EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AU FIL DE L’EAU is an innovative and creative concept for the tourist or resident who wants to sleep in an alternative accommodation for a day or more. The hotel industry is stuck; in some cities the number of rooms are insufficient to accommodate all the tourists. The hotel and holiday residence industry offers a wide range of accommodation such as flats, mobile homes, rooms, and hotels. Unfortunately, it has no innovative accommodation which is a growing sector. AU FIL DE L’EAU is growing in a niche market, because it’s one of the first companies that offers nights on a comfortable well-furnished boat. Our differentiation is the fact,that we have a web site and a physical location. Our targets are tourists with short and medium duration stays, and who are aged between 25 and 60 years old, with or without children. The ratio between foreign people and French people is estimated at 20 per cent of foreign and 80 per cent of French tourists in La Rochelle. That is why the company needs to be able to receive these customers . The target demographic is open to other kinds of customers who want to try innovative accommodation, especially sailors, who want to find an accommodation that looks like their own boat. La Rochelle receives around three million tourists per year . La Rochelle is considered as one of the top 10 cities in France for tourism, with an average price between 60 and 120 € per night (the price depends on the kind of boat). First year revenue is anticipated to be around 337287€ and reaching 490933€ during the second year. The preliminary sales forecast is visible in Appendix 1. Our main revenue would be done by the website. The business is led by Damien Fleury and Gauthier Dufour, ambitious entrepreneurs, who just finished their Bachelor of Business and Administration in the Business School of La Rochelle (France). They will be developing a company with a starting investment of 20000 € based on personal income and a 10000€ loan. Day to Day management and communication, and website updating, will be handled by Gauthier Dufour, a classmate of Damien Fleury. A Capital of 30000€ is going to be invested to launch the business. Damien Fleury and Gauthier Dufour will be just taking out a loan to have more financial security. The initial investment would be more than the money spent during the first year, and this is a safe decision, because we never know what will happen during the first year. The company will open on 1st March 2015, and is expected to be healthy within the first year, which is very rare. By the end of the first year, the net profit should be around 2000€. By the second year, net profit is expected to reach at 10000 €, which is good. In the long term if the results continue to grow, the owners Damien Fleury and Gauthier Dufour plan to expand the business to other locations such as Arcachon, Marseille, and other harbors. AU FIL DE L’EAU AU FIL DE L’EAU is an S.A.R.L (Société A Responsabilité Limité) translate in English, means a society with limited risks. The owners can only lose what they have invested. This is a kind of partnership business, in which the two entrepreneurs do not need more people to invest in the company, and through their partnership they can share the profit. Presently, the tourism sector is an important sector, France is the most visited tourist destination in the world . The sector is not innovating anymore, and that’s why “AU FIL DE L’EAU” wants to revolutionize the hotel industry, by offering a Customer to Customer service where people can sleep on someone else’s boat. BUSINESS GOALS The mission of the AU FIL DE L’EAU concept is “To offer the best alternative accommodation in La Rochelle with a quality service to customers“. In the long term the company wants to propose that customer have access to boat from all around France, and even have boat from all around the world. THE INDUSTRY The tourism industry in France gained 41.7 billion € in 2012. Approximately 83 million foreign tourists came to France in 2012, and that number is growing by 1.8 per cent per year. These numbers show us that the tourism industry in France is growing slowly, and is also an attractive place for international tourists. The Hotel industry in La Rochelle represents 773 buildings. The slow growth of the industry can be partly attributed to the decreasing total amount of money spent on tourism, due to the economic crisis. In 2013, La Rochelle was in the top ten best destinations in France for tourism, especially due to the historical aspects of the city. The Consumer to Consumer market is growing very fast, that kind of business permits both parties to be better off. The owner of the boats can earn extra revenue, and the consumer can rent it to a better price. The major company in that sector is AirBnb, which is a company that is growing very fast. This company permits an increasing in the number of accommod