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To prepare a tourism, accommodation or activity business for sale in New Zealand, bring together monthly trading, the owner's work, staff arrangements, property rights and bookings data. My own resort sale informs the questions below. Their importance depends on the business, location and likely buyer.
Who buys them
Potential buyers include an incoming owner-operator, another tourism operator, an acquisition group or the management team. An owner-operator may focus on the work and income; another operator may examine fit with existing sites or services. Size alone does not determine who will buy. Prepare evidence of seasonal earnings, management responsibilities and the handover for the buyer types relevant to your business. Explore the five buyer profiles.
Seasonality: show the monthly trading pattern
Prepare three years of monthly figures and current trading where available. Show peak, shoulder and lower trading months, and whether cash flow covers commitments throughout the year. Reconcile monthly reports to the annual accounts and explain occupancy, bookings or passenger numbers alongside revenue. Separate documented sector-wide shocks from ordinary variations in trading.
Explain every role the owner performs, including management, maintenance and customer service. Record the full market cost of replacing that work rather than assuming one manager replaces every responsibility. Make clear whether the earnings figure is before owner pay or after replacement cost.
Staff accommodation and seasonal staff
Where staff accommodation supports the operation, document what the business owns, leases or arranges, its cost, tenure and relevant terms. Ask your advisers what would continue after a sale. Explain the seasonal staffing model, recruitment needs and reliance on particular sources of labour. A buyer needs evidence of continuity rather than assumptions about who will stay.
The property, the consent and the concession
Accommodation and activity businesses may rely on premises, resource consents or concessions. Gather the relevant documents and ask your lawyer what an asset sale, share sale or change of operator would require. Establish the lease term, renewals and applicable consent or assignment provisions instead of assuming they transfer automatically.
DOC explains changes and transfers of concessions. If a DOC permission is involved, discuss the proposed transaction and requirements with the Department and your advisers early. If you own the property, also clarify whether it will be included or leased to the buyer and on what basis.
The growth story, and the bookings data that proves it
Support a growth story with the data available: direct and intermediary bookings, commissions, cancellations, repeat visits, lead times and capacity constraints. Explain what is observed and what remains a forecast. A costed opportunity with assumptions is more useful than an unqualified claim of potential.
The eight tests, in this sector
Buyers run the same eight tests on an accommodation or activity business as on any other, but several of them look different here: owner dependence often sits with the owner-guide, customer concentration shows up as reliance on one wholesaler, one cruise line or one booking channel, and property means consents and concessions as much as the lease. Which of the eight carries the weight for your business depends on who is likely to buy it. The free readiness check gives a first read.
The Sale-Readiness Review considers likely buyer types and the questions they may ask. My experience owning and selling a resort, alongside businesses in retail and manufacturing, informs how I look at seasonal trading, staffing, premises and the practical handover.
About the author
Oscar Rodwell runs Rodara Advisory, preparing New Zealand businesses worth NZD 1–10 million for sale. His experience owning, running and selling businesses in retail, manufacturing, hospitality and property informs his work on earnings, people, agreements and handovers. About Oscar.
