The general manager liked the demo. The revenue manager wants it. The deal is now waiting on the owner, and what the owner has received is a PDF of features and a quote. Owners do not approve features. They approve a payback period, a contained risk and a person who will be accountable if the number is not met. If the document in front of them does not say those three things on one page, the deal waits for the next budget cycle.

This is a template for that page. It is written for the general manager to send under their own name, with you drafting it, because the GM has no time to write it and the owner trusts the GM more than they trust you. Replace everything in square brackets. Eight sections, one page, no appendix the owner has to open.

What an owner reads first

An owner or asset manager with several properties reads the first sentence, the cost line, the payback line and the name at the bottom, in that order. The template puts those four things where they will be found. The difference between what an owner and an operator want from the same purchase is set out in why hotel owners and operators want different things from software, and the business case has to satisfy the owner's version.

The one-page template

1. The decision requested

I am asking for approval to [sign a contract with / replace the current system with] [product] for [property], at a cost of [annual figure], starting [date], with an expected payback of [n] months.

One sentence. If the owner reads nothing else, they know what they are being asked and what it costs.

2. The problem, in money

In the last twelve months, [the problem] cost the property approximately [figure], made up of [component 1], [component 2] and [component 3]. These figures come from [source: the PMS, the OTA statements, the payroll report].

The source matters more than the number. An owner who can check the figure against a report they already receive accepts it. One who cannot discounts the whole page. For many hotel tech products the money is in commission, which is why OTA commission pressure is the best sales argument available.

3. The proposed change

[Product] will [the single most important thing it does], which [the staff role] will use to [the operational change]. It replaces [current system or manual process] and connects to [the PMS or channel manager].

Three sentences, no feature list. Name the staff role that will use it, because the owner wants to know the change will happen without new hires.

4. The full cost

Include the staff time. An owner who discovers it later treats every other number as suspect. A cost table that shows something being switched off reads very differently from one that only adds.

5. Return and payback

Based on [the figure in section 2], we expect [product] to recover [share] of that cost, worth [figure] in year one. Against a total year-one cost of [figure], payback is [n] months. The assumption behind this is [the one assumption that drives the number], which we will check at [60 or 90 days].

Use a share of the problem, not all of it. An owner distrusts a case that recovers everything. State the one assumption, because they will ask.

6. Risks and how they are contained

• Disruption during changeover: contained by [the migration plan, the go-live date in the low season, the parallel-run period].

• Staff adoption: contained by [training for named roles, the vendor's onboarding support, the usage check at 30 days].

• The vendor: contained by [references from similar properties, the contract's exit terms, data export rights].

• The result does not appear: contained by [the review at 90 days and what happens if the assumption in section 5 fails].

The first risk is the one owners ask about most, and a written migration plan answers it better than reassurance. Writing a migration plan that closes deals covers what that document should contain.

7. Who is accountable

[Name, role] owns the implementation and will report [the measure] to you at [30, 60 and 90 days]. [Vendor contact] is the named person at [vendor] for the first ninety days.

8. What was considered

We also looked at [alternative 1] and [alternative 2]. We chose [product] because [one reason tied to section 2 or 4]. Doing nothing costs the property [figure from section 2] a year.

Sentences to cut

• Anything with the words leading, innovative, seamless or all-in-one

• Any benefit without a figure next to it

• Any figure the property cannot verify from its own reports

• The feature list, in any form

• A return that recovers one hundred percent of the problem

• A request the owner has to re-read to understand

The takeaway

A hotel owner approves a business case that fits on one page, states the ask in the first sentence, shows every cost including staff time, calculates payback from figures the property can check, and names the person who will answer for the result. Draft it for the general manager, let them put their name on it, and the decision that was waiting for the next budget cycle often gets made this one.

If deals routinely stall at the owner, the 12-point leak audit takes about twenty minutes and shows whether the leak is in conversion or somewhere earlier in the funnel.

Frequently Asked Questions