Hotel Learning Online

In the hotel business, value is created and protected in two ways: through sound investment analysis and through negotiated agreements that determine the hotel’s long-term economics, control, and flexibility. The most attractive professional opportunities in hospitality—hotel asset management, acquisitions, development, valuation, consulting, and owner/operator advisory—require both. Steve Rushmore’s online courses were created to train students and professionals in this owner-first toolkit, using practical, real-world methods that mirror how decisions are made on actual deals.

Course #1: Hotel Market Analysis & Valuation provides the analytical foundation for investment decisions and professional advisory work. Students learn how to perform a structured hotel market analysis that goes beyond surface-level observations and produces conclusions a lender, investor, or investment committee can rely on. The course teaches how to define and evaluate a competitive set, interpret supply and pipeline risk, understand demand generators, and translate market intelligence into a clear positioning strategy. Students then learn to forecast occupancy and ADR using disciplined logic, not guesswork, and to build a set of financial projections that connect the market story to revenues, expenses, and NOI. The valuation section teaches how professional hotel valuers reach conclusions using recognized methodologies, including discounted cash flow concepts and the mortgage-equity framework, supported by transaction evidence and cost benchmarks where appropriate. By the end of the course, students can read a market, build defensible projections, understand value drivers, and communicate conclusions in a way that supports financing, acquisition, disposition, development, renovation, partnership structuring, or advisory assignments. Successful completion earns the Certified Hotel Appraiser (CHA) or Certified Hotel Valuer (CHV) designation, signaling that the graduate can perform hotel market studies and valuations with professional competency.

Course #2: Selecting a Hotel Operator and Negotiating the Management Contract addresses the reality that management agreements are not simply legal documents; they are operational and financial control systems that can determine an owner’s results for years. The course teaches a complete method to select an operator and negotiate a management agreement from the owner’s perspective. Students learn how owners and advisors structure an operator search, define objectives and success criteria, and identify candidates that match the property’s positioning and the owner’s long-term strategy. The course then explains how to compare operator proposals intelligently, including understanding what different fee structures and incentive designs can mean in practice, and how operator commitments, staffing plans, brand affiliations, reporting standards, and capital planning philosophies affect outcomes. The negotiation portion focuses on the provisions that most influence profitability and control, including fee structures, performance tests and enforceability, cure rights, termination provisions, term and renewals, owner approvals over budgets and capital expenditures, key staffing and vendor decisions, transparency and reporting, audit rights, and remedies that actually work when performance fails to meet expectations. Students learn how to think in terms of leverage, priorities, fallback positions, and the owner’s best alternatives, so negotiation becomes a structured process rather than a reactive conversation. Graduates earn the Certified Hotel Management Contract Negotiator credential, demonstrating practical ability to evaluate operators and negotiate owner-protective contract terms.

Course #3 (Newest): Selecting a Hotel Brand and Negotiating the Franchise Agreement expands the same owner-first deal framework into a decision area that is often underestimated but deeply consequential. A franchise agreement can shape a hotel’s economics and strategic flexibility for years because it defines the total cost of affiliation, the required standards and programs, the capital and renovation obligations that may be imposed during the term, the distribution and technology requirements that affect profitability, the inspection and enforcement regime that governs compliance, and the transfer, renewal, and termination provisions that can either preserve or impair liquidity. This course begins with brand selection and teaches how to evaluate brands as business partners, not as marketing names. Students learn how to assess whether a brand fits the market and the property’s positioning, how brand strength can vary dramatically by location and demand segment, and how brand choice can influence rate potential, penetration, and demand mix. The course trains students to evaluate the real impact of reservation systems and loyalty programs, and to distinguish between perceived brand contribution and measurable economic benefit. Students also learn how brand standards and mandatory programs can affect labor, service delivery, and operating costs, and how to assess whether those requirements are aligned with the asset’s strategy and return objectives.

The negotiation portion teaches students how to treat the franchise agreement as a business negotiation that directly affects NOI and long-term options, rather than a “take-it-or-leave-it” form. Students learn how to evaluate the full fee structure and the total cost burden over time, including charges that may be presented separately but combine to create a meaningful drag on profitability. They learn how to negotiate improvement obligations and reduce exposure to surprise property improvement requirements by clarifying scope, timing, and flexibility, and by aligning renovation demands with realistic operating conditions and investment returns. The course addresses competitive and territory issues, including how to protect a hotel from nearby cannibalization and how to obtain meaningful safeguards when exclusivity is limited. Students learn to evaluate and negotiate operating constraints such as required vendors, purchasing rules, technology participation, and mandatory programs that may increase costs without producing proportional revenue lift. The course also covers inspection and enforcement mechanics, teaching how to negotiate objective standards, workable cure processes, reasonable timelines, and fair remedies, so compliance risk is managed rather than unpredictable. Finally, the course emphasizes protecting owner flexibility through transfer, change-of-control, renewal, and termination provisions, because the ability to sell, refinance, reposition, or change strategy without excessive friction is often a major driver of liquidity and value. Successful completion earns the Certified Hotel Franchise Negotiator designation, signaling that the graduate can evaluate brand options and negotiate franchise agreements from an informed, owner-protective perspective.

Together, these three courses form an integrated pathway from analysis to execution. Students gain the rare combination of skills that owners and employers value most: the ability to analyze a hotel’s value, evaluate proposals from partners, and negotiate agreements that determine long-term outcomes. This combination is especially powerful for careers in hotel asset management and consulting, where professionals are expected to protect owner interests, challenge assumptions, and deliver results that improve performance and preserve value across market cycles.