Lodging Franchise Opportunity

Hi, my name is Barry Jark. I am Vice President of The Business Market, which is an online marketplace which caters to the franchise industry. Quite simply, at The Business Market we assist franchisors by helping them market their franchise opportunity. Our primary goal is to attract buyers to our web site who will in turn view our extensive data base of franchise listings. If interested in a particular franchise opportunity, a prospective buyer will submit his or her contact information which is emailed directly to the franchisor. In our industry this is called a "lead". At The Business Market we help to generate high quality leads, and franchisors compensate us for those leads. Once a lead is generated, we hand it off to the franchisor whose goal is to sell that prospective buyer on their franchise concept.
Many people ask me which franchise industries generate the highest number of leads. First of all, we have 16 primary industries for franchise opportunities: Automotive; Beauty & Fitness; Business & Professional; Child-Related; Cleaning & Maintenance; Computer & Internet; Educational; Food & Restaurant; Healthcare; Home Services; Pet Related; Real Estate Related; Retail; Service; Sports & Entertainment; and Travel & Lodging. All industries receive a good deal of attention. However there is one that really stands out to me.
The industry that generates the most attention from prospective buyers may actually surprise you. No it is not the Food & Restaurant industry, although it too gets a lot of attention. The answer is the Travel & Lodging industry. We generate more leads per listing in this industry than any other. Most of our listings in this industry are hotel/motel listings. Unfortunately, this industry is not as deep as many others, as there are not as many players. Perhaps that is one reason why this industry receives a lot of attention. If you think about it, if there are a fairly significant amount of interested buyers but a limited number of available opportunities than it only makes sense that the number of qualified leads per listing would be higher.
But I think that reasons here go much deeper. First of all, I think that there are many prospective buyers that are interested in owning not only a business but are just as interested in owning quality real estate. Hotels and motels obviously have a heavy real estate component attached to the business. I think that prospective buyers view owning quality hotel/motel real estate as a great long term investment. Second of all, as a former banker and former stockbroker, I think that there are a lot of investors who are still leery of stepping back into the stock market. The stock market crash of 1999-2000 is still a concern for many investors. Consequently, they look at real estate as an alternative investment. But what types of investment real estate do they consider? Office? Retail? Industrial? Residential? In most parts of the country the commercial and consumer real estate markets are depressed with a grim outlook. I think that many view a quality hotel/motel franchise located near a busy intersection or freeway as a great long term real estate play. Third, there are many independently owned hotels/motels in existence. Many hotel/motel franchisors will allow conversions. Quality Inn is a great conversion choice for many existing midscale hotels looking to strengthen their position in the market. But probably the main reason why hotel/motel franchises make sense is that the business makes money. The business plan has been proven over and over.
So when you combine the long term benefits of owning real estate with a current operating income for the business hotels and motels really make sense.
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Barry Jark is a Vice President for The Business Market, an online marketplace specializing in franchises for sale. Mr. Jark is a retired bank president and accomplished entrepreneur. His articles are known for their folksy, direct style to help him successfully convey business-related knowledge and lessons.