Folio V · 5 of 7
Sell-side playbook
How an owner prepares a hotel for sale: ops truth, data room, broker selection, and the story that survives a buyer’s night-audit sample.
Buyers do not pay for a narrative they cannot rebuild. The highest price is usually the one that survives a month of night audits, a walk, and a PIP the brand will actually require. Cosmetics without a file are a discount later.
Buyers do not pay for a narrative they cannot rebuild.
Methods · named, not blended
I · Ops paper
Make the house operable
PMS, payroll versus occupancy, FF&E, the current contract. Absence is a price chip. Start while the T12 you want is still ahead.
II · Room
Index before poetry
Date every file. Advice, claimed, attested. Zero guest names. Harbor does not host the room.
III · Desk
A hire, not a compliment
Comparable set with public prices named. Conflict sentence. Engagement you can explain to IC.
IV · Walk
Tell the truth about the boiler
The GM knows the room. Housekeeping does not learn the sale from a stranger with a camera.
01Make the house operable on paper
A buyer will ask for the things you wish you had: a clean PMS extract, payroll versus occupancy, a current FF&E inventory, the franchise or management agreement, the ground lease, insurance, and a list of open life-safety items. If you cannot produce them, you will meet that fact in diligence as a price chip. The ops-ready-for-sale job is the first sale work — months before the teaser.
02Data room before banker poetry
Build the room as if you were the buyer who will try to kill the deal. Index it. Date every file. Separate advice, claimed, and attested. Do not put a guest name in a folio sample. Harbor’s prepare-data-room job is the how. A messy room is a tell.
03Broker selection is a hire, not a compliment
Ask for the comparable set they would actually use — segment, keys, region — and whether those comps have public prices. Ask who the likely buyers are by name of fund type, not by adjective. Ask how they handle a dual agency. Ask what they will not put in the CIM. A glossy book that a night audit will embarrass is not marketing. It is a future concession.
04The week of the walk
The GM should know what is in the room. Housekeeping should not learn about the sale from a stranger with a camera. If you are hiding a wing, you are pricing a later fight. Tell the truth about the boiler. It will be found.
Questions owners ask
- When should I start preparing to sell?
- When the T12 you want is still ahead of you. PIP, labor, and a clean audit trail take months. A two-week sprint produces a discount.
- Do I need a national desk?
- For a trophy or a portfolio, often. For a 90-key Hampton, a specialist limited-service shop may be the grown-up choice. Match the desk to the comparable set.
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