D Arcy And Whiting Case Analysis

Over the past several years, entrepreneurship has been the new occupation of choice. So many people have chosen to pursue entrepreneurship as a route to financial freedom, passion, and living their dreams. The same goes for Yvonne D’Arcy and Elizabeth Whiting. The two discovered a business opportunity within the hotel and restaurant industry and pursued their interest in boutique hotels. With D’Arcy’s father as an important initial investor, the idea appeared to be promising. However, the two needed to formulate a concrete business plan to gain the interests and the funding from outside investors.
After reviewing the business plan, D’Arcy and Whiting had major gaps within their business plan. The sections identified in D’Arcy and Whiting’s …show more content…
Amongst a few strengths, there were several weaknesses identified. Fortunately, D’Arcy and Whiting were able to convey why boutique hotels were a great opportunity with financials. The business plan provided pricing points. The business plan provided a backdrop of the financial payoff but not the financial operations. The information Hotel Vertu provided appeared to be a summation of the market. There competitive landscape and value proposition could’ve been stronger. Whiting had explained why boutique hotels are more favorable amongst consumers, there were no facts to support their reasoning. The opportunity was not made clear. Although the numbers provided were favorable, their business plan did not show how Hotel Vertu would compete against it’s competitors. Giving vague ambiance descriptions is not enough to convince investors to give 40 million dollars to Hotel Vertu. Moreover, the business plan did not mention how Hotel Vertu will build and launch their business. According to Sahlman, the opportunity should breakdown several areas to investors: cost, launch, target consumers, operations, and customer service (1997). This section of the business plan should be detailed and “to the point”. Moreover, the market is already saturated, especially in Savannah. It’s a tourist town. Launching a boutique hotel in Savannah, GA is a great idea but to get the right financing behind it, Hotel Vertu’s Marketing and …show more content…
Hotel Vertu did not detail the operational details of the business. Strategy and Implementation is something to consider and note on a business plan. Again, after conveying the opportunity, how will the company go after this opportunity to make it profitable. Sahlman explains that the context of the opportunity should discuss business growth (1997). This is usually a five year projection. What will Hotel Vertu do over the course of five years? How will it buy equipment? Pay investors? Lastly, how will it expand? Will there be a chain of Hotel Vertu? Or will Hotel Vertu create a sister company? All of these questions frame the context of the company. A business plan is multi-demensional and it provides a microscope into each section or department of the business, the context. Unfortunately, Hotel Vertu had only scrapped the surface of this section. Additionally, the context maps out the competitive landscape of the business. Again, competition must be analyzed. Hotel Vertu did not provide a good analysis of their competition. Demographics should’ve been mentioned price margins, sales, specials, events, and etc. Hotel Vertu’s business plan only made mention of how boutique hotels are becoming popular but did not create a plan for reinforcing the boutique hotel