I just bought an old Super 8 in Iowa for $925k.
Here’s the crazy shit I’ve uncovered so far:
1) After closing I asked sellers to transfer the domain/website…realized they didn’t own it 🤡
Hotel was deflagged in 2017. Purchase agreement said everything would be transferred, but clearly I made a stupid assumption.
So now I’m a proud non-owner of 2 orphaned domains
2) Mitel PBX, IP gateway, switch etc. all powered choking on dust despite not being connected to anything.
Main line directly going to cordless phone lol, $507/mo bill
3) Sellers weren’t admins of their Expedia acct so couldn’t transfer it.
Once we figured it out, saw that multiple Wyndham users still had access 😱
4) Not a single email in the PMS system
Just masked OTA emails. Was planning to email all past guests about ownership change, guess not.
5) No exterior key readers worked.
I knew side doors would need adjusting, but didn’t think to test key readers (another bad assumption)
6) They were paying for 4 yard trash container, 2x pickups/wk. That’s more than our 1st location which has twice the rooms and occupancy.
Made a few other mistakes but overall the acquisition went as expected (will share if folks are interested)
I’m building the best indie hotel brand in Iowa.
Follow along as we turn this into Hotel Pommier location #3