Quest helps take your hospitality career to the next level
Climbing the corporate ladder when you work in hospitality can be limiting. You may reach the senior level of general manager or property manager within a large accommodation chain, but then what?
Most people in this position find themselves left with a couple of choices; either upgrade into a bigger business, with more responsibility but in the same role or be promoted to a head-office position probably no longer involved with the work that saw you keen to work in the industry in the first place.
Let’s face it – the hospitality industry is not great at developing people past this point.
Quest Serviced Apartments offers people in this position an exciting alternative – a way to develop their career into business ownership by becoming a franchisee. Quest CEO Zed Sanjana says around 40% of the franchisee network has come from home grown talent – promoted from head office or at the property level. “These are passionate people who love working in hospitality, and have worked their way through the Quest business to become successful franchisees,” he said.
“We need our franchisees to be energetic, people-orientated and committed to working within our franchise system framework.”
But with 150 properties across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji and plenty more in the pipeline, Quest cannot rely on only recruiting from within. “The business skills required to be a successful franchisee can be learned. However, the intangible qualities that drive business success such as passion and dedication cannot,” Mr Sanjana maintains. Over the past 25 years, Quest has developed and honed a proven structure and formula to support frachisees in successfully running their businesses. This includes sales and operational support, business advice and the more practical operations manual containing every aspect of operating a Quest franchise business.
The qualities of a Quest franchisee
According to Mr Sanjana, investing in a Quest franchise is not like buying a job– it’s buying into a business and a way of life. “Whilst it’s true that we’ve created a tried-and-true business model upon that every franchisee depends for their success, there’s still an expectation that our franchisees will be entrenched in the day-to-day running of their business,” he said.
“The critical key to success lies in the partnership between the Quest business and our franchisees that must ensure each location is operated by the ‘right’ franchisee – someone prepared to undertake a rigorous assessment process to ensure the partnership will be long-lasting and rewarding for both parties.”
And Mr Sanjana stressed that the transition from senior employee to business owner is much smoother for people who have experience working in hospitality. “Some of our best franchisees are less than 30 years old, but they understand what’s required and have a thirst to build personal wealth for themselves and their families. These people are ambitious and seek to go beyond the position of a salaried employee but wish to stay working within an industry they are passionate about.”
Quest also offers its franchisees the additional insurance of a large-scale brand which is positioned as Australiasia’s largest network of serviced apartment businesses. Primarily servicing extended-stay business travellers, Quest is currently used by 90% of Australia’s top 500 companies and has a CBD, suburban and regional presence across every state and territory in Australia.
“Our relationships with these customers provide franchisees with an opportunity to participate in centrally coordinated national tenders,” Mr Sanjana explained.
Why buy a Quest franchise?
• You’re supported by a winning formula. We’ve created a business model that takes away some of the major challenges to achieving success in small business, with the support of one of Australia’s most recognisable brands.
• There’s no guesswork. We don’t build it and they will come… Quest has developed a well-defined site selection process that can involve years of research, taking into account both the economic situation of the target location, as well as extensive discussions with our corporate customers forecasting where they will need to be.
• Strength of our size. Quest has a dedicated team of national account managers who have the daily responsibility of managing the relationship with the key national clients in their industry portfolio, coordinating the tendering for these accounts and working to maximise the number of room nights and Quest properties used. Quest’s relationships with its key corporate customers provide franchisees with an opportunity to participate in centrally coordinated national tenders. Their impressive success rate contributes to approximately 40% of Quest’s total accommodation revenues.
Image: Quest CEO Zed Sanjana.
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