DON'T let her youth fool you - Quest franchisee Amy van de Ven has earned her stripes and has her eye on making the venture a success.
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Ms van de Ven has partnered with Quest Wodonga's Tash Callewaert and Quest Nowra's James Blanchett to manage the 77-room serviced apartment accommodation targeted at corporate clients and weekend travellers, which is now expected to be complete and open by early September.
She said with the Great Western Hotel also planning renovations, the section of Kite Street would look "amazing".
"The two premier buildings will look really different in the next few months and you'll start seeing it becoming its own hub," she said.
"I'm really excited."
At almost 28 years of age, Ms van de Ven has worked for Quest for 10 years and has been described within the company as one of its most promising young franchisees.
At 23, she was named Business Development Executive Employee of the Year and at 26, she received the Chairman's Award in recognition of her work within the group.
She spent the past six years at Quest Wodonga where she completed the franchisee program.
"I really wanted a regional rotation - there is a huge growth opportunity there and Orange is really similar [to Wodonga] from the tourism and corporate sides as well," she said.
"I've always had a passion to own my own business."
She said her approach was to connect with businesses and community organisations in the area.
"So when people are travelling to the area, they then think of us," she said.
"I love being part of a community and being embedded in it, I'm a big believer in that."
In the three weeks since Ms van de Ven moved to Orange, she has met with tourism organisation Orange 360 to gain an insight into priorities.
"They're talking about targeting the 28-34-year-old age group and I feel I can bring my experience into targeting them as well," she said.
Ms van de Ven said the build and fit-out were already accounted for and her first task was recruiting reception and cleaning staff.
"We'll probably have an opening team of 15-20," she said.
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