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Harborby Signalry
0
Owner / assetThis decision

Job brief

Decide flag, soft brand, or independent before you price it

How and who for the hotel job—verified when attested.

When affiliation is the argument, I want a cash-flow comparison — fees, PIP, mix, buyer set — not a logo debate.

Usable on this screen

Scoped brief

Affiliation is a contract. Model royalty, program fees, PIP, distribution, and the exit buyer. Do not add 80 basis points of cap rate because a logo is pretty.

Outcome
Two or three modeled files: independent, soft brand, hard flag — with fees, PIP, and who would buy the house next.
Catalog budget band
$12–40k to model and walk brand conversations. A worksheet range, not a quote.
Catalog timeline
4–8 weeks. Not a promise.

  1. Step 1

    Write the current contract

    Remaining term, fees, territories, termination, liquidated damages. If you are independent, write the demand engine you actually have.

  2. Step 2

    Build the alternate files

    Same rooms, different fee and PIP load, a honest guess at mix. Harbor’s estimate will not magically reprice a logo — you change the income lines.

  3. Step 3

    Name the next buyer

    REIT, private, operator-buyer. Flags widen some rooms and close others. Independents need an operator story.

  4. Step 4

    Score a logo debate with no fee file, not 'the flag will help'

    If royalty and PIP are not in both models, it is not a decision. Harbor will not invent an affiliation premium.

Provider shortlist

  1. People

    Brandt & Vale Labor

    Hotel labor design

    Catalog score 8.2. A post-job shape, not a verification. Stable id brandt-vale.

  2. People

    Ashcroft Asset Advisors

    Owner asset management

    Catalog score 8.8. A post-job shape, not a verification. Stable id ashcroft.

  3. People

    Sable Underwriting Desk

    Boutique acquisition underwriting

    Catalog score 8.9. A post-job shape, not a verification. Stable id sable-desk.

Download markdownFull who listRecord a result

Leave a record

The next hotel starts from what you leave

Harbor by Signalry stays hotels only. A description, a claim, and a reported result each leave a stable id behind. Nothing here is a price, a customer, or a verification.

  • Buyer

    Describe your job

    No account. Harbor by Signalry opens the closest catalog brief, when not to buy, and a shortlist. A weak sentence stays on the catalog.

    Open a brief

  • Supplier

    Join as a supplier

    Company, jobs served, regions, and a hotel reference. The packet is queued as unverified pending. The form cannot mark it verified.

    Start a claim

  • Hotel

    Record a result

    A metric, before and after, and the dates. It is shown as reported until a person checks the evidence. Verified Outcome is not insurance.

    Record a result

AdviceModel two files. A logo is not a decision.

VerifiedAlder House: 100% of FDD fee stack and entry PIP modeled; 24-month royalty ramp negotiated.

Name a verified-outcome priceSit a 30-minute pilotHow ranking works

Situation

What is actually on fire

The table is arguing a logo. Nobody has written fees, PIP, or who buys the house next.

Approaches

Two or three paths — with the give

Hard flag

When. Pipe, lender comfort, a deeper buyer set on select-service

You give. Fees, PIP, and an exit clause that can be expensive

Stay independent

When. Name and margin, if you can demand

You give. A thinner buyer set and a website problem

Who to involve

  • · Owner
  • · GM
  • · Brand / franchise counsel

First 7 days

YAML-shaped: day / theme / tasks / owner / risk / exit. Advice until a case is verified.

  1. day: 1

    Write the fail in one sentence

    • · Write the fail in one sentence. Job: Decide flag, soft brand, or independent before you price it.
    owner:
    Owner / asset manager
    risk:
    The exit is not written down
    exit:
    A note the next shift can open

  2. day: 2

    Pull the last 7 days of the live number

    • · Pull the last 7 days of the live number. If it is missing, that absence is the finding.
    owner:
    Owner / asset manager
    risk:
    The exit is not written down
    exit:
    A note the next shift can open

  3. day: 3

    Name who owns the workaround today (desk,

    • · Name who owns the workaround today (desk, HK, night audit, owner).
    owner:
    Owner / asset manager
    risk:
    The exit is not written down
    exit:
    A note the next shift can open

  4. day: 4

    Walk one peak hour

    • · Walk one peak hour. Write what the system claims vs what the floor did.
    owner:
    Owner / asset manager
    risk:
    The exit is not written down
    exit:
    A note the next shift can open

  5. day: 5

    Ask vendors the worksheet questions

    • · Ask vendors the worksheet questions. Discard anyone who cannot answer with a caveat.
    owner:
    Owner / asset manager
    risk:
    The exit is not written down
    exit:
    A note the next shift can open

  6. day: 6

    Pick one approach

    • · Pick one approach. Write when-not-to-buy on the same page.
    owner:
    Owner / asset manager
    risk:
    The exit is not written down
    exit:
    A note the next shift can open

  7. day: 7

    Run the smallest test that would change Mo

    • · Run the smallest test that would change Monday. No annual contract yet.
    owner:
    Owner / asset manager
    risk:
    The exit is not written down
    exit:
    A note the next shift can open

Decision worksheet

Questions, red flags, bands

Take this to a vendor call. Budget bands are Advice — a Harbor shape, not a quote.

Ask the vendor

  1. 1. Who types the status / number — a person, or your product?
  2. 2. What would have happened anyway in 90 days without you?
  3. 3. Show a property of this size and stack. Demo-labeled categories do not count as proof.
  4. 4. What can your agent never do (folio post, mark clean, change a rate)?
  5. 5. What is the kill-switch if guest comments move?

Red flags

  • · Underwriting a flag you have not been awarded.
  • · Treating a brand acquisition as a real-estate sale.
  • · Ignoring liquidated damages.

When not to buy. Do not buy a logo debate without fees, PIP, mix, and who would buy the house next. Affiliation is cash flow, not a flag argument.

Do it in-house

Time and a named owner. No vendor. Use the 7-day plan first.

$12–40k to model and walk brand conversations

Typical Harbor band for this job — advice, not a quote.

Full program

People + system + 90-day proof. Only if the 7-day plan already failed.

Vendor checklist

Score the call. Keep it on this browser.

Weighted questions — yes/no, scale, or text. Must-pass ids persist on this browser. Pass threshold 70. A no on a must-pass is a walk-away — not a maybe.

Brand
Stack shape — not a partnership

  1. property context · weight 2 · must pass

    Can they name your key count and whether you are independent, soft-brand, or major — without a discovery theater?

  2. property context · weight 2 · must pass

    Do they treat your PMS as a shape (Opera-class / Mews-class / Cloudbeds-class) — not a fake partnership slide?

  3. control · weight 3 · must pass

    Who types the status / number — a person, or your product?

  4. vendor · weight 2

    What would have happened anyway in 90 days without you?

  5. vendor · weight 2

    Show a property of this size and stack. Demo-labeled categories do not count as proof.

  6. vendor · weight 2

    What can your agent never do (folio post, mark clean, change a rate)?

  7. vendor · weight 2

    What is the kill-switch if guest comments move?

Does not clear

0 / 100

must_pass: brand-vs-independent-ctx-rooms, brand-vs-independent-ctx-stack, brand-vs-independent-q1

A must-pass failed. Walk away.

How

The brief

Affiliation is a contract. Model royalty, program fees, PIP, distribution, and the exit buyer. Do not add 80 basis points of cap rate because a logo is pretty.

  1. Step 1

    Write the current contract

    Remaining term, fees, territories, termination, liquidated damages. If you are independent, write the demand engine you actually have.

  2. Step 2

    Build the alternate files

    Same rooms, different fee and PIP load, a honest guess at mix. Harbor’s estimate will not magically reprice a logo — you change the income lines.

  3. Step 3

    Name the next buyer

    REIT, private, operator-buyer. Flags widen some rooms and close others. Independents need an operator story.

  4. Step 4

    Score a logo debate with no fee file, not 'the flag will help'

    If royalty and PIP are not in both models, it is not a decision. Harbor will not invent an affiliation premium.

Tradeoffs

  1. Hard flag

    You get. Pipe, lender comfort, a deeper buyer set on select-service

    You give. Fees, PIP, and an exit clause that can be expensive

  2. Stay independent

    You get. Name and margin, if you can demand

    You give. A thinner buyer set and a website problem

Pitfalls

  • · Underwriting a flag you have not been awarded.
  • · Treating a brand acquisition as a real-estate sale.
  • · Ignoring liquidated damages.

Success criteria

  • · Fee and PIP lines in each file.
  • · A named exit buyer type for each path.
  • · A written “when not to reflag.”

Who

Ranked for this job

Rank is post-job score, then listed order. Not for sale. Software marked demo is an archetype.

Agencies & contractors

Systems

None ranked in Systems yet. Harbor will not invent a provider.

AI agents

None ranked in AI agents yet. Harbor will not invent a provider.

Loading the compare table…

Compare

When to pick whom

People do the work beside the desk. Software is a system — demo-labeled when it is a category shape. Agents draft; they do not post money or mark a room clean.

ProviderKindScoreFeePick whenWalk away when
Brandt & Vale LaborPeople
8.2
$11–20k labor redesignGMs living inside the schedule spreadsheet.Hotels that only want bodies for this weekend.
Ashcroft Asset AdvisorsPeople
8.8
$25–60k engagement or $8k/month retainerOwners who want a second set of books that is not the manager's.Branded flags looking for a PIP vendor.
Sable Underwriting DeskPeople
8.9
$35–75k buy-side memoFirst-time or small-fund buyers of a single boutique.Institutional portfolios with an in-house desk.

Open graph

Hotels on this job

This job is not pinned to a house yet. Open the graph to place it on a building, or the investment desk if the work is a sale file. Harbor will not invent a house.

Open hotelsBuy / sell desk

Evidence

Peer case studies

Owner / asset
8.5

Net room contribution beat the headline royalty pitch

Alder House Hotel · 98 keys · Charleston, SC

Claim.
A 10-year net contribution comparison across flag, soft-brand, and independent paths including full FDD fee stack and entry PIP.
Evidence.
Executed franchise addendum, FDD item-6/item-7 fee worksheet, and IC underwriting memo.
Caveat.
A 98-key leisure-heavy urban boutique; highway select-service houses rely more heavily on brand loyalty distribution.

Read the case

Verified

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