This has to be the most important issue to be addressed, long before you start sending for particulars from agents and scouring newspapers and Daltons Weekly. In fact there are many questions to ask before you get to that stage so that you don’t waste everyone’s time and money, including your own.

Start by asking yourself why you want to be a hotelier. Be very clear on this point – none of the above reasons is good enough on its own. Being a hotelier is extremely hard work. And even if you apply yourself 100 per cent, the volume of trade necessary to ensure your business survival may, until you get established, depend to a large extent on such imponderables as the weather and the economic climate. You may need to offer something different – more of that later. For now, there are many other factors that need to be taken into account.

Personal Matters

Relationships

In most cases, there will be two or more of you thinking of embarking on the new venture together and you will hopefully already have fully discussed the subject with your partner and/or family.

Your Partner

It is now that you ought to examine how well you get on with your partner (ie the person you live with). In running a small establishment you are under each other’s feet most of the day, day in, day out. Although you will each have your various jobs to do, there is a lot of overlap and if one of you is snowed under then helping the other out is the name of the game. How well do you get on now when you are both at home and are doing the decorating together or other jobs around the house?

Many relationships thrive on one or both partners being out at work during the day. If yours is one of those, being together all the time might be like lighting the blue touch-paper – except that, once committed, it’s not very easy to retire without getting burnt. A lot of couples, including those recently retired, find they need time apart to avoid friction. But whatever you do, don’t compare hotel-keeping with retirement – it’s anything but!

Once in the hotel business, it is normal to get to know others in the same line. It’s surprising how many have to leave their new occupation prematurely to save their marriages. No apologies are offered for labouring this point since it is of the utmost importance.

Your Children

If you have children, how would they view a move away from their friends? And is moving schools right for them at their particular stage of education? Kids are surprisingly resilient, but for family harmony you wouldn’t want them to hate every moment in their new environment with ‘nothing to do’ because, for instance, there is no sports centre nearby.

How easily will they be able to find employment in the area you move to? Even if your children have grown up and live away from home, does everyone realise that the times they can visit you, or you them, are very restricted?

Relatives And Friends

Maybe you have an elderly relative you visit regularly or keep an eye on. Are you going to be happy moving away? Once you’ve moved, it is far from easy to leave a hotel full of guests if that relative should become very ill.

Finally, how important is it for you to have friends of long standing nearby, to have bridge or dinner parties on a regular basis, or just to be able to drop round for a chat or a cup of tea? The same guidelines apply to friends visiting as apply to your family. But watch out if you are heading for the coast. You may have heard the phrase, ‘once you’ve moved anywhere near the sea, you find you’ve got more friends than you knew you had!’ It’s very true.