What I share here doesn't come from what I've read. It comes from what I've lived.
A lot has been written about hotel investment. This page isn't one of those pieces. Here, I tell you what I actually went through — from the decision to turn a piece of land into a boutique hotel, to where things stand today — through experience, not theory.
I didn't come by the shortcuts.
I'm Emray Baylan. I was born in İzmir in 1983, and spent my childhood and high school years in Buca. I went to the US for university and studied Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University — building my own life in a different country, and taking responsibility for my own decisions, taught me a great deal.
After returning to Turkey, I completed my military service as a second lieutenant, serving as a United Nations Liaison Officer in Cyprus. I started my professional life at a large corporation, Philip Morris Sabancı — but I was let go a few months later.
That period wasn't easy. Looking back today, though, I see it as one of the most important turning points in my career: it pushed me to build my own business instead of building a career inside an organization someone else had founded.
From entrepreneurship to hotel investment.
In 2009, my brother and I founded our first company in İzmir: Baylan Otomasyon Sistemleri. In 2011, we founded our second company in Istanbul: Baylan Mobil Otomasyon. In 2016, I decided to do an MBA. And a few years later, while evaluating a piece of real estate I owned, a simple question changed everything: could I turn this into a hotel?
"Building a hotel is one thing. Running it is something else entirely."
After a four-year process, we brought House Sola to life in Alaçatı.
- 1983İzmirBorn; childhood and high school years in Buca.
- 2001–06Michigan State UniversitySupply Chain Management.
- 2006–07Military serviceSecond lieutenant; UN Liaison Officer in Cyprus.
- 2008Philip Morris SabancıA brief first professional experience, and a turning point.
- 2009Baylan Otomasyon SistemleriThe first company, founded with my brother in İzmir.
- 2011Baylan Mobil OtomasyonThe second company, in Istanbul.
- 2016Bilgi UniversityMBA.
- 2026House SolaOpened in Alaçatı after a four-year process.
Where theory turned into decisions.
House Sola is a 9-room boutique hotel I developed and still operate in Alaçatı, Çeşme. It opened its doors in 2026 and today runs at over 95% occupancy. House Sola is where every subject I talk about stopped being theory and became a real decision — and almost everything I share today traces back to that project.
Where I can be useful in the process.
Hotel investment is an interconnected chain of decisions, from property selection to operation. My experience is concentrated on these six points in that chain.
- Hotel Investment & FeasibilityEvaluating whether an investment idea makes financial sense, using realistic scenarios.
- Property Selection & Hotel ConversionReading a property for its hotel potential.
- Hotel Development & Project PlanningManaging concept, budget, timeline, design, permitting and opening as one connected system.
- Boutique Hotel Concept & PositioningConcept decisions that grow out of a clear positioning, as with House Sola.
- Construction, Design & Technical DevelopmentThe relationship between architecture and technical systems that directly affects operating costs.
- Permitting, Opening & OperationsPreparing a hotel for real-world operation.
A few principles I've picked up over time.
Numbers come before feelings. A good investment decision starts with realistic figures.
Property first. The wrong property can sink even a great concept.
Plan before you build. Most expensive mistakes become expensive because they're noticed too late.
Real experience matters. Real projects surface problems books can't describe.
Think like an investor, run it like a hotelier. A hotel has to work both as an investment and as an operating business.
An ongoing story.
House Sola keeps operating, the book keeps being written, and I'll keep sharing what I learn. If you're considering a hotel investment, I hope what I learned along the way helps you make better decisions.