Confidential sales
Selling a hotel or motel off-market, in confidence
Word of a sale can unsettle staff, guests, vendors and lenders before there is anything to announce. A direct sale lets you control who knows, and when.
Why owners keep a hotel sale quiet
Employees
A general manager who hears a rumor starts looking for another job. So do housekeepers and desk staff, and a hotel short of people loses service scores and revenue at exactly the wrong time.
Guests and accounts
Corporate accounts, tour operators and long-stay guests may hesitate to commit to a property whose future they cannot see.
Competitors and vendors
A nearby owner can use the news against you in the market, and suppliers may tighten terms.
Lenders and franchisors
Both will need to be told at the point your agreements require. Before that point, the choice of timing is yours.
What off-market means in practice
Off-market means the property is not advertised: no listing on commercial real estate websites, no email campaign to buyer lists, no offering memorandum in circulation and no sign. You speak with one buyer, or a few you choose, under a confidentiality agreement.
Because we are buyers and not brokers, we have no reason to circulate your information. We do not list properties, and what you send us is used to evaluate a purchase and for nothing else. How we store and handle it is set out in the policy that covers your data.
How confidentiality is protected at each stage
First call
You can describe the property in general terms before naming it. Many owners do.
The NDA
Before financials are exchanged, both sides sign a non-disclosure agreement covering the existence of the discussion as well as the documents. Read it, and have your attorney read it.
Sharing documents
Financials go to a small group on our side. Where we work with capital partners or lenders on a purchase, they see information only under the same confidentiality obligations, and you can ask who will see what.
Visiting the property
An early visit can be as simple as a stay as a paying guest, or it can be arranged with you for a time when few staff are present. Inspections later in due diligence are scheduled with you, with an agreed explanation where one is needed.
Announcing the sale
The purchase agreement can state when and how employees, guests and vendors are told. Many owners prefer to tell staff personally shortly before closing.
These steps sit inside the normal sequence of a sale, which is set out in how a purchase by us proceeds.
The honest trade-off of selling off-market
Privacy has a price, and you should weigh it. A marketed sale puts the property in front of many buyers and lets them compete. An off-market sale does not. You may receive less than the highest bidder in an open process would have paid. You may also receive the same or more, with fewer interruptions and less risk of a deal failing in public. Nobody can tell you in advance which.
Two things reduce the uncertainty. Know roughly what the property is worth before you negotiate, using the valuation concepts buyers apply or a formal appraisal. And read how a direct sale compares with a broker's listing or an auction, since some brokers also run quiet, limited marketing processes.
Who has to know, and when
- Your attorney and CPA: from the beginning.
- Co-owners: before any document is signed. See sales by partners and estates.
- Your lender: when a payoff statement is requested or consent is needed.
- Your franchisor: when the franchise agreement requires notice of a proposed transfer, explained on the page about branded hotel sales.
- Key managers: when their help is needed for due diligence, often under their own confidentiality agreement.
- Staff, guests and vendors: at or shortly before closing, on a plan you set.
Starting a confidential conversation
Use the form below, write to the buyers privately, or call. You do not have to name the property in a first message. If you are selling because you are stepping back from the business, the page for retiring owners may also be useful, and the seller question page answers what owners most often ask before picking up the phone.
Questions about confidential sales
Will you sign my NDA, or do I sign yours?
Either. We can provide a mutual non-disclosure agreement, or review one from your attorney.
Does a confidential sale mean a lower price?
Not necessarily, though it can. Without competing bidders there is less pressure on any single buyer, which is why knowing your property's likely value beforehand matters.
Can I stay anonymous on the first call?
Yes. You can describe the property by type, size and general setting, and name it once you are comfortable.
Start with a confidential conversation
Tell us where the property is, how many keys it has and whether it carries a brand. We read every submission ourselves and call you back at the number you give.
Nothing you send is passed to a listing service, and sending it does not commit you to anything.
Tell us about the property
Read by the buyers. Never listed, never advertised.