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Harborby Signalry
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Ops / GMThis year

Job brief

Get operations ready so a buyer will underwrite

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

When I plan to sell in two to four quarters, I want the house operable on paper so a buyer’s night-audit sample does not become a price chip.

Usable on this screen

Scoped brief

Selling starts in operations. A CIM cannot repair a night audit the buyer will sample. Name the files, date them, and fix the ugly ordinary while you still own the calendar.

Outcome
A file a buy-side desk can rebuild: PMS extracts, payroll versus occupancy, FF&E truth, open life-safety, and a GM who knows what is in the room.
Catalog budget band
In-house time plus $8–25k to clean the file. A worksheet range, not a quote.
Catalog timeline
8–16 weeks before a teaser. Not a promise.

  1. Step 1

    Inventory the file a buyer will demand

    PMS extracts, 24 months if you can; payroll versus occupancy; franchise or management agreement; ground lease; insurance; FF&E par; open work orders and life-safety. If a file is missing, that absence is the first job.

  2. Step 2

    Rebuild your own T12 before they do

    Walk occupancy, ADR, and mix from the PMS. Reconcile to the P&L. Write the gaps in English. Do not wait for a banker to discover unbooked comps.

  3. Step 3

    Make the GM the author, not the audience

    The person who will walk the buyer around should have written the exceptions. Housekeeping and engineering should not learn about a sale from a stranger with a camera.

  4. Step 4

    Close the ordinary ugly

    Open violations, a boiler you have been nursing, a missing FF&E reserve story. Cosmetics without a file are a later discount.

Provider shortlist

  1. People

    Sable Underwriting Desk

    Boutique acquisition underwriting

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

  2. People

    Ashcroft Asset Advisors

    Owner asset management

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

  3. People

    Vale Street Capex

    Rooms vs public-space capex

    Catalog score 8.3. A post-job shape, not a verification. Stable id vale-street.

  4. Software· demo

    Ledgerlight Accounting

    Hotel accounting & night audit export

    Catalog score 7.8. A post-job shape, not a verification. Stable id ledgerlight.

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

AdviceA CIM cannot repair a night audit the buyer will sample.

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

Situation

What is actually on fire

A teaser date is on the calendar. The night audit still lives in a drawer. The ground lease is “with counsel.”

Approaches

Two or three paths — with the give

Spend a quarter cleaning the file

When. Fewer diligence chips and a GM who can defend the T12

You give. Calendar and some capex now

Tease now, clean later

When. Speed

You give. A buyer who prices your mess with a dull knife

Who to involve

  • · GM
  • · Owner / asset
  • · Controller
  • · Counsel
  • · Engineering

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: Get operations ready so a buyer will underwrite.
    owner:
    GM / ops lead
    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:
    GM / ops lead
    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:
    GM / ops lead
    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:
    GM / ops lead
    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:
    GM / ops lead
    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:
    GM / ops lead
    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:
    GM / ops lead
    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

  • · A glossy book over a night audit that cannot support it.
  • · Guest names in folio samples.
  • · A GM who hears about the sale from the buyer.

When not to buy. Do not hire a teaser mill if the night audit is still a rumor. That is not marketing. It is a future concession.

Do it in-house

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

In-house time plus $8–25k to clean the file

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: ops-ready-for-sale-ctx-rooms, ops-ready-for-sale-ctx-stack, ops-ready-for-sale-q1

A must-pass failed. Walk away.

How

The brief

Selling starts in operations. A CIM cannot repair a night audit the buyer will sample. Name the files, date them, and fix the ugly ordinary while you still own the calendar.

  1. Step 1

    Inventory the file a buyer will demand

    PMS extracts, 24 months if you can; payroll versus occupancy; franchise or management agreement; ground lease; insurance; FF&E par; open work orders and life-safety. If a file is missing, that absence is the first job.

  2. Step 2

    Rebuild your own T12 before they do

    Walk occupancy, ADR, and mix from the PMS. Reconcile to the P&L. Write the gaps in English. Do not wait for a banker to discover unbooked comps.

  3. Step 3

    Make the GM the author, not the audience

    The person who will walk the buyer around should have written the exceptions. Housekeeping and engineering should not learn about a sale from a stranger with a camera.

  4. Step 4

    Close the ordinary ugly

    Open violations, a boiler you have been nursing, a missing FF&E reserve story. Cosmetics without a file are a later discount.

Tradeoffs

  1. Spend a quarter cleaning the file

    You get. Fewer diligence chips and a GM who can defend the T12

    You give. Calendar and some capex now

  2. Tease now, clean later

    You get. Speed

    You give. A buyer who prices your mess with a dull knife

Pitfalls

  • · A glossy book over a night audit that cannot support it.
  • · Guest names in folio samples.
  • · A GM who hears about the sale from the buyer.

Success criteria

  • · A dated index of the files a buy-side desk will ask for.
  • · PMS-to-P&L gaps written in English.
  • · The GM can walk the exceptions without a script.

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

AI agents

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

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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
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.
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.
Vale Street CapexPeople
8.3
$20–45k study; implementation bid separateOwners choosing between a pretty lobby and rooms that book.Full PIP execution for a 400-key flag.
Close RoomPeople
8.6
$8–18k to stand the roomAn owner who wants the room to survive a hostile buy-side.A portfolio with an in-house transactions counsel bench.
Ledgerlight AccountingSoftware· demo
7.8
Demo · $250–600 / monthOwner-operators tired of a generic bookkeeper file.Multi-brand portfolios with a shared-service finance team.

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

Ops / GM
8.4

The sale file was the product

Harbor House Charleston · 48 keys · Charleston, SC

Claim.
A dated sale file with zero guest names and a T12 the first buyer could rebuild.
Evidence.
Index dated; folio samples without names; PMS-to-P&L gap memo in the room.
Caveat.
A 48-key historic independent. This is not a 400-key REIT disposition.

Read the case

Verified

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