Chappy:
I graduated from a Hospitality and Tourism program at Stout. I was lucky and got to live my dream here in Minocqua without dropping a penny. Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Most WI resorts are being sold because of the three things in my mind: taxes, labor and less dependable revenue streams (customers). Taxes, depending on your frontage can be from $4k to $5k on the cheap side and for my property (750′ of frontage) up to $40K. Labor will take up to a 1/3 to 1/2 of your revenue stream. The biggest problem is its dependability. Can you find the right cleaning help @ $10 to $20 an hour and then will it be available and ready to work when you need them. Are there other areas that you will need labor??? Revenue Streams: Today’s traveler has changed dramatically. After the private club that I ran shut down the resort (13 cabins), I still ran the club another 6-7 years. During national conventions, demographics of the member of a private club were changing. Many of todays decisions are being made by the children of today’s family and todays successful clubs were in need of the consideration of how to cater to families. Does that translate into today’s resort visitor??? I think so. In Minocqua, a season that used to last from the beginning of the fishing season in May, certainly Memorial Day, now doesn’t get going until the third week of June at the earliest. And with children in sports or other educational extracurricular activities the season starts to wind down the third week of August, by Labor Day it becomes only a weekend business.
As for a business plan, a couple of the guys are right, you need to develop the plan based on your operation, not the old operation. You should take the financials, both the P&L and Taxes and put them in front of a good hospitality accountant. That way you make sure that those financials are truthful in accordance with the taxes!!! Once that is done that P&L should be worked out line by line so that you understand that the profits shown are enough to cover any mortgage/commercial loan that you take, along with any improvements you might make (either from an expense side or capital side) and your personal finances.
You will, as Mr. Plantz stated work 24/7, but I did sneak out and fish after that. I didn’t have children though. My wife was very understanding of my fishing addiction and its therapeutic value. To this day I always told people who complained about it being Monday a.m. that they should have worked the weekend and that today is just another day!!!
The one gentlemen who outlined all the positives also made great points. They are all valuable and should be considered on their merit. Many operators do make it look easy, don’t show stress and may be losing their a$$. The worst of all of this is to not have the business force you to work three jobs to make it work.
Any time you would like to talk, PM me and I will give you my phone number. I would be happy to look over financials provided you can get them without making an offer. I can probably dream up more info/thoughts, but need to finish some work yet.
Mark
only used on Sundays by little old cat fisherman 
