Most hotel openings run late for the same reason: work that could have happened at the same time happens one step after another. The renovation finishes, then someone starts hiring. The staff arrive, then someone sets up the booking systems. The rooms are ready, and nobody can find them online.
When we opened Silvertone Hotel in Pattaya, the owners had just acquired a building with no brand, no systems and no operating structure. It opened to its first guests three months later, on 20 August. This checklist is how we approach a launch like that. It's written for Thailand, but most of it applies anywhere.
Before you commit: can the building be a hotel?
Check this before you sign. Everything else depends on it.
- Construction permit. The building's permit under the Building Control Act must allow hotel use. Umpire Legal advises confirming this before you finalise a location.
- Fire safety. Inspectors check fire-resistant construction for buildings of three floors or more, and a compliant fire escape from four floors, according to Emerhub.
- Environmental impact assessment. New hotels with 80 or more rooms, or 4,000 square metres or more of usable area, need an EIA (Kudun & Partners).
- Ownership structure. Foreign investors usually operate through a Thai company. Agree the structure with a lawyer before money moves.
- Existing licence. If you're buying or leasing an operating property, check whether the hotel licence is valid and whether it can continue under the new operator.
Small properties are different. Since October 2023, accommodation with no more than 8 rooms and 30 guests can register as non-hotel accommodation instead of holding a hotel licence (PKF Thailand). If you're opening a villa, our pool villa rental guide covers that route.
Licences and registrations
Licensing has the longest lead time, so it starts first. Outside Bangkok, the hotel licence application goes to the Provincial Governor's Office. Health, environmental and construction authorities inspect the premises, and the review takes around six months. The licence is valid for five years (Umpire Legal).
- Hotel licence under the Hotel Act
- Food licence, if you serve breakfast or run a restaurant
- Alcohol licence from the Excise Department, if you sell drinks
- Entertainment licence, if the property has a bar or venue that needs one
- Company, tax and social security registrations for the operating company and staff
- Work permits for any foreign staff
- A TM30 process for reporting foreign guests to immigration within 24 hours (ThaiEmbassy.com)
Renovation and fit-out
Renovation is where budgets and timelines slip. Someone needs to walk the site with the contractor every week and decide quickly when problems appear.
- A scope and budget signed off before work starts, with a contingency
- Contractors and suppliers chosen for reliability as well as price
- One finished mock-up room approved before the rest are fitted out
- Furniture, fixtures and equipment ordered early, with lead times tracked
- Operating supplies ordered: linen, towels, amenities, cleaning stock and kitchen equipment
- A snag list walked room by room before handover
Brand, website and photography
Start the brand while the renovation is still dusty. A name, logo and website take weeks to get right, and the hotel needs them before it can sell a single room.
- Name, logo and brand identity, checked for domain and social handle availability
- Website with a direct booking engine
- Google Business Profile, set up as soon as the address is final
- Social media accounts, with a few posts ready before launch
- Professional photography of finished rooms only. Never shoot a half-finished hotel.
We cover this stage in more detail on our brand, marketing and digital presence page.
Systems: PMS, channel manager and payments
- Property management system (PMS) chosen and configured with room types and rate plans
- Channel manager connected to the PMS, so rates and availability sync across every booking site
- Point-of-sale system for restaurant and bar, linked to guest folios
- Card payments, deposits and refunds tested end to end
- Test bookings made through every channel and cancelled cleanly
OTAs and offline distribution
A new hotel has no reviews and no ranking, so the first weeks online matter. Complete every field on every listing. Content scores affect where a hotel appears in search results. When we took on The Holiday Resort, bringing its property page scores above 95 percent on Agoda, Booking.com and Trip.com was part of how occupancy rose 148 percent in 30 days.
- Listings live on Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia and Trip.com, plus Airbnb if it suits the property
- MakeMyTrip and Goibibo if you're targeting Indian travellers
- Rate parity across every channel from day one
- Travel agents and DMCs contacted with contract rates for groups
- An opening rate strategy: where you start, and when you raise it as reviews arrive
Don't neglect offline sales. For Blue Boat, a Pattaya hotel with more than 100 rooms, we opened up the Indian offline market and DMC networks as part of the pre-launch plan. Group business can fill the first months while the online reputation builds.
Hiring and training
- An organisation chart, with every department and role defined
- Key hires first: general manager, front office, housekeeping and maintenance leads
- Written standard operating procedures (SOPs) for check-in, housekeeping, maintenance and complaints
- Training on the PMS and POS before the first guest, not during the first week
- A breakfast and F&B plan that suits your guest mix
- Rotas that cover nights, weekends and the first peak
The last two weeks
- Every room inspected against a checklist and signed off
- Fire drill completed and fire equipment certified
- A soft opening with friends, family or partners to test the whole guest journey
- Welcome, check-in and checkout scripts rehearsed
- Emergency contacts, maintenance on-call and escalation paths agreed
- The first month's rates and restrictions loaded, and reviews monitored daily from the first stay
An example 12-week plan
Every property is different, but this is the shape of a fast conversion. Nothing waits for the step before it to finish.
| Weeks | Workstreams running together |
|---|---|
| 1–2 | Due diligence, scope and budget, licence applications started, brand brief |
| 2–8 | Renovation and fit-out, brand identity and website, supplier orders |
| 4–10 | Hiring, SOPs, PMS and channel manager setup, DMC and agent outreach |
| 8–11 | Photography, OTA listings live, training, opening rates loaded |
| 11–12 | Inspections, soft opening, final fixes, first guests |
Silvertone followed this pattern. We oversaw the renovation, advised on legal agreements and licensing, and brought in our network of contractors, vendors and DMCs. We handled hiring and training, and built the brand, website and digital setup from scratch. The hotel opened fully branded and live online and offline from day one, and it's still under our management today.
If you're planning an opening, our pre-opening and launch management service covers every item on this list, and our hotel management in Pattaya page shows the properties we've opened and run.
