The series valued four HMA options one at a time — the performance test, cure, the termination fee, key money recovery. Each piece showed the option’s structure and what it’s worth in isolation. The performance test is the owner’s termination option, triggered by failure and exercised along several paths. Cure is the operator’s compound option … Read more
The termination fee looks like compensation. It’s really a strike price — and it prices how often the owner fires. Most operators negotiate it as compensation: what they collect if the owner fires them. That misses the larger function. The termination fee is the strike price on the owner’s termination option. It governs not just … Read more
Operators price key-money recovery as a simple probability. It’s a barrier option — and worth a fraction of what the simple math says. Key money is the operator’s upfront investment — typically $2M to $8M on mid-market deals, amortized over 15 to 25 years. The operator recovers it by staying in the deal until amortization … Read more
Operators negotiate the cure window and the cure cap as separate line items. They aren’t separate. They’re one compound option. Most operators treat them as independent goods — longer window good, higher cap good, done. The structure doesn’t work that way. A cure right is a compound option: the window and the cap don’t value … Read more
A performance test has a price. Most operators never compute it. They treat the test as a threat to survive, not a number to manage. But the price is knowable. It often runs to six or seven figures. And it turns on something most operators never think to check: how replaceable they are. The companion … Read more
An operator can clear every test and still lose the contract — if the owner defaults on the mortgage and the lender forecloses. An operator is three years into a fifteen-year HMA. Performance is solid: both prongs clearing, margin targets hit, RevPAR Index above threshold. Then the owner defaults on the mortgage. The lender forecloses. … Read more
The operator manages the hotel but doesn’t control the renovation. The brand mandates it, the owner funds it, and the operator is exposed on both sides. The brand sets the standard — current lobby, updated fitness center, refreshed guestrooms — and triggers the Property Improvement Plan on its own timetable. The owner controls the capital … Read more
The management fee is capped by design. The indemnity often isn’t. That asymmetry can dwarf the deal. The operator’s pricing model captures everything on the upside — base fee, incentive, key money amortization, performance-test exposure, ramp cash flow. The fee is a percentage of revenue: bounded, modeled, visible on every line. The indemnification obligation isn’t … Read more
The HMA says the operator manages the hotel. A governance clause decides whether that’s true. The contract gives the operator the job — set the budget, run the operation, execute the plan. But the operator and owner will disagree on the annual budget at some point. When they do, a governance clause decides who wins. … Read more
Two operators run identical hotels. One earns a material incentive fee. The other earns zero. Same brand, same market, same GOP margin, same cash flow. The difference isn’t operating performance. It’s the owner’s capital structure. Start with why the structure exists. The owner put up the equity and carries the capital risk. Getting a priority … Read more