Hotel Learning Online

---

Steve Rushmore's course is designed for hotel owners, developers, asset managers, and hospitality professionals who need to understand and negotiate hotel management contracts from the owner’s perspective. Whether you’re building a new hotel, acquiring an existing asset, or managing a portfolio, this course provides the tools and insights to secure a fair, balanced agreement with a management company.

You’ll learn how to identify and negotiate the most critical contract provisions—such as performance tests, termination rights, owner approval rights, fees, and dispute resolution—so you can protect your investment and maintain control. Through real-world examples and proven strategies, you’ll gain the knowledge to confidently engage with hotel brands, independent operators, and legal counsel during contract negotiations.

Ideal for hotel consultants, appraisers, attorneys, and students pursuing careers in hospitality ownership or advisory roles, this course demystifies one of the most complex agreements in the hotel industry.

Hotel management contracts are among the most complex and impactful agreements in the hospitality industry. While these contracts are essential to aligning the interests of owners and operators, they often tilt in favor of the management company—especially when negotiated without a thorough understanding of the risks, nuances, and leverage points available to owners.

This comprehensive course is designed to equip hotel owners, developers, asset managers, attorneys, and hospitality professionals with the tools, strategies, and insights needed to negotiate balanced, owner-favorable hotel management agreements. Whether you’re developing a new hotel, acquiring an existing asset, overseeing performance as an asset manager, or advising clients in a legal or consulting role, this course provides the practical knowledge required to secure terms that enhance control, reduce risk, and maximize value.

Through engaging video lessons, real-world case studies, and analysis of actual contract clauses, you’ll learn how to:

• Identify and negotiate the key provisions that most affect owner rights and financial returns.
• Understand the implications of base and incentive fees, performance tests, and operator approval rights.
• Protect against long-term inflexible commitments and one-sided termination clauses.
• Use brand leverage, market data, and ownership structure to improve your negotiating position.
• Ensure quiet enjoyment, owner flexibility, and clear exit strategies under a variety of scenarios.
• See the Course Curriculum set forth below to see the extensive material covered in this course.

The cost for the Hotel Management Contract course is $995, which includes the following: 

• Access to the course
• Start at any time and proceed at your own pace.
• Unlimited downloads of sample management contract provisions, articles, and publications.
• One-on-one Zoom calls with Steve Rushmore.
• Upon completion of the course and a passing final exam, you will receive the Certified Hotel Management Contract Negotiator certificate (via e-mail) suitable for framing.
• Your name will appear in the Directory  of Certified Hotel Management Contract Negotiators

Unlike academic discussions or generic legal overviews, this course offers a practical, owner-focused framework drawn from decades of experience in hotel valuation, contract negotiation, and asset management.

Who Should Take This Course:

• Hotel Owners and Developers: Learn how to avoid one-sided provisions and secure terms that give you oversight, flexibility, and performance-based accountability.
• Asset Managers: Gain tools to interpret contract terms, challenge underperformance, and support ownership decisions with expert analysis.
• Attorneys Specializing in Hospitality or Real Estate: Understand key business and operational concerns that influence the legal structure of management agreements.
• Hotel Consultants and Appraisers: Improve your advisory services by integrating contract insights into feasibility studies, valuations, and strategic plans.
• Hospitality MBA Students and University Hotel Program Participants: Build real-world skills that bridge the gap between classroom theory and the realities of hotel ownership, development, and brand negotiations.
• Brand and Operator Development Executives: Learn the owner’s perspective to facilitate more effective, balanced partnerships. 

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to read and interpret hotel management contracts with a critical eye—understanding not just what the clauses say, but how they affect owner control, property performance, and investment value. You’ll leave with a negotiation checklist, sample language, and the confidence to advocate for terms that align with your goals.

Whether you are signing your first agreement or managing a portfolio of branded assets, this course gives you the edge to negotiate smarter, protect your investment, and build more productive operator relationships.

How to Value a Hotel teaches how to perform a hotel valuation using Rushmore's Modern Hotel Valuation Methodology.  Designed for experienced appraisers looking to specialize in valuing hotels or new valuers starting their careers, this course provides all the knowledge and tools needed to evaluate hotel markets, forecast income and expense, and value all types of hotels.  For the final project, students value an actual hotel. 

You will be working with the latest version (6.0) of Steve's Hotel Market Analysis and Valuation Software- three powerful software models that have become the hotel industry standard for hotel valuations and investment analysis throughout the world.  By the end of the course, you will be able to perform your own hotel market analysis and valuation plus many other applications.

The course consists of video lectures, readings, hands-on software case studies, quizzes, and a final project valuing an actual hotel.  It should take about 20-35 hours to complete the 75 short lessons.  You can start at any time and proceed at your own pace during your free time.  

Steve Rushmore will be available via Zoom to answer your questions and provide support.  

Upon successfully completing the course and final project you will receive the Certified Hotel Appraiser (CHA) or a Certified Hotel Valuer (CHV) certification.  These certifications recognizing your hotel valuation skills will set you apart from other appraisers and consultants.

After more than 40 years of evaluating thousands of hotels throughout the world, I have learned there are three basic skills every hotelier needs to possess.

The First- is knowing how to perform a Hotel Market Analysis- How does your hotel compete with other properties in the market and how to measure the impact of new hotels entering the area?  It is also used for doing hotel feasibility studies.

The Second Skill is the ability to accurately Forecast Revenue and Expense- How to evaluate your hotel’s financial performance and budgeting for the future.

And lastly, you need to know how to measure the value of your hotel.  Every operational decision ultimately affects your property’s value.  My course details the procedures for valuing a hotel along with strategies to enhance its value.

If you want to learn these essential skills, I have boiled them down into a comprehensive 35-hour online course giving you everything needed to perform a hotel market analysis, forecast revenue and expense, and develop a hotel valuation. 

You will be working with the latest version of my Hotel Market Analysis and Valuation Software- three state-of-the-art models used by thousands of hotel owners, operators, lenders, and consultants all over the world.  The course includes your personal copy of this software package which will become a valuable component of your hotel analysis toolkit.

Most importantly, I will play a vital role during your learning process- through the wonders of Zoom- you can reach out to me with your questions and I will personally assist.  After completing the course, I will also be available to mentor your professional development.  Hopefully, this will be the start of a long-term friendship.

Lastly, upon successfully completing my course you can earn the prestigious certification- Certified Hotel Valuation Software Consultant (CHVSC) designation which further enhances your resume and sets you apart from other hotel industry professionals.

This course and software package also provides answers to a wide range of key hotel investment questions such as- How much is my hotel worth?  What can I do to maximize value?  What is the likely impact of new competition? How much value will a refurbishment add?  Is my market strong enough to support adding more hotel rooms?  What is the impact of my brand adding another hotel to the market?   

So why should you take this course? 

Quite Simply- If your role includes responsibility for generating an economic return for yourself, your investors, or clients- you need to take my course and use this software to assist with all your important business decisions.

My talk, entitled, "How to Succeed in Life Without Wasting Your Time," describes how I was able to create a global hospitality consulting organization by focusing my efforts towards a set of written goals.

As a mediocre student at the Cornell Hotel School who found himself on strict academic probation discovered the benefits of creating a "Life Plan" which eventually became HVS. 

A C-minus English student who overcame learning challenges to author six textbooks and more than 300 articles. 

A shy and quiet youngster who now lectures extensively at the world's leading hotel schools and professional organizations. 

This all shows how developing a set of goals to overcome your personal shortcomings can lead to success "without wasting your time".