Selling my hotel in France: premises and business, at what value?

You have run a hotel for twenty years, often as a couple, and you are considering selling it. You have heard prices per room, multiples of turnover, values for the premises (les murs) and for the business (fonds de commerce, the business as a going concern: goodwill, lease rights, fixtures, clientele) that do not add up. The buyers who come forward, independents, chains or investors, all reason on operating profit, and their bank even more so. This guide describes the preparation of a hotel sale in France, the applicable standards and the way a report builds a value for the premises and the business that everyone can check.

What happens in practice

The first decision concerns the scope. Three formulas exist: sell the premises and the business together, sell the business and keep the premises by becoming the landlord, or sell the shares of the operating company. Each has tax and financial consequences, and determines what is valued.

Then comes the preparation of the file: accounts for the last three financial years, breakdown of turnover between accommodation, restaurant and bar, monthly statistics of occupancy rate, average daily rate and revenue per available room, star classification, minutes of the last fire safety inspection, staff register, brand, online distribution and finance lease contracts, works carried out and works to be planned. The buyer and the bank will read these documents before discussing the price.

The valuation comes at this stage, before the hotel is put on the market. It sets a range for the premises, for the business, and for the rent if the premises are kept. The negotiation, the preliminary agreement, then the deeds, notarial for the premises, before the lawyer or the notaire (French civil-law notary) for the business, follow the path of a business sale, with its publication and its objection periods.

What French law says

Valuation standards. The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter) deals with hotels in two places. The methods based on operating accounts (6th edition, November 2025, Title III, § 2.4) rely on the operator’s accounts, often starting from EBITDA (gross operating surplus, excédent brut d’exploitation), neutralising the out-performance of a particular operator and distinguishing the value of the property from that of the business. The professional-ratio methods (§ 2.9) cover single-purpose assets whose value is inseparable from the trade, and must be cross-checked by comparison. The Charte recalls that no method is universal (Title III, chapter 8). Business valuation is there a speciality of certain property valuation experts (Title II, § 8.5). The European Valuation Standards 2025 take the same approach for properties valued on their trading profits.

The hotel lease. A hotel is premises built for a single use. The rent of such premises, on renewal, is fixed according to the practices observed in the trade (articles L. 145-36 and R. 145-10 of the French Commercial Code), in practice by a percentage of accommodation turnover or by a rent coefficient.

Operating models. Direct operation, management contract, franchise, commercial lease, management lease (location-gérance, articles L. 144-1 and following of the Commercial Code): each formula determines what is being sold and shows in the accounts as rent, royalties or a management fee. The article on this site on hotel operating models gives the orders of magnitude.

The sale. A hotel business follows the rules for the sale of a fonds de commerce: publication, creditors’ objections, registration duties under article 719 of the French General Tax Code, joint tax liability under article 1684. The premises follow the rules for the sale of real property.

What a valuation report changes

The report starts from the actual accounts and restates them to obtain a normalised EBITDA: remuneration of a salaried operator at market level, routine maintenance and furniture renewal smoothed, market rent if the premises are held by an SCI (société civile immobilière, a French property-holding company), brand royalties, non-recurring charges. It then applies several methods and confronts them: capitalisation of the normalised result, sector multiples of turnover and profit, comparison per room with recent transactions in the same category, the hotel method for the premises, from a theoretical turnover, a theoretical rent and a capitalisation rate, and discounted cash flow where works or a move upmarket are planned.

It then splits the value between the premises and the business, making sure that the rent linking them can be borne by the operation. It examines the brand contract, its remaining term, its exit clauses and the works needed to meet the standards, and prices the effect of pending safety or accessibility works.

The report is read by the buyer, the bank, the accountants, the notaire for the split of the price between premises and business in the deeds, the tax authorities if that split is questioned. What it does not do: it does not guarantee a price, which depends on the market and the timing, and it does not replace the buyer’s due diligence.

A worked example

A three-star hotel of 30 rooms in Bénodet, run directly by a couple who own the premises, open ten months a year. Turnover €900,000 excluding VAT, of which €750,000 from accommodation; occupancy rate 62 %, average daily rate €110, revenue per available room €68. The couple hope for €2,700,000, on the strength of a sale at €90,000 per room of a four-star city-centre hotel.

The report restates EBITDA: the remuneration of a salaried manager and furniture renewal bring the normalised result, premises and business combined, down to €200,000. Capitalisation and multiples: €200,000 at a multiple of 9, that is €1,800,000. Comparison: four sales of three-star hotels on the Finistère coast between €50,000 and €70,000 per room, that is €1,800,000 at €60,000. Hotel method for the premises: theoretical rent of 15 % of accommodation turnover, €112,500, capitalised at 8 %, that is €1,400,000. The business then comes out at €400,000, consistent with a profit after rent of €87,500 and a multiple of 4.5.

Value adopted: €1,800,000, of which €1,400,000 for the premises and €400,000 for the business, with a rent of €112,500 if the premises are kept. The €900,000 gap with the initial hope came from a comparison outside the category. The report adds that the fire safety inspection has prescribed works estimated at €80,000, to be deducted or carried out before the sale.

Common mistakes

• Applying a price per room observed in another category or another location.
• Not restating the operators’ remuneration: a poorly paid couple makes the hotel look more profitable than it will be for a buyer.
• Forgetting the works prescribed by the fire safety inspection or for accessibility, which the buyer will deduct.
• Setting too high a rent to boost the value of the premises, to the point where the business is worth nothing and the bank refuses.
• Neglecting the brand contract: remaining term, royalties, works to meet the standards, exit clauses.

What to gather

• Last three balance sheets and tax returns, turnover by department: accommodation, restaurant, bar, other.
• Monthly statistics: occupancy rate, average daily rate, revenue per available room.
• Star classification order and its date.
• Minutes of the last fire safety inspection, accessibility survey.
• Staff register, employment contracts.
• Brand, online distribution, finance lease and maintenance contracts.
• Title deed, plans, lease if the premises are separate, articles of the SCI.
• Works carried out over ten years and quotes for works to be planned.
• Alcohol licence and permits.

Timeframe and fee

The service is described on the Business and company shares page. The report is delivered four weeks after receipt of the accounts and the statistics. It is billed on time spent, at €65 per hour, on quote: a hotel, premises and business, takes considerably more than the 15 h of a standard valuation, and the quote sets the time before work begins. Travel charged at €65 per hour or part hour from PONT-L’ABBÉ, 50 % deposit, VAT not applicable (article 293 B of the French General Tax Code). The schedule is on the Fees page.