Your numbers
The full picture
You negotiate the base and incentive fees, $0. The full operator economics come to $0, which is 0% of your revenue. The difference, $0, is the stack most owners never add up.
What the fees leave you
Marketing, distribution, loyalty, technology and central charges sit above GOP, so they are already inside the GOP figure. Only the management fees and the reserve, which fall after GOP, are deducted here. This is before property taxes, insurance, any ground rent and debt service.
Worth a closer look
Why the stack matters more than the base fee
Every formula this calculator uses, the USALI rule for which charges sit above gross operating profit and which fall below it, and the tests it has to pass, are published in full: how this calculator works.
Owners negotiate the base fee hard and accept the rest as standard. But the base fee is rarely where value leaks. It leaks in the layers around it: marketing contributions, distribution and channel costs, loyalty charges, central and system allocations, technology fees and a long tail of pass-throughs. Added up, that stack can rival or exceed the headline fees, and it compounds over a ten to twenty year agreement.
This calculator adds the whole stack so you can see the all-in operator cost as a share of revenue, not just the two numbers on the front page of the term sheet. It is a quick estimate, not a substitute for modelling the full deal. For the detail behind each charge, read the guide to hotel management agreement fees, and to see where these costs sit on the statement, the operating statement explained.
The "what the fees leave you" panel runs a short waterfall from gross operating profit. It deducts only the charges that fall after GOP, the management base and incentive fees and the FF&E reserve, because the brand and distribution charges already sit above GOP and are inside that figure. The result is what is left before property taxes, insurance, ground rent and debt service. For the difference between GOP and the owner's real bottom line, read GOP, EBITDA and the owner's bottom line, and for why the reserve belongs in the model, FF&E and the replacement reserve.
When you are ready to model a real deal in full, across management, lease and franchise structures on the USALI 12 standard, that is what Stax IQ does.
Calculator outputs are illustrative estimates, not a quote for any specific hotel.
Frequently asked questions
What does the fee stack calculator show?
Enter your revenue and the operator's fees and it adds the whole stack so you can see the all-in operator cost as a share of revenue, not just the base and incentive fees on the front page of the term sheet. It also runs a short waterfall from gross operating profit to show what the fees leave you. It is a quick estimate, not a substitute for modelling the full deal.
Why does the fee stack matter more than the base fee?
Owners negotiate the base fee hard and accept the rest as standard, but the base fee is rarely where value leaks. It leaks in the layers around it: marketing contributions, distribution and channel costs, loyalty charges, central and system allocations, technology fees and a long tail of pass-throughs. Added up, that stack can rival or exceed the headline fees, and it compounds over a ten to twenty year agreement.
Which charges does the owner-return panel deduct from GOP?
The "what the fees leave you" panel deducts only the charges that fall after GOP, the management base and incentive fees and the FF&E reserve, because the brand and distribution charges already sit above GOP and are inside that figure. The result is what is left before property taxes, insurance, ground rent and debt service.