Q: In a tweet, state what you are trying to do with this business.

Create an exclusive, niche marketing club for hotels with true and absolute beachfront location and to be the global authority on beaches.

Q: Describe the business, core products and services in one paragraph

The world’s only dedicated beach and beachfront hotel finder: The Beachfront Club is the world’s first and only authority on ‘true beachfront’ hotels, and has qualified over 8,000 accommodation worldwide that meet our strict, ‘right on the beach’ criteria – from budget bungalows to 5-star resorts. Our detailed, hi-tech beach maps enable beach-lovers to find true beachfront hotels quickly, and ensure no one is ever misled again by hotels without absolute beachfront locations. Here visitors can book their hotel with complete confidence in their on-the-beach or sea-front locations. We are not a booking engine, but we will provide convenient links through a range of affiliate partners, plus direct links to our Premium Members’ own on-line booking systems. As well as providing accurate information on genuine beachfront hotels, our interactive functions are being built to make this the biggest single source of information about beaches worldwide.

Q: Who are your key customers?

Group 1:Every true beachfront hotel, resort, villa, guesthouse, beach-house, bungalow or restaurant in the world.

Group 2: Every beach-lover on Planet Earth.

Q: Who are your key partners?

We will be affiliating ourselves with all the major professional booking engines globally, and also hope to eventually form cooperative relationships with relative public and private authorities and associations, with particular concern for the scientific studies, environmental protection and sustainable development of the world’s beaches, such as Blue Flag, Green Globe, and the like.

Q: What business are you most likely to be compared to?

A range of different interactive Web 2.0 websites, especially any niche hotel club or travel community sites, photo-sharing and even social networking sites, without the banner ads.

Q: What problem are you trying to solve for your customers?

Our hotel customers – the problem of not optimizing the inherent competitive advantage that their true beachfront location gives them, and seeing their non-beachfront neighbours take a share of that business, often with an implication that they are right on the beach.

Our visitor customers – the problem of never really being 100% sure when they make their booking from their home….if the hotel they have booked truly is absolutely beachfront. We will provide the ultimate proof of genuine beachfront location for thousands of hotels, a qualification that people around the world will trust.

Q: What problem are you trying to solve for your partners?

The problem of not yet having this particular innovative niche within their generic hotel listing inventories,f or any visitors to their booking engine system who are seeking such a specific type of resort.

Q: What financial support did you have to launch the business?

Self-funded by founders and directors, some cash, and copious quantities of blood, sweat & tears, mixed with some emotional stress and lots of laughter.

Q: Who validated the idea first – investors or customers?

The two founders – throughout their long careers in beach tourism related industries (hotels / publishing & photography ) and first-hand customer-feedback experience associated with beach hotel preferences…..the idea is well-validated.

Q: What is the revenue model and strategy for profitability?

Front door stream: Premium Membership fees for hotel members who wish to improve their marketing advantages.

Back door stream: Affiliate partnerships with key booking engines.

Q: What is the market opportunity? How scalable is this business?

We have currently mapped over 8,000 hotels worldwide, and estimate 2,000 to 3,000 more which still need to be sourced. Based on the two revenue streams, both market opportunity and scalability are almost limitless, as long as beach holidays remain the most popular holiday destination, globally, which is most probable, and people around the world continue to seek true beachfront hotels, year after year, beach after beach, destination after destination, and country after country.

Q: Competitive analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

Strengths:
• innovative and unique hotel marketing concept – previously untapped market
• Niche marketing – Global reach across a ‘ highly specialized ‘ hotel member and
‘ broad demographic ‘ visitor base.
• Customer demand never reaches saturation point over time
• Smart use of modern technology with traditional business model.

Weaknesses :
• Web browser / Google Search ranking low on launch.
• Inadequate financial ability, on launch, to grow and evolve at optimum desired rate.
• New concept which will take some markets time to evaluate and recognize.

Opportunities:
• Evolution into the most comprehensive & interactive Beach Information site online.
• Building solid long-term relationships with major affiliate booking engines and global hotel 
• Recognition as the most credible global authority on beachfront accommodations, restaurants and related business entities, as well as the most recognized online authority on all beach-related 
• Ability to contribute to global awareness of the need for sustained conservation of all beaches and their environments..,,,both on and off-shore.

Threats:
• Existing popular online travel sites and hotel clubs that will, almost certainly, try to copy our concept. We welcome the challenge.
• Global economy downturns effecting beach tourism traffic levels.

Q: Who are the team members and advisors? 

Co-founders are John Everingham, former publisher and photographer, and Chris Ryan, former hotelier; Wei Liang Yu – executive director. And a hard-working team of researchers, developers, code-writers, editors and lawyers scattered between Hong Kong, Thailand, Russia and Argentina…..all good advisors.

Q: Why do you think you are the best people to make this vision happen?

We have spent many years at the ground level directly in or associated with the tourism industry, mostly in beach resort destinations; and have, between us, the right mix of backgrounds, skills, industry contacts,entrepreneurial prowess and innate desire to succeed in our goals.

Q: What’s the motivation behind doing this?

This exclusive club was created by people who live in awe of the beauty of nature, and recognise that special interface between land and sea called ‘beach’ as one of the highest of earth’s many amazing creations. We link this natural world with the very latest internet technology through an interface that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago.

This new-era combination of natural world, traditional hotel and travel business and digital technology is dedicated to helping visitors find true beachfront hotels around the world with ease, and to helping member hotels make contact with more future guests. We aim to provide these services in as democratic a manner as possible, displaying small, budget bungalows on remote and little-known beaches as well as top, world-class resorts in famous destinations. Visitors from all walks of life should be able to find accommodation most suited to them. Right on the beach. is the ruling criteria.

More than just make a business from beaches, tourism and technology, we are dedicated to the promotion of better understanding of the natural environments we use and abuse. We aim to use this site as a knowledge base for learning about beach and ocean environments, and become the global authority on beaches. We wish to be instrumental in encouraging long-term preservation of beach environments, natural treasures we inherited and which we are morally bound to leave for our children in as unspoiled a condition as possible.

Finally, we hope to have lots of fun ourselves on the many different beaches along our journey, while making both friends and money, and hopefully leaving the world in a little better condition than that in which we found it.