The valuation of intangibles for hotel investments

Reviews the literature on the valuation of intangibles for hotel investments. Contrary to the sceptical outlook portrayed in the literature, demonstrates the effectiveness of ex‐post models and hedonic pricing models (HPM) as an objective and robust tool in separating and measuring intangible hotel property and decomposing total asset value. Develops two HPM models using data on 50 hotel properties appraised in 1997. All hotels are owned and managed by the same hotel company and affiliated with the same brand. Some 58 per cent of the properties are freeholds and the rest are leaseholds. Estimates the hedonic price equations by regressing appraised values on physical, location and economic characteristics of the properties. Results confirm the effectiveness of HPM and in fact its relative superiority to traditional ex‐ante modelling in measuring and decomposing intangible property. As expected at the outset, comparable‐leases and excess‐profits‐based models produced similar results.