resort business plan doc

Resort Business Plan Template

If you want to start a resort or expand your resort business, you need a business plan.

The following resort business plan template gives you the key elements to include in a winning Resort business plan. It can be used to start an all-inclusive resort, a ski resort, a health spa resort, an ecotourism resort, or any other type of resort business.

You can download our resort plan template (including a full, customizable financial model) to your computer here.

Resort Business Plan Sample

Below is a resort business plan example with each of the key sections to help you write a resort business plan for your own company.

I. Executive Summary

Business overview.

[Company Name], located in [insert location here] is a new resort company that focuses on providing guests with personalized customer service and modern, high-tech amenities. The resort is located in an idyllic location where guests can experience a tranquil nature walk or a rigorous river rafting adventure. [Company Name] aims to be the ultimate choice for customers looking for exceptional service, high-tech amenities, and picturesque views.

Products Served

[Company Name] will provide a full suite of resort amenities, all featuring the latest digital technology for streamlined customer service and convenience.

Amenities include the following:

• Retail Shops
• Tennis Courts
• Swimming Pool
• Hiking & Nature Tours
• River Rafting

Customer Focus

[Company Name]’s potential customers include tourists traveling to [Location] from nearby countries. A secondary target will be local residents looking for a unique stay-cation experience. The demographics of these customers are as follows:

• An estimated 50,000 tourists travel to [Location] each year
• Average income of $46,000
• 35% are Gen Z, 40% are millennials, and 25% are baby boomers
• 42% are in management or professional occupations
• Median age: 35 years

Management Team

[Company Name] is led by [Founder’s Name] who has been in the resort industry for over 20 years. While [Founder] has never developed a resort from the ground up, he has worked most recently as a general manager of a large resort, and has held various management level positions in the industry over the years. [Founder] has a Master’s degree in Hospitality Management, and will use his expertise and experience to start his own resort.

Success Factors

[Company Name] is uniquely qualified to succeed due to the following reasons:

• There is currently no full-scale resort in the area, although it is an in-demand tourist destination. In addition, the founder has surveyed the local businesses and determined that they have frequent tourists visiting who would use the company’s resort when launched.
• The location is close to major highways, local attractions, and the airport.
• The management team has a track record of success in the resort industry.
• XYZ and ABC corporations announced plans to create new attractions in the city over the next two years and existing resorts will not be able to handle the increased capacity of visitors traveling to the city to visit these attractions.

Financial Highlights

[Company Name] is currently seeking $7,000,000 to launch.

Specifically, these funds will be used as follows:

• Resort design/build: $6,500,000
• Working capital: $500,000 to pay for marketing, salaries, and land costs until [Company Name] reaches break-even

Top line projections over the next five years are as follows:

II. Company Overview

Who is [company name].

[Company Name], located in [Location] is a new resort company that focuses on providing guests with personalized customer service and modern, high-tech amenities. The resort is located in an idyllic location that is close to major highways, local attractions, and an airport. Guests of the resort can experience a tranquil nature walk or a rigorous river rafting adventure. [Company Name] aims to be the ultimate choice for customers looking for exceptional service, high-tech amenities, and picturesque views.

[Company Name] was founded by [Founder’s Name], an experienced resort manager who has been working in various management-level positions in the industry for over 20 years. [Founder] has a Master’s degree in Hospitality Management, and will use his expertise and experience to start his own resort. [Founder] discovered the ideal location for his resort during a recent trip to [Location]. When he saw the opportunity for a full-scale resort in a growing tourist destination, he decided to start researching what it would take to build his company here.

As [Founder] began researching what it would take to create his own resort company, he did a thorough analysis on the costs, market, demographics, and competition. [Founder] has compiled enough information to develop his business plan in order to approach investors.

[Company Name]’s History

Once his market analysis was complete, [Founder’s Name] incorporated [Company Name] as an S-Corporation on [date of incorporation].

The resort development operations are currently being run out of [Founder’s Name] home office. Once the land rights have been purchased, operations will be run from an on-site location to ensure that every detail is being thought out and completed.

Since incorporation, the Company has achieved the following milestones:

• Found site location and signed the land deed purchasing rights to the land
• Developed the company’s name, logo, and website located at [website]
• Hired an architecture firm to create a blueprint of the resort
• Started taking bids from construction crews and electrical engineering firms
• Determined equipment leasing and financing requirements
• Began recruiting key employees with experience in the resort industry

[Company Name]’s Products/Services

Below are [Company Name]’s product offerings:

The state-of-the-art resort will offer guests the opportunity to take advantage of the following amenities:

III. Industry Analysis

The global hotel and resort industry is valued at approximately $1.06T with more than 700,000 hotels and resorts operating worldwide. This industry includes operators of hotel and resort accommodations, restaurants and meal service, and franchises. Primary industry activities include operating holiday resorts and hotels with private facilities.

Demand determinants for the hotel and resort industry include economic conditions, disposable income levels, and consumer preferences regarding hospitality and leisure spending. Over the past few years consumer preferences have been shifting significantly. Customers are now looking for more personalized service, business-leisure opportunities, health and wellness accommodations, and digital guest experiences.

The hotel and resort industry is highly fragmented with intense competition from major players to single-location operators. Small resort businesses can compete in a variety of ways, however. Industry operators that offer a unique niche, affordable prices, in-demand location, and amenities that appeal to the modern consumer can run a competitive resort business.

IV. Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

[Company Name] will serve the tourists visiting [company location] and its surrounding areas as well as locals who want a stay-cation experience.

The community of [company location] is quickly becoming a popular tourist destination with people coming in from nearby countries to experience the new attractions the region has to offer. Additionally, there are many local residents looking for a new recreating experience and a large percentage of the population has expressed interest in a stay-cation option.

Customer Segmentation

The Company will primarily target the following three customer segments:

• Leisure Travel Market: Travelers to [Insert Area or City] tourist attractions such as the Museum of Fine Art and the Annual Film Festival, as well as visitors to social events such as weddings.
• International Tourists: Last year, there were over 903 million international tourist arrivals worldwide, with a growth of 6.6%. International tourist receipts were $856 billion.
• Local Residents: There are a total of 10,000 local residents in [Area]. Approximately 43% are actively involved in many of the recreational activities the resort will offer such as hiking and river rafting.

V. Competitive Analysis

Direct & indirect competitors.

The company’s competition are other resort companies.

River Springs River Springs is a hotel in [location]. River Springs is a leading hotel and has been in business for over 40 years. The hotel offers a wide array of services and amenities that you typically find at a hotel. River Springs offers luxury accommodations, river rafting tours, and a five-star restaurant and lounge. River Springs is the current most popular choice for tourists in the area because of its proximity to the airport and local attractions such as the Fine Art Museum and movie theater.

This hotel does not have full-service resort amenities, however. Nor does it have the latest digital technology for any of its services or room accommodations.

Super Adventure Resort Super Adventure Resort is the closest resort, located approximately 50 miles outside of [Area or City]. This resort specializes in providing wildlife adventure tours. The property has a variety of amenities including a hotel, spa, pool, restaurant, bar, gift shop, and its primary source of entertainment; the adventure tours.

Super Adventure Resort is far from any other local attractions, the airport, or any other modern conveniences such as grocery stores or gas stations, making it an out-of-the-way getaway, but not conveniently located.

Sunny Falls Hotel Sunny Falls Hotel is also a local hotel that has a few resort-style amenities such as a spa, salon, and fitness center in addition to its traditional hotel accommodations, restaurants, bar, lounge, pool, tennis courts, and free transportation to and from the airport. Sunny Falls Hotel is located close to a variety of local attractions and scenic overlooks. Guests can go hiking or bicycling on trails nearby or book a river rafting tour with a hotel concierge.

While Sunny Falls Hotel has many appealing accommodations, it lacks the modern technology, full-service amenities, and additional attractions [Company Name] will provide.

Competitive Advantage

[Company Name] enjoys several advantages over other resort companies. Those advantages include:

• Location : [Company Name]’s location gives the best access to the airport, local attractions, shopping district, and restaurants. The Company also offers adequate parking making it easy for customers to relax upon arrival.
• High-Tech Amenities : The resort will be full of high-tech amenities for everything from contactless check-in and payment systems, to smart fixtures in the hotel rooms and a high-tech bar and nightclub.
• Management : The management team has years of resort industry experience that allows the Company to market and serve customers in the same manner as its most sophisticated competitors.
• Relationships : Having visited the community for a number of years, [Founder’s Name] knows all the local leaders, newspapers and other influences. As such, it will be relatively easy to build the brand awareness of the resort.

VI. Marketing Plan

[Company Name] seeks to position itself as a source of exceptional service, high-tech amenities, and unique attractions in the resort industry. Consumers can expect to receive the best resort experience catered by experienced hospitality professionals.

The [Company Name] Brand

The [Company Name] brand will focus on the Company’s unique value proposition:

• Convenient location close to local attractions, major highways, and the airport
• Modern, high-tech amenities
• Exceptional personalized customer service

Promotions Strategy

[Company Name] expects its target market to be tourists visiting [Location]. The Company’s promotion strategy to reach these individuals includes:

Social Media [Company Name] will invest heavily in a social media advertising campaign. The brand manager will create the Company’s social media accounts and invest in ads on all social media platforms. It will use targeted marketing to appeal to the target demographics.

Website/SEO [Company Name] will invest heavily in developing a professional website that displays all of the features and benefits of the resort. It will also invest heavily in SEO so that the brand’s website will appear at the top of search engine results.

Phone Prospecting [Company Name] will assign salespeople to contact area corporations to arrange for bulk corporate rates for their visitors depending on the volume of visitors they will have.

Public Relations The Company will contact all local and regional area newspapers and television stations to tell them about the hotel opening and unique value proposition of [Company Name].

Advertising [Company Name] will initially advertise on travel websites, which are frequently being used to book travel due to their ease of use and reviews.

Ongoing Customer Communications [Company Name] will publish a monthly email newsletter to tell new and past customers about promotions and events.

Pre-Opening Events Before opening the resort, [Company Name] will organize pre-opening events designed for prospective international customers, local customers, and press contacts. These events will create buzz and awareness for [Company Name] in the area.

Pricing Strategy

[Company Name]’s pricing will fluctuate based on the season and occupancy percentages using a computerized yield management system, but pricing will always place the hotel in the mid-range, below luxury offerings, and above hotels and motels in the area that cannot be billed as a resort. Customers will feel they receive great value when they choose the resort for their vacation.

VII. Operations Plan

Functional roles.

In order to execute on [Company Name]’s business model, the Company needs to perform many functions including the following:

Administrative Functions

• General & Administrative functions including legal, marketing, bookkeeping, etc.
• Sourcing and storing supplies for the various resort amenities
• Hiring and training staff

Service Functions

• Check-in focused on customer service
• Janitor/maintenance personnel to keep the resort clean and in working order
• Staff to work in the hotel, restaurant, bar, nightclub, etc.
• Resort concierge service

The following are a series of steps that lead to our vision of long-term success. [Company Name] expects to achieve the following milestones in the following [xyz] months:

The following are a series of steps that lead to the Company’s vision of long-term success. [Company Name] expects to achieve the following milestones in the following [xyz] months:

VIII. Management Team

Management team members.

[Company Name] is led by [Founder’s Name] who has been in the resort industry for over 20 years. While [Founder] has never developed a resort from the ground up, he has worked most recently as a general manager of a large resort, and has held various management level positions in the industry. [Founder] has a Master’s degree in Hospitality Management, and will use his expertise and experience to start his own resort.

Hiring Plan

[Founder] will serve as the Owner and President of [Company Name]. In order to launch, he needs to hire the following personnel:

Housekeeping staff for the hotel (5 to start)

• Resort Managers (1 for each section of the resort – hotel, restaurant, bar, nightclub, etc.) who will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of their designated area
• Assistant Managers (will manage resort operations for their designated area on nights and weekends)
• Service Staff (4 full-time to work check-in and guest services – allowing for at least 1 staff person to be on duty at all times as well as additional staff for each of the resort’s features)
• Sales Staff (2 full-time) will target and book guests
• Legal, Bookkeeping, and other Administrative functions (3 staff)
• Brand manager: 1 full-time employee who will be responsible for developing and launching the brand; manage the website, and social media accounts.
• Janitorial and Maintenance staff: 5 employees who will be responsible for keeping the resort in tip-top condition.

IX. Financial Plan

Revenue and cost drivers.

[Company Name]’s revenues will come primarily from booking fees for the resort’s many amenities. The company will charge varying rates per night based on demand and seasonality. [Company Name] will also sell multiple packages to appeal to a range of guests, such as a health and wellness package, nature adventure package, and stay-cation package.

The land purchase, equipment, supplies, and labor expenses will be the key cost drivers of [Company Name]. The major cost drivers for the company’s operation will consist of:

• Resort maintenance
• Business Insurance
• Mortgage on land and utilities

Ongoing marketing expenditures are also notable cost drivers for [Company Name].

Capital Requirements and Use of Funds

[Company Name] is currently seeking $7,000,000 of debt capital to open its resort. The capital will be used for funding capital expenditures and resort build-out, hiring initial employees, marketing and branding expenses, and working capital.

Key Assumptions

The following table reflects the key revenue and cost assumptions made in the financial model:

  5 Year Annual Income Statement

  5 Year Annual Balance Sheet

  5 Year Annual Cash Flow Statement

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Resort Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Resort Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 500 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their resorts.

If you’re unfamiliar with creating a resort business plan, you may think creating one will be a time-consuming and frustrating process. For most entrepreneurs it is, but for you, it won’t be since we’re here to help. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a resort business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Resort Business Plan Template here >

What is a Resort Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your resort as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Resort

If you’re looking to start a resort or grow your existing resort company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your resort to improve your chances of success. Your resort business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Resort Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a resort are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for resort companies.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to Write a Business Plan for a Resort Business

If you want to start a resort or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The guide below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your resort business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of resort you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a resort that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of resorts?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

• Give a brief overview of the resort industry.
• Discuss the type of resort you are operating.
• Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
• Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
• Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of resort you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of resorts:

• Health Spa Resort : this type of resort provides individual spa services and helps visitors develop health habits.
• Ski Resort: this type of resort includes downhill, cross-country, or similar skiing areas with ski lifts and tows. These resorts often provide food and beverages, equipment rentals, and ski instruction, as well as accommodation.
• Eco-tourism Resort: this type of resort focuses on environmental sustainability, offering programs to minimize their eco footprint. Some eco-tourism resorts offer an immersive experience such as living among animals in a jungle.
• Destination Resort: this type of resort contains everything needed, such as accommodation, food service, attractions, shopping, etc.
• All-Inclusive Resort : this type of resort charges one fixed price that includes lodging, unlimited food, drink and sports activities, and entertainment.

In addition to explaining the type of resort you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of overnight guests, the number of conventions hosted, reaching and/or maintaining X percent occupancy rate, etc.
• Your legal business Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the resort industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the resort industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your resort business plan:

• How big is the resort industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your resort? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your resort business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: domestic leisure travelers, international leisure travelers, business travelers, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of resort you operate. Clearly, business travelers would respond to different marketing promotions than international leisure travelers, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other resorts.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes hotels, short-term rentals, or even relatives who live in the area. You need to mention such competition as well.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What type of resort do they operate?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide extended stay options?
• Will you offer amenities or services that your competition doesn’t?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a resort business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of resort company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide accommodation-only options, all-inclusive packages, accommodation/service packages, day visitor packages, etc.?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site of your resort. Document where your resort is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your resort located in a busy tourist town, near a tourist attraction, or is it a remote destination? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your resort marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
• Advertise in trade publications or on national TV
• Reach out to websites
• Distribute flyers
• Engage in email marketing
• Advertise on social media platforms
• Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your resort, including answering calls, booking rooms and services, cleaning between guests, providing concierge services, customer service, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to book your Xth guest, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your resort to a new city.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your resort’s potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing resorts. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a resort or successfully running a boutique hotel.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you have 25 or 100 guest rooms? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your resort, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a resort:

• Cost of furnishing each guest room
• Cost of building out common areas and/or service facilities (spa treatment rooms, etc.)
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your resort blueprint or a list of amenities and services you offer.  

Writing a business plan for your resort is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the resort industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful resort.

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