# Underwrite a boutique hotel acquisition

Harbor by Signalry · hotel job `underwrite-boutique-acquisition`
https://harbor.signalry.ai/jobs/underwrite-boutique-acquisition

How and who for the hotel job—verified when attested. Advice unless labeled verified. This brief is a worksheet, not an appraisal and not a quote.

## The job

When I am about to buy a 40–200 key independent, I want an ops-true memo so I do not pay for a T12 the night audit cannot support.

**Outcome the catalog names:** A buy-side memo that rebuilds the T12 from ops evidence, names the basis risk, and is allowed to kill the deal.

**Desk:** owner
**Urgency on the catalog:** This deal
**Typical budget band (catalog, not a quote):** $35–75k memo
**Typical timeline (catalog, not a promise):** 3–6 weeks of real diligence

## Scoped brief

Walk the hotel. Read the night audit. Sample comps and no-shows. Rebuild revenue from the desk up, not from the CIM down. A 'no' is a successful job. Do not use a sell-side desk as your buy-side conscience.

1. **Treat the CIM as a claim, not a file.** Rebuild occupancy, ADR, and channel mix from the PMS. Ask for a month of night audits and a week of folios. If you cannot have them, that is a finding.
2. **Walk as an operator, not as a tourist.** Rooms product, labor reality, energy, and the actual GM. Sable will kill a deal for unbooked comps. That is the product.
3. **Price the next operator, not the last owner.** What can this house run under you? Capex the CIM skipped belongs in the basis. Brand or independent is a strategy, not a vibe.
4. **Write a kill-switch.** The memo must be allowed to say no. If the desk is paid to close, it is not underwriting.

## When not to buy

A CIM you have not walked. If the night audit cannot support the T12, the cap rate is fiction.

## Provider shortlist

- [Sable Underwriting Desk](https://harbor.signalry.ai/providers/sable-desk) — people · Boutique acquisition underwriting. Catalog score 8.9 (post-job shape, not a verification).
- [Ashcroft Asset Advisors](https://harbor.signalry.ai/providers/ashcroft) — people · Owner asset management. Catalog score 8.8 (post-job shape, not a verification).
- [Vale Street Capex](https://harbor.signalry.ai/providers/vale-street) — people · Rooms vs public-space capex. Catalog score 8.3 (post-job shape, not a verification).
- [Ledgerlight Accounting](https://harbor.signalry.ai/providers/ledgerlight) — software · Hotel accounting & night audit export. Catalog score 7.8 (post-job shape, not a verification).

## Success the brief names

- T12 rebuilt from PMS and audit evidence.
- Capex and labor reality in the basis.
- Written permission to kill the deal.

## Pitfalls

- A desk that also has a sell-side on the same asset.
- Skipping night-audit sampling.
- Underwriting a brand you have not been awarded.

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Stable id: `underwrite-boutique-acquisition`
Source: Harbor by Signalry · https://harbor.signalry.ai
Verified Outcome is not insurance. Do not treat a catalog score as attested proof.