Hotel & Hospitality Property Tax Appeals

Hotels are income-producing properties, so the income approach to value is typically most appropriate. This means the assessment should reflect actual revenue, occupancy rates, and operating expenses — not just the cost to build the property. Unfortunately, many assessors rely on outdated data or fail to account for hospitality-specific factors like RevPAR declines, seasonal volatility, and high operating costs. The hospitality-specific income approach requires data sources — STR reports, CBRE benchmarks, franchise disclosure documents — that most county assessors do not routinely access or know how to interpret, which is a primary reason why hotel assessments so frequently diverge from actual market value. Our team is familiar with these sources and uses them to build appeals grounded in industry-recognized methodology.

It shouldn't — but it often does. Brand and franchise value belongs to the operator, not the real estate. However, assessors frequently conflate the two, inflating the property's taxable value. A key part of our appeal strategy is separating real property value from business/franchise value to ensure you're only taxed on the real estate. The legal and appraisal framework for separating business value from real property value in hotel assessments has been developed over decades of litigation, and our team applies established methodologies to quantify this component in a manner that assessors and tribunals recognize. The magnitude of the adjustment can be substantial for flag hotels with strong brand premium. Learn how to hire a property tax consultant with the expertise to make this argument effectively.

We handle hospitality property tax appeals in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. Each state has its own appeal process and deadlines, and we manage everything from start to finish in all three states. Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio each have distinct appeal procedures, evidence requirements, and negotiation dynamics that our team knows well, having worked through cases in multiple counties across all three states. Understanding the specific practices of individual county assessors is part of what allows us to resolve most cases through negotiation.

Savings vary depending on the size of the property, the degree of over-assessment, and the local market. Our hospitality clients have seen reductions ranging from $38,000 to over $112,000 in annual tax savings. There's no cost to find out — request a free review to see if your property qualifies. The range of outcomes for hospitality appeals is wide because hotel performance and assessor methodology vary significantly by market, but properties where the assessor has used peak-year revenue data or failed to isolate business value typically have the strongest cases and the largest potential reductions. See what our hospitality clients have achieved.

The income approach is the most widely recognized and appropriate method for valuing hotels and hospitality properties, since buyers price these assets based on their ability to generate income rather than on replacement cost or comparable land values alone. A critical component of this process is isolating the real property's contribution to income from business value, personal property, and franchise fees. The cost approach may also be applied for newer hotels, and the sales comparison approach provides market context, though hotel transactions require careful adjustment for brand, market position, age, and physical condition. Errors in any of these inputs can produce materially inflated assessed values. Our commercial property tax assessment guide walks through how each method is applied to income-producing properties.

EPTA handles hotel and hospitality property tax appeals in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. In Michigan, hospitality appeals are filed with the Michigan Tax Tribunal, with petition deadlines typically falling in May or July depending on how the property is classified. In Indiana, the appeal process begins at the county Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals (PTABOA), with further review available before the Indiana Board of Tax Review (IBTR). In Ohio, appeals are filed with the county Board of Revision, generally by March 31 of the applicable year. Our team has handled hospitality appeals in Wayne, Oakland, and Hamilton Counties, among others, and manages the process from the initial review through negotiated settlement or formal hearing in all three states. See our property tax appeal deadlines guide for exact filing dates by state.

Hotel appeals are most effective when they are built on detailed operational and market data specific to the subject property. STR (Smith Travel Research) reports documenting historical RevPAR, occupancy, and competitive set performance are foundational. Actual income and expense statements — ideally for three to five years — establish the property's true operating performance. Comparable hotel sales, adjusted for brand, position, age, and condition, provide market-based value evidence. And expert analysis separating real property value from business and franchise value is often the most impactful component of a hospitality appeal. Our team assembles all of these elements to present a complete and well-documented case to the assessing authority. For a detailed breakdown of what makes strong commercial appeal evidence, see our property tax appeal evidence resource.