Free tool: the fee stack calculator
Enter your revenue and the operator's fees, and see the full operator cost behind the headline base fee.
Open the calculator ›Free tool: the incentive fee calculator
Enter GOP, the incentive fee and the owner's priority, and see what the hurdle saves you against the same fee with none.
Open the calculator ›What is USALI 12?
The hotel accounting standard, what changed in the 12th edition, and why it matters to owners. Start here.
Read the guide ›The operating statement, line by line
How a hotel P&L is built, from rooms revenue down to the owner's return, with a worked example.
Read the guide ›Hotel management agreement
What is in one, clause by clause, and what each clause costs the owner.
Read the guide ›Hotel feasibility study
What one costs, what is inside it, and which half of the work you can do yourself first.
Read the guide ›Hotel management agreement fees
Base fee, incentive fee, the owner's priority, and the dozen charges nobody negotiates.
Read the guide ›How to negotiate a hotel management agreement
Where to spend your negotiating capital: the hurdle, the owner's priority, budget control, caps and exit.
Read the guide ›Hotel management agreement red flags
The ten warning signs to catch in a draft agreement before you sign.
Read the guide ›Management vs lease vs franchise
The three ways to run a hotel, compared on what an owner actually keeps, with a side-by-side.
Read the guide ›A projection that survives due diligence
What makes a hotel projection hold up when a lender or buyer pulls it apart.
Read the guide ›Hotel pro forma
The revenue build-up, the ramp to stabilisation, the fee stack and the tests lenders apply. The basics, owner-first.
Read the guide ›What to check before buying a hotel
A pre-acquisition checklist: the contracts you inherit, the fee stack, and the real return.
Read the guide ›The incentive fee hurdle and owner's priority
The clause that decides when an operator earns its bonus, and the one owners give away.
Read the guide ›GOP, EBITDA and the owner's bottom line
Three numbers that get confused, and the gaps between them that cost owners money.
Read the guide ›Hotel fee benchmarks
The benchmark ranges for management, franchise and lease fees, and the charges around them, in one reference.
Read the guide ›The hotel franchise fee stack
Royalty, marketing, loyalty, reservations and technology: what a brand really costs.
Read the guide ›Is a hotel brand worth the cost?
What a brand delivers in distribution and demand, weighed against the fee stack and capex it costs.
Read the guide ›Hotel lease agreements explained
Fixed, turnover and hybrid rent: how a lease splits risk and reward, and when it beats a management contract.
Read the guide ›Franchise vs independent
Buy a brand's distribution and keep operations, or go it alone. The fees, the demand and the financing.
Read the guide ›What brand standards really cost
PIPs, mandated renovation cycles and the FF&E reserve: the capital side of carrying a flag, in numbers.
Read the guide ›FF&E and replacement reserve
What to set aside to keep the hotel in good order, and why leaving it out misleads.
Read the guide ›USALI 12 vs USALI 11
What changed in the 12th edition, and what it means for your model.
Read the guide ›