Although you think you have audited and reviewed every aspect of your hotel's operations, i bet you have not performed a solid waste audit.

During periods of economic stress in the hotel industry, smart owners and operators carefully review their hotel's property tax assessment to determine whether there is sufficient justification to seek a reduction.

One of the significant expense items incurred by a hotel is the property taxes paid to local municipalities.

THe valuation of hotels and motels is a highly specialized form of real estate appraisal, requiring not only a thorough understanding of the many principles and procedures of general appraising, but also an in-depth knowledge of hotel operations.

If your hotel's property tax assessment has not dropped in the last five years, you may be paying more than your share of real estate.

Today's hotel market is in a state of chaos. The overbuilding of the 1980s coupled with the recession of the 1990s has sent hotel occupancies in many parts of the country plummeting.

Economic life is the period when improvements to a property contribute to property value. Hotels and motels have a definite life span of positive cash flow.

While working on a property tax appraisal for a 500-room downtown Sheraton hotel, we were confronted with a comparable sale which, on the surface, did not support our opinion that the subject property was overassessed.

With declining occupancies a problem in many areas of the country, along with increasing mortgage interest rates and inflation, it is a good time to review your property taxes and possibly commence a formal appeal to have them reduced.

This article shows the pitfalls of RevPAR, and elaborates on the advantages of using a complementary performance measure, GOPPAR.