Choosing Among Hotel Management Companies in India: Questions Owners Should Ask
Updated: 5 days ago
In short
Ask first whether the company will run your hotel or only advise on it, and who answers for the result.
Ask who from the leadership will actually be on your property, what is in the written scope and what the monthly report looks like.
Speak to owners the company works with today, and ask what happened in a difficult quarter.
Search for hotel management companies in India and you will find long lists and plenty of claims. A list cannot tell you which company fits your hotel. The right questions can.
These are the questions we would ask if we were the owner. We have grouped them into what the company does, how it runs the hotel day to day, and how you will know it is working.
What the company actually does
1. Will you run the hotel, or advise on it?
Some firms manage hotels. Others consult and leave. Ask plainly who will be responsible for daily operations and results once the agreement is signed.
A hotel management company takes charge of the hotel and answers for the numbers. A consultant studies it, gives advice and goes home. We explain the difference on our FAQ page.
2. Do I need an operator or an asset manager?
If your hotel is already run by a brand or another operator, you may need someone on your side rather than a new operator. That second job is hotel asset management.
Our post on hotel operations management vs hotel asset management covers this, and our hotel asset management page explains that service.
3. Whose name goes on the hotel?
Ask whether the hotel can keep your own name, or carry a brand you choose. A third-party arrangement usually allows both, and you should be clear on this before anything is signed.
If you want a brand, ask who searches for it and who negotiates the franchise terms. In our work the brand is always the owner's choice, and we negotiate for the asset.
4. What exactly is in your scope?
Operations, revenue, sales, marketing, finance and people should all be named, not implied. Ask for the scope in writing.
Ask too what the company will not do. We take no one-off assignments, and we do not sell parts of our work on their own. Ours is on our third-party hotel management page.
How the hotel will be run
5. How many hotels are you running right now?
A large portfolio is not good or bad on its own. What matters is how much senior attention your property will actually get.
Ask who from the leadership will visit, how often, and who you will call when something goes wrong. Ask who will be on the ground in the first months, and how senior they are.
6. Who builds and leads the team?
The general manager and department heads shape the hotel more than any presentation. Ask who appoints the general manager, and who the general manager reports to.
Ask how the team is hired, trained and kept, and how SOPs are put in place. Procedures that sit in a file and are never checked change nothing on the floor.
7. What will you decide, and what will I decide?
This question saves more owner and operator relationships than any other. Half control fixes nothing, and two managers for one hotel means nobody is clearly responsible.
Ask for the line in writing. In our case we decide on team, pricing, vendors and standards, while capital spending, licences and the final choice of brand stay with the owner.
How you will know it is working
8. How will you report to me?
Ask to see a sample monthly report. It should show revenue, costs and guest feedback in a form you can read in one sitting.
It should arrive on time even in a bad month. Ask whether you will see budget against actual every month, and whether you can have the books audited by your own chartered accountant.
9. Can I speak to owners you work with?
References from current owners tell you more than any ranking. Ask for them, and ask those owners what happened in a difficult quarter.
References from current owners tell you more than any ranking.
A company that is confident in its work will introduce you. We do this once we have reviewed a hotel and want to take it on.
10. How long before I judge the results?
A hotel is turned around over seasons, not weeks. Ask what the first months will look like, and when it is fair to look at the numbers.
Be wary of quick promises. The first months usually bring the most change, and the owner needs to hold steady while it happens.
A note on how we work
We are a hotel management company that takes on very few hotels, so each one gets the attention of our founders, Sahil Pandita and Shruti Shukla. We run two services only, third-party hotel management and hotel asset management.
We make one offer, and we do not chase hotels. If these questions match what you are weighing, the next step is a conversation about your hotel.
Frequently asked questions
What is the first question to ask a hotel management company?
Ask whether it will run your hotel or only advise on it. The answer tells you who will be responsible for daily operations and for the result.
Can my hotel keep its own name under a management company?
Under third-party management it usually can. The hotel can run under the owner's own name or under a brand the owner chooses.
How do I check a hotel management company's claims?
Ask for a sample monthly report and for references from owners it works with today. Speak to those owners about a difficult quarter, not only a good one.
If you would like to talk about your hotel, write to us through our contact page or at info@promiller.in.
Keep reading
What a Third-Party Hotel Management Company Does for an Owner in India
Hotel Operations Management vs Hotel Asset Management: Which One Your Hotel Needs
How to Standardise Hotel SOPs Across Multiple Properties Without Losing Operational Flexibility
Running an Independent Hotel Without a Brand: What a Third-Party Operator Takes On
Hotel Asset Management vs Hotel Management: What Each One Does for an Owner
Written by the ProMiller team, led by co-founders Sahil Pandita and Shruti Shukla.
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