How to find buyers for a rural tourism hotel?

[Tiago Faria]

Dear community,

How would you go about promoting a rural tourism hotel with 10 rooms in the contryside of Portugal? It includes restaurant, bar, events room, etc, and is currently yielding at 7% (but has potential for much more).

I've been struggling to find the right avenues to sell it. Most agencies (local or even international like Sotheby's) are avoiding it with the excuse of "being far from the capital Lisbon", that is currently booming.

Looking for suggestions/ideas on how to tackle this. Any different strategies that you know of? Any contacts? Any niche agencies specialized in large rural properties?

Thanks a million!

[Dougan Milne]

Oi Tiago.

Rural hospitality properties are tricky. Of course, they seem incredibly attractive, charming, lovely, nice ROI, but the simple reality is that they are usually sold as lifestyle businesses to independent buyers, or as portfolio properties to existing rural / boutique hotel groups. Thus, the mainstream agents are hesitant to take them on because the buyer pool is much smaller / niche.

However, that also means that your target market is more clearly defined.... so, become your own agent. Start along the lines that Thomas mentioned -- build your marketing package. Then put together a list of all the Rural and Boutique Hotel Groups active in Iberia. Go directly to the owners and decision makers within these groups.... you don't want to be calling the Hotel director... you want one of the partners.

We did a rural / beach project in Brazil last year. I would be happy to send you our marketing package so you can use it as a template. Our situation was a bit different because there wasn't an existing business -- selling to developers -- but same general concept. PraiaDoCosta.com 

cuide-se

Dougan