Britain's Channel Five is currently seeking volunteer hoteliers at the Spanish Costas to take part in its popular observational documentary TV series The Hotel Inspector. Celebrity hotelier and businesswoman Alex Polizzi already did one documentary on a small B & B, La Casa Hotel, in Torrox near Nerja, in the last series. Her advice and the publicity from being aired on Channel Five transformed the fortunes of the two expat hoteliers who run La Casa Hotel. It seems their hotel is not only booked up until the end of this year, but its owners have been able to open a restaurant in Torrox main square as a result.
Not as easy as it looks
The Costa del Sol's most popular resorts are a favourite relocation destination for British expats hoping to run their own business. With property prices still low it is tempting to want to run a small hotel, backpacker hostel, B & B or guesthouse in places like Nerja, Marbella, Fuengirola or Estepona.
However, as Alex Polizzi and her production team of Twofour Broadcast have shown time and again, it takes a lot more to running a hotel business than just providing cosy rooms.
Most expats who dream of running a profitable B & B at the Costa del Sol have no hotel management experience whatsoever and therefore no idea, how hard the work can be. Their lack of knowhow with respect to marketing and promotion as well as customer service is often their downfall. So is a lack of cleanliness in some cases, as Alex Polizzi has shown when inspecting some British-based hotels.
For many the dream of spending lazy afternoons at Marbella's golden beaches while casually running a B & B, hotel or guesthouse soon turns sour. The next series will undoubtedly see more desperate wannabe-hoteliers struggle to come to terms with the error of their ways - for what the programme has mostly highlighted since it first aired in 2005, then with Ruth Watson as the presenter, is that owners themselves are typically the greatest stumbling block on the way to success.
Instant Hit Show
Broadcast on British terrestrial television stations Channel Five, and taken up by other networks around the globe, the programme was an instant ratings hit and spawned a few similar shows, such as Chefs on Trial and The Fixer (a BBC Two show) . The advice given by Ruth Watson in the initial run of the series and later by Alex Polizzi, a lady with more hotel experience than most, given her Trusthouse Forte family connections, has not always been well received by hotel proprietors.
At times exasperated by proprietors, who won't face facts even though the bailiffs are only one step away from seizing their assets, Alex Polizzi's no-nonsense business advice has nonetheless steered many a sinking ship back into safer financial waters.
Is the Time right to open a Hotel Business at the Costa del Sol?
Property values in most parts of the Costa del Sol are still comparatively low, although Marbella is leading the recovery of the residential and commercial real estate market because high-end properties have always been scarce in this part of the Costa del Sol.
The record numbers of tourists welcomed by Spain this year are a clear indication that the Spanish economy is finally recovering. Spain welcomed more than 47.2 million foreign visitors alone in the first eight months of this year, a growth rate of 4.1% over the same eight-month period in 2014, according to figures on tourist border movements released by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism.
In August alone, 9.2 million foreign holidaymakers visited Spain, an equivalent of 296,774 visitors per day. Most of them head to the Costas. Britain is the chief "supplier" of this surge of tourists, providing 2,145,949 visitors this year. In fact, British tourists accounted for 23% of the total international arrivals at Spanish airports - and where better to book overnight accommodation than in British-run, English-speaking guesthouses, hotels or B & Bs?
The business potential is clearly there, but without practical skills and knowhow, best intentions can soon turn to dust - a hitherto mortgage-free Costa del Sol property can soon be mortgaged up to the hilt to pay for owners' every-day living expenses, as they see their dream turn into a financial nightmare.
Any expat with a privately-owned hotel, guesthouse or B & B that could benefit from Ms Polizzi's down-to-earth business approach and practical advice should contact alexandra.hanks@twofour.co.uk or call +44(0)1752 727 654 for more details on how to apply to participate in the next Hotel Inspector series.