Sell my Motel
Freehold or leasehold — two different sales
A freehold motel and a leasehold motel are not the same listing in different packaging. They draw different buyer pools, settle at different multipliers, and the diligence cuts differently. The first job is deciding which sale you're actually running — and whether the freehold investor and the leasehold operator should hear about the asset at the same time.
Freehold. Leasehold. Or both, in parallel.
Same asset, three possible sales. A freehold going concern goes to an owner-operator buyer. A leasehold-only sale goes to an operator with capital but no property appetite. A freehold-investment sale (sold subject to the existing lease) goes to a passive-investor buyer. We typically run two of these in parallel and let the market tell us which lands first.
You own the land, the rooms and the trading business in one line. The buyer pool is owner-operators with equity, and the price is set on a multiple of the net.
The Motels guide →Talk with your local expert
A specialist broker — by class and by region, the person who'd run your purchase. Browse the bench, or use the form and we'll match you.
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Specialist Motel representatives since 1985
Two pools, kept separate
Years matter more than rent
Highway, CBD, regional, tourist.
Two pools, kept separate
Our motel buyer database splits cleanly: owner-operators looking for freehold going concerns, and operator-only buyers looking for leasehold trades. We approach each pool with the right pitch, not a generic one.
Years matter more than rent
We translate your lease — term, options, rent reviews, repairs covenant, outgoings allocation — into the number buyers care about: how many years a bank will lend against. Often more important than the trading record.
Highway, CBD, regional, tourist.
A 36-room highway motel on the Newell is a different sale to a 24-room CBD lease in Adelaide. We match the broker to the corridor — sub-regional brokers handle their patch end-to-end, not from head office.
Motels: what the market looks like right now
Frequently Asked Questions
Motel diligence is process-driven and predictable. The buyer's accountant will ask the same questions every time. Coming to market with the answers already organised holds the price.
Open the Jargon Buster →Buyers need P&Ls with owner's drawings, family wages, personal expenses and one-offs stripped out — and replaced with a market operator's salary. We prepare a normalisation alongside your accountant before the campaign launches.
Hear about the next one before the portal does
Tell us what you're after and we'll email you the moment a matching listing goes live — including off-market opportunities that never reach the portals.
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From signed brief to settled
Normalised P&Ls, the lease in full, monthly occupancy, capex history and the channel mix, assembled before launch.
Normalised P&Ls, the lease in full, monthly occupancy, capex history and the channel mix, assembled before launch.
Reach the right buyer pool
The marketing programme is tailored by asset class. The numbers below are the Motels-specific cuts of our standing buyer book. See the full marketing brief for channel details.
The desk
Motel campaigns succeed when the broker knows the strip. Each of our motel specialists owns a corridor — northern NSW, Riverina, Far North Queensland, regional Victoria. They've usually placed three of the surrounding properties already.
Find out what your motel is worth
Our motel desk has placed more motels than any other team in Australia. The 90-second appraisal gives you a defensible range — for both the freehold sale and the leasehold sale, if both are options — using the same model our brokers use. No follow-up unless you ask.
Request an appraisal Off-market · under NDA
Anti-money-laundering checks, without the mystery.
Buying an accommodation business involves obligations under Australia's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) laws. ResortBrokers is required to verify the identity of buyers and the source of funds before contracts proceed. Your broker walks you through exactly what's needed early — so verification never holds up your purchase.
- 01
Identity
Photo ID for every purchasing party — individuals, company directors, or trustees.
- 02
Entity
Company extracts, trust deeds or partnership agreements where the buyer is a structure, not a person.
- 03
Funds
Evidence of the source of funds — finance approval, bank statements, or sale proceeds.
FEATURED VIDEO
Motel report 2026: Behind the scenes
ResortBrokers’ Motel Report 2026 launches this Wednesday. Huge thanks to the good folk at Blue Water Motel, Kingscliff, for the gorgeous backdrop for our photoshoot. If this is the backdrop, wait till you see the numbers. Watch our behind-the-scenes photo
Client Testimonials
Seller · Parkhaven Motel
Yen Chang
Seller · Squatters Homestead Motel
Trudi & Peter Clare
Seller · Border Motel
Tara Wilson
"Russell and Sarah introduced seven qualified parties to our property and were able to achieve a sale price above what we were asking in a very short time."
