time of the day. Hence, I would rather choose such natural location for my hotel. To be more precise, I would rather choose a country like Nigeria as an ideal location for my hotel, for Nigeria is known to have extremely vast land, filled with diverse natural resources and a population of over 150 million citizens. This is indeed a very vast market to explore, the population promises a large market base while the natural resources are very alluring and quite marketable.
Once more, I am fully aware that hotels must have good architectural structures in order to attract customers. Thus, I would be particularly generous in investing, extensively in the aesthetics of my hotel.  Firstly, I would ensure that the edifice is attractive, unique and exudes glamour. The design and construction will be handled by top architects and civil engineers across the globe, of which Julius Berger peradventure would top the list. I would prefer a simple but yet distinctive design of a single colossal building, surrounded by several little chalets, which would spread across a vast site of several hecres, all of which should not be more than100 rooms altogether. The chalets will embrace the huge building, like clothe, but for the front, leaving tangible distance for privacy. The huge building will house rooms for accommodation, the bar, the reception, the caterer department and lot more. The building would also posses a large basement, like an underground room, to be used for discotheque and dance floor for night activities. It should have at least a minimum of ten floors, with the shape of a quarter of a moon, which should be, C shaped. There would be at least three elevators, one at each edge of the curve, with one especially reserved for Very Important Personalities (VIP). My VIP suites would be at the topmost floor. These rooms would be single presidential suites, reserved for special guests that require single accommodation. The VIP double suits would be among the small chalets, for couples that request for absolute privacy. The chalets would also be made available to holiday seekers across the globe that come around, for the hotel will double as a resort centre too.  The presidential suites would be named after renowned world leaders, choosing randomly trendy names of leaders all around the world, from African to American Presidents, both living and dead, such as Mandela, Anan, Roosevelt, Benjamin Franklin, Clinton, Algore, Castro and others names that suit my purpose.
The hotel management would be placed in the hands of a board of directors, which would be constituted of many professionals in the hospitality business. I would also have consultants that would come occasionally to consult for me in order to ensure that the hotel runs adequately well. I would not want the hotel to be owned by the public by selling shares to the general public, rather it will be a limited liability company (Ltd) financed by few investors, that are particularly familiar to me.
Several departments would be functional to ensure the smooth running of the hotel. The hotel would have different departments, supporting the hotel like pillars to a building. The services of the hotel would be managed by these departments and these departments will include
Catering Department this department would be in charge of feeding of all guests, within their rooms, at the bar and at the multipurpose hall. The department would handle all sorts of foods, be it deserts, main courses, or snacks. The hotel would also take up outside catering contracts too, which this department will readily handle. Account department this would be in charge of all accounts of all departments in the hotel. It would control, audit and reconcile all accounts of all departments, using standard accounting principles. All monetary issues would be handled and all payment made at this department. This department would disburse money to any department that needs cash and all departments would be responsible to remit all cash to this department. 
 Customers care and service department this department would see to the satisfaction of all clients, it would also be in charge of customers reception. All sorts of booking would be handled by this department, room booking, hall booking and catering booking. All customers complaints would also be directed to this department. The department would also see to it that all departments discharge their respective duties effectively and efficiently.
 Laundry and cleaning department this would be in charge of washing all materials used in the hotel. It would also be in charge of cleaning of all rooms and the entire environment. Customers willing to dry clean their clothes would be attended to by this department. 
Marketing and management department, this would see to all the marketing of all products and services of the hotel. It will double as the management department, monitoring personnel and maintenance of the hotel.
Security department this department would be solely in charge of the security of lives and properties in the hotel.
Also, my hotel would have sundry facilities that would distinguish its brand. The facilities to be provided are namely
Swimming Pool Apart from the ocean within reach of the hotel, the hotel would have its own swimming pool where picnickers, customers and guests could swim around the clock. Non-swimmers and even kids would be allowed to splash and waddle in the shallow and the deep using floaters and life jackets that would be made available to them.
Multi purpose hall The hotel will be incomplete without this facility. A large hall will be attached to the hotel which could be used for diverse things like conference, companies Annual general meetings, parties, Church and other religious gathering. The hall would possess seats capable of seating at least 500 people at once without crowding themselves.
Supermarket At the basement of my hotel, there would be a large supermarket, which will indeed be a departmental store where verities of goods will be displayed. Things like groceries, pizzas and other needs at home will be sold there.
Lawn Tennis and Basketball Court Holiday seekers would really wish to indulge themselves in many types of fun, sport must not to be left out then, if an hotel is to really keep its customers entertained. This blatant awareness will hence make me provide a lawn tennis and a basketball courts for my diverse guests. I would have even favoured a full fledged golf course, but for the vast land requirement of gulf.
Games centre Billiards, snooker and table tennis The hotel would also possess a game room with all the mentioned games made available. There are many people that would only prefer soft games like these and would not really want to involve in hard outdoors games, like surfing and basketball. Once again, my hotel will be ready to keep them amused with these facilities. 
Gymnasium This is yet a part of tourism. Although many view working out in the gym as solely exercise, it indeed appealing to know that while in a hotel, eating all sorts of food, one could easily work out excessive fat and keep fit. I would hence have one in my hotel not only to attract customers but to ensure that my customers are physically fit and indeed live longer to patronize my hotel.
Cyber caf That the world is now a global village is no longer news, what has facilitated this development is the computer and the internet. It is therefore paramount to have internet facilities within the hotel if guest are to indeed feel at home. There will be a cybercaf located within and as additional room service, there will be internet connected laptops made available for VIPs that do not wish to interact with others at the cyber caf. The laptop will be delivered to customers in the room and charges shall the added to their hotel bill, using per hour billing.
Casino Many rich people are in the habit or gambling with their money, in actual fact, some people are addicted to gambling. Others that are not addicted only find it amusing, while yet see it as an avenue to make more money. Since keeping my guest amused is directly proportional to making profit, thus it becomes a necessity for me to add casino facility to my hotel if I must excel in the business.
Kiddies Playground along with ice cream bar and candy shop Like I have said earlier, that the hotel would serve a dual purpose of both hotel and resort centre, where the whole family can come and spend their holidays. Husbands would bring their wives and children, thus children must be adequately provided for. While parents are either sun tanning at the pool side or busy with whatsoever they find amusing, I would ensure that kid could be at their own playground, by providing assorted swings and other gadgets uniquely for kids. The hotel will also have a candy shop, ice cream bar and other snacks like popcorn for kids.
Surfing and other beach activities The hotel will provide all sort of surfing facilities for the guest. Since there would be an ocean nearby, interested guest could easily move over to the ocean side for surfing and other beach activities, like beach volleyball and other activities. Other amenities in the hotel will include Cinema hall, An Under ground Discothque with live band, Mini-Library and lots more.
In addition to all these facilities, my hotel will render sundry services in a world class standard. These services will include new and unique services that will be peculiar to my hotel. These services would include as follows.
24 hours Accommodation services Guests can walk in at any time of the day to seek accommodation in my hotel, in as much as there are still available rooms, they will be provided with their demand promptly. Again, exquisite room services would be rendered all round the clock.
Continental dishes Assorted food would be served be the catering department at a moments notice. All sort of food eaten across the globe will be available in my hotel namely, Chinese food, African dishes and other European and American dishes.  Resort Centre and holiday inn My hotel will be made available for fun seekers and holiday guests who either want to come as couple, single or family to spend their holiday in quite unique style.
The Security is yet another aspect that must not be taken for granted in the tourism business. However amusing any hotel is, guests will keep away from it once they are in doubt of the security of their life and properties. Hence, my hotel will nevertheless be found wanting in this aspect. I would install CTV cameras, track all cars that comes in and goes out. I will equally have sharp and sensitive dogs on ground to detect any false moves by criminals. Security man will be hanging around several nooks and crannies to ensure safety of all and sundry. There will be inbuilt safe in every room, with special lock codes for guests to keep their valuables.
 Again, there will DebitCredit Machines, ATM and other monetary machines to ensure that customers do not always go around with huge sum of cash. In most cases, perhaps without exception, people do not feel comfortable carrying huge cash around, thus to make my guest really safe, I will provide them with the above machines to ensure their safety
.In as much as I have all these facilities put in place, I am positive that I will be able to compete favourably with other hotels. My strength would lie in my vast amenities and world class services. I would ensure that all my employees are exceptionally welcoming and pleasant to all guests. My environment will be kept sparkling clean at all times and nothing will be taken for granted. However my weakness will lie in financing all the needed facilities. The first few years will be quite tasking, for the hotel might take a while to break even and before finally making profit. Paying employees salary would perhaps take away all the income at this stage. This could pose at a great challenge if other money is not allocated into the business.
My target market will be the rich politicians, who are so numerous in this present democratic dispensation, the business tycoons, political appointees and the expatriates residing in Nigeria. I intend to attract these people with my high quality hotel profile and through aggressive marketing strategies like seeking referrals and finally through the use of my political influence. The opportunities lurking in Nigeria presently is too vast. Since the advent of democracy, politicians and their allies have enriched themselves and are heavy spenders in all spheres of life. They are renowned to accrue up fat hotel bills which they readily pay up. Once connected into their circle, one is sure to enjoy their patronage.
Lastly, making profit is simple once I re-invest my income, adhere to the ADR thumb rule, concentrate on marketing and does not cease to satisfy my customers with my world class services.