Why Operational Insurance Should Be A Deductible – It Reduces The Incentive Fee You Pay

USALI classifies operational insurance as a fixed charge below Gross Operating Profit – but that quietly inflates the operator’s incentive fee. Founding Partner Tim Dobson explains why owners should push to reclassify it.

Fire the Operator, Keep the Brand: Is a Franchise or Manchise Right for Your Hotel?

More owners are trading full operator control for a franchise model. Here is what an owner actually gains, and gives up, in making that move.

The 12th Revised Edition of USALI — What Changed, and What It Means for Owner Fee Calculations

The 12th Revised Edition of USALI took effect on 1 January 2026. Here is what changed, and what it means for how hotel management fees are calculated.

Your Best Staff Are Not Safe: The People Risk Most Owners Forget to Negotiate

GM tenure, secondment to other properties, and post-departure poaching of hotel staff are rarely negotiated as core HMA terms — yet they can come closer to breaking a deal than the financial terms themselves.

You Think Your Performance Test Protects You. Here’s Why It Almost Never Will.

Dual metrics, high thresholds set by the operator, a three-year failure period, and multiple cure rights: why the standard performance test rarely delivers the termination right owners think they have.

Your Area of Protection Doesn’t Protect You From the Operator’s Own Other Brands

An Area of Protection usually blocks only the identical brand, in a vaguely mapped zone, for a fraction of the agreement term — far less protection than owners assume.

Before the Contract: Choosing the Right Operator for Your Hotel

The choice of operator and brand, made long before any lawyer sees a management agreement, does more to shape a hotel’s success than almost anything negotiated afterwards.

The Missing Mutuality: Indemnities in Hotel Management Agreements

The indemnity clause rarely gets the scrutiny fees and termination rights do — yet it is often entirely one-sided, with no reciprocal protection running from operator to owner.

The Fees That Can Cost You More Than Your Base Fee — And You Never Even Negotiated Them

Owners haggle for months over the base management fee. The charges that can rival or exceed it hide in plain sight, scattered across five different documents.

Getting the Exit Right: Negotiating a Hotel Management Agreement Termination

Owners rarely hold a unilateral right to leave an HMA. Here’s how to dismantle the operator’s opening compensation demand and cap post-termination property restrictions when negotiating a voluntary exit.