Many innkeepers aim to continually expand the offerings on their properties, whether it’s the addition of a barn for weddings and events or even acquiring other inns. Leveraging the equity in your property is one viable way to fund these types of expansion efforts.
For Monique Greenwood, Owner/Innkeeper of Akwaaba Bed & Breakfast Inns and star of the television reality show “Checked Inn” on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), this strategy helped her to expand her innkeeping portfolio.
In 1995, she started with the first Akwaaba property in Brooklyn, and eventually used its increased equity value to acquire four other properties in the U.S. Today, there are Akwaaba inns in Brooklyn, NY; Washington, D.C.; Bethany, PA; Philadelphia, PA; and Cape May, NJ.
You don’t have to be an empire builder to take advantage of this approach. For example, you can use the current equity in your property to fund renovations and new amenities such as a swimming pool, gazebos and event barns for weddings and concerts.
The key, of course, is being sure that the investment will generate revenue and feeling confident that the risk outweighs the reward. For larger projects that appear to have a significant upside, using the equity in your property may be the best alternative and one that you should seriously consider.
Thanks to Monique Greenwood for contributing to this Frictionless Innkeeper TIP by sharing insights during a Frictionless Innkeeper podcast.
Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash
