Buying a hotel, motel or RV park in South Florida

South Florida has 130 established hotels, motels and RV parks by our count: companies in business at least 15 years that still file with the state every year and aren't part of a larger group. Of those, 81% have been in business 20 years or more. Most will never be listed for sale, and many of their owners have never been asked.

130

established companies

81%

built over 20+ years

$195k+

a year, earned by the top quarter

32%

built over 30+ years

What it takes to own one

Hotels, motels and RV parks in South Florida come in every size. Here's what owning one could look like at three levels, from a solid company to one of the leaders, with a small business loan covering most of the price.

A solid company

Earns about: $86,000 a year
Price about: $190,000
Your cash: $27,000
Could pay you: up to $52,000 a year

A strong company

Top quarter in South Florida

Earns about: $195,000 a year
Price about: $429,000
Your cash: $60,000
Could pay you: up to $118,000 a year

One of the leaders

Top tenth in South Florida

Earns about: $578,000 a year
Price about: $1.3 million
Your cash: $178,000
Could pay you: up to $348,000 a year

Earnings are owner earnings: profit plus what the owner pays themselves, before loan payments and taxes. They and the prices are our estimates from public records, not the owners' figures, and we value companies like these at about 2.2 times a year's owner earnings. Your cash covers the down payment and closing costs, and what the business could pay you is what's left after the loan payments and the cushion lenders require. The more cash you bring, the further up you can go.

Age, size and location

Revenue is our estimate from public records, grouped into wide ranges.

In business	Companies
Under 20 years	25
20 to 29 years	64
30 to 39 years	24
40 years or more	17

Estimated yearly revenue	Companies
Under $1M	48
$1M to $2M	17
$2M to $4M	6
$4M to $8M	3
Over $8M	7

County	Companies
Miami-Dade	46
Broward	36
Monroe	30
Palm Beach	18

Town	Companies
Miami	18
Key West	14
Miami Beach	12
Hollywood	9
Fort Lauderdale	6
Key Largo	6
Ft. Lauderdale	5
West Palm Beach	5

What the best hotels, motels and RV parks have in common

Guests coming for more than one reason: vacations, business, sports and events, nearby hospitals or construction work.
Plenty of direct bookings and repeat guests, not total reliance on online travel agencies.
For RV parks, seasonal guests who rebook before they leave, and monthly sites that stay rented in summer.
Roofs, air conditioning, plumbing and pools in good repair, with records of what was replaced and when.
A good general or resident manager who plans to stay.
Review scores that have held up over several years.
For a branded hotel, a franchise agreement with years left and no large property improvement plan (the list of upgrades a brand requires) hanging over it.
A site outside the worst flood zones, or buildings that came through recent storms well.

What to check before you buy

Occupancy and rate by month for several years, checked against the sales and tourist tax returns actually filed.
The buildings. A full property inspection covering roofs, air conditioning, fire alarms and sprinklers, pools and elevators (which need annual inspections under chapter 399), plus any open code or fire marshal violations.
Insurance. Get your own quotes for wind, flood and liability before you sign. In Florida they can change the whole picture.
The franchise. Whether the brand will approve you, what upgrades it will require, and what it charges.
Booking sources. How much comes through online travel agencies, and what they keep.
For an RV park. The list of long-term residents and their agreements, any duties under chapter 723, and the condition of water, sewer and electrical service to the sites. Many parks run their own utility systems, which have their own permits and repair costs.
Staffing. How hard it is to keep housekeepers and maintenance staff in that town during peak season.

Questions to ask the owner

How full are you, and what do you charge, in your best and slowest months?
Where do your bookings come from: direct, online travel agencies, the brand's system or repeat guests?
What major work has the property needed in the last five years, and what's coming next?
How did the property come through the last few hurricanes, and what did insurance cover?
Who runs things day to day, and will they stay?
For an RV park: how many guests return every season, and how many sites are rented by the year?
If it's branded, has the brand said what upgrades it would require from a new owner?

To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a hotel, motel or RV park in Florida.

Owning a company in South Florida

The local economy

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

What's different about owning a company here

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.