Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
We chat a bit more about the party and toss some ideas around before we move on to the bigger picture items.
“Next week we’re having a conference call with Bancroft and Griffin Mills to discuss their franchise proposal. Obviously nothing is definite, and at this point we’re just hearing what they have to say, but we’ve all done all our research and made our plans, so I think we’re ready. This could be an amazing opportunity,” Avery says.
“What exactly would that mean for us? From what I understand, other locations would carry the Spark House name, right? Does that mean we’d be split up? Would we have to move to one of the new Spark House hotels to help run it?” The thought alone makes my throat tight. I’ve been hesitant about this whole thing right from the start, but Avery and London are all in. I know I should probably say something, but my sisters are so excited about this, and I don’t feel that anything I say is going to change our trajectory. Making waves and creating conflict isn’t something I wanted to do, but maybe I should’ve.
It’s hard enough as it is to find time to spend with my sisters outside of work. If we’re all split up, what will that look like? And with Grandma Spark in Italy, all the people I’m closest to could be scattered across the country.
London puts her hand over mine, maybe sensing my unease. “We won’t be split up. We’d continue to run Spark House here, just like we always have. But Mills Hotels would like to invest in us. They want to use the Spark House name and our model and open boutique-style event hotels in other locations, and they’ll pay us a cut to do that.”
“So they won’t own Spark House?”
“No.” Declan shakes his head. “They’ll be able to open new hotels in other states, but since they would be using our name, we would need to give approval before they can move forward with proposed sites. It’s like a joint venture.”
“Okay. That makes sense. Just as long as we stay together.” Lately it’s started to feel like I barely know what my role is here. I want to be able to go with the flow, but the things I’m good at keep being taken over. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had to go somewhere else. I’d feel like a fraud. Both Avery and London have very defined roles, and me … well, I’m kind of a floater. A jack of all trades, master of none. Or at least that’s how I’ve felt ever since the Teamology initiative streamlined our social media accounts, leaving me to manage “supplemental content.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Avery assures me. “All it means is that there will be more Spark Houses in the world.”
“They’d like to start small to build on exclusivity and make sure the boutique hotels are meeting the same standard of care and attention as the original Spark House,” Declan explains. “They have five prospective sites: two in California, one in upstate New York, and two in Vermont. They want to start with Cali and New York, then move on to Vermont. After that, they have three additional proposed sites in the Pacific Northwest.”
That seems like a lot of expansion, going from one to six, and then adding three more after that. “What does the timeline look like on that? How quickly is all this going to happen? How are we going to run this place and manage these franchises?” I can feel the panic rising, and I’m surprised London is so calm in the face of all this change. Usually she’s the wired one of the three of us. Apparently this is one of my new Spark House roles—resident panicker.
“That’s where the Mills brothers come in. They’re setting up a core team who will train and oversee the franchise candidates.”
“But how are they going to do that if we’re here?” I ask, still not understanding. I really should’ve asked more questions before, but it’s all just hitting me now.
“The core team will come out and shadow us during events over the next few months,” Declan explains.
“So we’ll be teaching them how to run the hotel while we run the hotel?” London asks. The lilt in her voice tells me I’m not the only one with anxiety now.
“Yes and no,” Declan says. “We’re going to teach their core team, and they in turn will train the employees at each new site. All of that will be overseen by the project manager hired by Mills Hotels. And that’s if we like their proposal and they agree to our terms.”
“What are our terms?” We’ve all been spending weeks pulling data and financials, reviewing proposals, creating systems, but I’m still unsure of the nitty-gritty details. It’s like all of these big decisions are being made around me, and I’m running to catch up. My focus until now had been on wrapping up the final birthday party and keeping up with coursework, on top of adding event-specific content to our social media. Maybe I spent a little too much time trying to figure out a way to keep the birthday parties. And it seems to have been for nothing, since they’ve been cut regardless.