Why become part of the Longcroft franchise and not go it alone?
Hello cat lovers,
“Why become part of Longcroft and not go it alone?” is a question I hear regularly when talking to people who are applying to become a Longcroft franchisee. There are, after all, lots of independent catteries out there.
Planning for a new hotel is very involved and can go wrong early on, which is why we take care of it. The original Longcroft hotel took 2 years to obtain planning permission as we were inexperienced – we now provide an excellent planning consultation service which comes as part of the joining package and gain consent on an impressive 97% of applications, which is due to Longcroft proving its unique concept over the past years. All of this is tailored to suit each individual franchisee with the strength of the Longcroft brand anchoring the business. Our newest hotel was fully booked after 3 weeks of opening and the demand for more Longcroft hotels is incredible.
I have a talented team who provide all the advice and experience needed for a new hotel owner to hit the ground running. We have a strong social media presence, first class reviews and a forward thinking marketing and press team.
We also love the family element that we’ve managed to create with our franchise, we all speak on the phone regularly and meet up for dinner together.
I still run the original hotel, Longcroft Welwyn, which puts me in a franchisee’s position every day. This makes mentoring new franchisees much more efficient as I can relate to every aspect of the job and any difficulties or problems that could arise.
All of our franchisees agree that, yes, they could have opened their own independent cattery. But they would never have ended up with anything like a Longcroft hotel.
Joining an established multi award winning business is great comfort for cat owners wishing to use Longcroft hotels. This in itself is invaluable.
To launch as a solo cat hotel and build these elements of your business from scratch, including creating and registering a business and domain name, building a website and social media network, designing stationery, and commissioning photographers, writers, PR and Marketing, would cost in excess of £75,000. The Longcroft joining fee, by contrast, represents great value.
But also, aside from the money, there are the networking benefits that come from joining the Longcroft family. The reassurance that there’s always someone to reach out to when needed cannot be valued. It’s a ‘mini’ business link without the annual fees, and with those who have an intimate knowledge and understanding of your business.
Having said all that, you cannot simply buy a Longcroft franchise. We choose our franchisees very carefully. Firstly, they must be personable and animal loving. I make sure I conduct all of the interviews personally and prefer it if franchisees have no previous experience as we do things so differently at Longcroft. Of course there are other elements to consider like the type of property- some properties would never obtain planning permission around the constraints of licensing etc.
If you would like to come and join our successful Longcroft family, we would love to hear from you! We are looking to expand within the M25 and in Essex at the moment, but will be branching out further afield in the future.
Love,
Abi