Management Rights and Motels are service businesses that usually entail extended hours 5 to 7 days a week. In the extreme they can run 24/7, with around the clock staffing to fulfil the expectations of guests and clients.

Those 24/7 businesses, in the case of family or partnership owners, means someone is doing a lot of hours at the coalface to operate the business, even if they have the help of staff.

We are often asked by buyers, how long do people own these businesses for?

It used to be 3 to 4 years, you would expect a business that you had sold to come back onto the market for sale again.

It always seemed strange to us that very good businesses were being sold after 3 years so that the owners could have a holiday, before coming back to buy another similar management rights.

Why?

Why don’t business owners have a holiday every year to rest and recover, so they can keep the businesses longer and enjoy their hard work and profits.

The answer is TRUST!

They have to find someone they trust enough to run their biggest investment and asset.

It’s not much of a holiday if you put someone in to run your business and take off overseas for 3 weeks, only to worry about it day and night, and phone home every few hours to be certain you haven’t made a huge mistake.

When it’s your business, you make certain everyone is kept happy.

You’re not going out of your way to pick fights with the committee and you are all accommodating with guests and owners with the whims and wants.

Essentially nothing is too much trouble within reason.

After all, it’s your business and your hard earned money that you’ve spent to buy it.

We all know and understand there is always a committee member who can be a bit niggly to deal with at times.

What if the manager you have engaged to run your business while away, upsets someone and you return to breaches and termination notices from your committee?

Firstly, you will never take another holiday and leave the business in anyone else’s care ever again.

Secondly, you will spend the next 3 years regretting your decision to have a holiday and try to make amends for what happened with the committee.

In reality, this won’t happen.

Unless you leave the business in the incapable hands of Old Uncle Tom, who has never run a business in his life and has a minor drinking problem that fuels his own niggly side, you will be fine.

There are numerous, capable and professional relief managers out there who will happily take over your business for a few weeks while you unwind and de-stress on a beach somewhere in the South pacific.

Believe it or not, someone will take very good care of your business and will love your owners and committee just as much as you, albeit for a short period of time.

Dealing with owners, committees, tenants and contractors can be a very demanding exercise that can test the will and patience of anyone.

Having regular days, weeks or a month off can mean the difference between clear effective management and mental / physical burnout.

Get some rest.

Regards

The RCA Team.