A unit apartment hotel is not just a building divided into rooms and sold to private investors; it is a multi-owner hotel business, and if it is not managed as a single entity, it quickly becomes a conflicting property: different owners, different expectations of return, different renovations, different rules of residence and constant disputes about how much money is earned.
The management company is a key element of this model: it sells load, manages tariffs, receives guests, organizes cleaning, laundry, service, repairs, reporting, reviews, advertising, booking channels and payments to investors, but it is in the work of the Criminal Code that the main questions most often arise: what percentage it takes, how revenue is distributed, what is included in the costs, where the guarantee of profitability, how to check the reports, and why the promised 10-12% per annum does not always turn into real money of the owner.
1.A unit without a management company is not a hotel product
A unit in an aparthotel does not create income by itself; it is generated by guests, loading, tariff, service and management; if the owner buys a room, but then each owner rents it out, the property ceases to be an aparthotel and becomes a set of separate apartments with different levels of service.
For a hotel product, unity is important: a single accommodation counter, uniform cleaning standards, a single furniture equipment, uniform rules of accommodation, unified sales channels, a single pricing policy, unified work with reviews and unified responsibility to the guest. The guest should not understand who owns a particular room. For him, this is one apart-hotel.
So the management company is not needed after construction, but before the start of unit sales, and it should be involved in the design of layouts, room configuration, public areas, warehouses of linen, laundry, engineering, reception, parking, IT systems, tariff grid and rules of personal use by owners.
When the CC is connected after construction, it often turns out that the facility is beautiful but inconvenient to operate: rooms are difficult to clean, there is no place to store clothes, staff have nowhere to work, parking is few, service flows overlap with guest rooms, engineering is not designed for hotel mode, and owners demand profitability, which the facility is not able to provide.
2. The management company does not sell square meters, but loading.
The developer sells units. The management company sells nights of stay. These are different competencies.
The task of the Criminal Code is to answer practical questions every day: how many rooms are free, what price to put for today, tomorrow and holidays, through which channels to sell, where to raise the tariff, where to give a discount, how to work with reviews, how to close a low season, how to attract corporate groups, how to sell a long stay, how to combine personal use of owners and commercial load.
In a classic apartment, the owner looks for one tenant for a month or a year; in an apart hotel, the operator sells the room stock every day as a hotel; income depends on the load, average room price, seasonality, ratings, sales channels and additional services.
So when you buy a unit, you have to look not just at the location and the finish, but at the operator. A weak CC can destroy the economy of even a good object. A strong CC can pull out the returns through tariff policy, service, reviews, repeat guests, package programs and additional sales.
3. Basic models of unit management
The first model is individual. Income is counted for each unit separately, how much a particular number earns, how much after deducting costs and commissions the owner receives, and this model is understandable to the investor, because he sees the relationship between his object and the payment.
But it has a weak spot. Aparthotel rooms are almost never equal. One room is better in appearance, another is closer to the elevator, a third is noisier, a fourth is more family friendly, a fifth is more often blocked for repairs. And then the owners argue: why my room was less, why the neighbor got more, why the guests were not accommodated with me, why my room was idle.
The second model is boiler, where all the revenue from the facility is collected into a pool, then the costs and the CC fees are deducted, and the balance is distributed to the owners according to an understandable formula: by area, unit category, participation interest or other pre-approved methodology, the boiler model smooths out the differences between the rooms and allows the operator to manage the facility as a single hotel.
There are already public examples of this, with Avenir announcing in 2026 a new model for accruing payments to investors: income is summed up by property, then distributed to owners, and management company fees are set at 25%, which was called the average for the St. Petersburg apart-hotel management market.
The third model is guaranteed returns, which are promised a fixed amount or interest for a fixed period of time, for example, according to Kommersant, Vertical project was guaranteed returns of up to 12% per annum, as well as boiler models and fixed programs for up to two years, which is a good selling tool, but the investor must understand that the guarantee is almost always limited by the term, conditions and financial model of the operator.
The fourth model is rent from the owner, the UK rents the unit from the owner and gives it to the guests, it is easier for the owner: he receives a fixed payment, but the UK puts its risk in the amount of rent, if the market is weak, the operator will lower the rate, change the terms or refuse the guarantee.
The fifth model is a hybrid, where the owner is paid a minimum fixed amount plus a share of the result beyond a certain level, which can be a strong design for a resort project: the investor is protected from total failure, and the UK is motivated to increase the load and the tariff.
4. What percentage does the management company take?
In the Russian market of apart-hotels, the most common range is about 20-30% of revenue or from the established base of calculation. The public benchmark for Avenir is 25% of the Criminal Code commission, and publications explicitly indicate that this corresponds to the average indicator in the St. Petersburg apart-hotel management market.
But the percentage itself doesn't say anything until it's clear what it counts from: one thing is 25% of gross revenue before expenses; another thing is 25% after a portion of the expenses; the third is when the UK makes extra money from cleaning, laundry, repairs, equipment, breakfast, early check-in, late departure, living with animals, transfers and service packages.
So the contract has to be very tight about the commission base, and the investor has to see what costs are deducted before the commission, what costs are deducted after the commission, what additional income is included in the pool, and what is left to the operator.
In the Altai resort model, this is particularly important: if all the additional revenues from medicine, baths, routes, excursions, swimming pools, restaurants, rental and transfers are left only to individual operators, the unit owner receives income only from living, if some of these revenues are taken into account in the overall economy of the project or through individual project companies, the investment model becomes stronger.
5. Unit profitability: what is promised and what is realistically considered
Aparthotel advertising often promises 8-12% per annum, sometimes even more, but these figures need to be checked, and there are offers on the market with reported returns of up to 10-12% per annum, including guaranteed or forecast return programs, for example, in the collections and industry materials for aparthotels, the boiler model is indicated with a forecast yield of up to 10% or a guaranteed yield of up to 12% for individual properties.
But a professional approach requires that you consider not the promised, but the net return, and from gross revenue should be deducted the Commission of the criminal code, commissions of booking channels, cleaning, laundry, utility payments, maintenance, depreciation of furniture, marketing, taxes, downtime, renovation fund and possible costs for replacing the equipment.
There are more cautious estimates, as a 25/7 hotel operator told Hotelier that in 2026, the objective returns for quality properties and qualified management companies could be between 3 and 8 percent, given legislative changes, declining purchasing power, new facilities and increased competition, an important counterweight to advertising promises.
The practical guideline for the investor is this: if the object promises 8-12% per annum, you need to demand a calculation. If it promises 12% or higher, the test should be tough. If it shows 15-17%, you should consider this not as a baseline scenario, but as an aggressive sales hypothesis.
6.Guaranteed profitability: strong sales tool and risk area
Guaranteed returns work well in marketing: Investors buy units more safely if they are promised a fixed payment; it is easier for a developer to sell a facility during construction; it is easier for the MC to attract owners into a single management program.
But the guarantee must be legally and economically clear: you need to look at the warranty period, the source of payment, the grounds for termination, the conditions of repair, the owner's right to use the unit, the indexation of expenses, the liability of the Criminal Code, the procedure for terminating the contract and what will happen after the guaranteed period ends.
The market often has a guarantee for the first 1-3 years or within a fixed program. Open materials on aparthotels explicitly state that the guaranteed return is usually used as a limited-term program, and the boiler model depends on the total load of the hotel.
The main risk is that the guarantee may already be included in the unit price, meaning that the investor actually pays for future payments in advance at a higher cost of purchase, so the guarantee cannot be taken as a gift, but should be considered as part of the overall financial model.
7. Contractual model: lease, agency agreement, trust management
Legal design affects taxes, risks, duties and controls, and practices use different schemes: unit lease agreements by the management company, agency agreements, trusts, mixed designs and service contracts.
The owner rents out the unit of the UK. The UK then places guests on its own and carries operational risk. It is easier for the owner, but the income is usually lower, because the operator puts the risk in the rental rate.
Under the agency model, the CC acts as an agent: seeking guests, accepting payment, arranging accommodation and withholding agency remuneration. Industry legal reviews emphasize that under an agency scheme, rental income is formally owned by the owner, and the CC receives agency remuneration.
In the materials on legislative changes for apart-hotels also indicated that the lease agreement investor rents the unit of the criminal code, and under the agency contract of the criminal code finds guests and the investor receives revenue minus the commission of the agent; while the tax burden and obligations of the parties differ.
For a resort project, you need to choose a model not for the convenience of a lawyer, but for the economy, if the goal is a single hotel operation, transparent revenue, clear reporting and investor trust, the contractual design should be worked out in advance and equally understandable to all owners.
8. which must necessarily be in the contract with the Criminal Code
The unit management contract should not be a formal annex to the sale, but the main document of the investment model, which should specify who and how the facility is managed, how revenue is calculated, what expenses are deducted, when payments are transferred, what reports the owner receives, how the repair fund is formed, how the owner can use the unit, how it leaves the program and how the CC can be replaced.
Be sure to prescribe: management model, commission base, list of operating expenses, procedure for distribution of additional income, payment terms, report form, access to data on the load, rules of personal residence of the owner, current and capital renewal fund, requirements for furniture and equipment, repair procedure, insurance, liability for damage to property, procedure for indexation of expenses and termination conditions.
Separately, a ban on hidden associated costs should be prescribed, for example, if the CC buys laundry, cleaning, repair, marketing or supplies from affiliated companies, the owner must understand the price and marketability of such costs, otherwise the profit may go not through an official commission of the CC, but through inflated internal contract costs.
9. Number Update Fund - a mandatory element of fair return
In a normal apartment, repairs can last a long time if a neat tenant lives. In hotel operation, the room wears out faster. Mattresses, textiles, furniture, plumbing, appliances, curtains, carpets, walls, locks, dishes and small equipment are constantly used by various guests.
If you don't create a fund for renewal, the returns will look good in the first years, and then the owner will get a large payment for repairs, which creates a conflict: the investor counted one return, and in fact, has to invest additional money.
T-Zh in the article on investment in aparthotels separately notes that apartments do not have the usual mechanism of contributions for major repairs, and the cost of operation and maintenance can be indexed over time, This is an important warning for the investor: profitability should be considered taking into account future wear.
For a quality resort project, the renovation fund should be mandatory, and it is better to show the investor 7-9% with a reserve for repairs than to promise 12% without a reserve and then raise money to replace furniture.
10.Additional services: the main source of income growth
In an apartment, there is little extra revenue, and in an apartment and resort complex, it can be significant, breakfast, restaurant, early check-in, late check-out, cleaning, pet accommodation, bath, swimming pool, massage, medical programs, transfers, excursions, rental, children's programs, conference services and club events can significantly increase the average guest check.
Publications about the new Avenir model highlighted that the company plans to include in its total profitability the amount of additional services: breakfast, early check-in, late check-out, cleaning, pet accommodation and other services – an important benchmark for the market, because the income of an aparthotel should not be limited to the cost of a night’s stay.
For Altai, additional services may be even more important than in the city, and the guest does not come just for a night, but buys experience: RDT, stress relief, bath, routes, horses, alloys, snowmobiles, boats, glamping trips, excursions, lectures, meals, transfers and club programs.
So the CC model has to answer the question: who gets the revenue from these services? Just the operator? Unit owners? Project AO? Individual service companies? If this question is not solved in advance, conflicts will arise.
11. Conflict of interest between the Criminal Code, developer and investor
There are three different logics in an aparthotel: a developer wants to sell units; an investor wants to make a profit; a management company wants to make money from operating and retain control of the facility.
If the model is not balanced, conflicts arise. A developer can overstate the promised returns to sell units; a MC can take too much of a stake or take out profits through associated costs; an investor can demand payments that the facility is unable to make; owners can block repair, upgrade and development decisions.
So from the start, you need to build not just contracts, but a management system, and you need to have reporting regulations, a board of owners or a supervisory body, budget approval, the rules for replacing the CC, the methodology for allocating revenue, the standards of the facility, and the dispute resolution mechanism.
In a strong model, interests should coincide: the developer builds an object that can be effectively operated; the UK earns more with the growth of total revenue; the investor receives a transparent income; the guest receives quality service; the territory grows in value.
Personal use of the unit: convenience for the investor and risk for downloading
Many investors buy a resort unit not only for income, but also for personal recreation, which is a strong selling argument, but personal use should be strictly regulated.
If owners take units in large numbers during high season, the operator loses the most profitable period; if the owner arrives without rules, the schedule of cleaning, booking and maintenance breaks down; if the owner changes furniture or equipment on his own, the unified standard of the facility suffers.
Therefore, the contract must specify how many days the owner can use the unit, during what periods, under what reservation procedure, with what notice, whether he pays operating costs, whether he can use the services, what happens when you cancel a commercial reservation and what restrictions are in force in high season.
Personal use is an important plus for Altai, but it should be built into the hotel model, not destroyed.
13 Boiler model better suited to resort ecosystem
For a resort apartment complex with a single management company, a medical core and services, the boiler model is more often preferred, allowing the facility to be managed as a hotel rather than as a set of individual owners.
The operator can put guests where it's logical in terms of category, price, timing, repair and loading, and owners get their income not from the random luck of a particular room, but from the result of the entire facility, which reduces conflict and allows you to sell the entire room stock professionally.
But the boiler model requires absolute transparency: the investor must understand the distribution formula, see total revenue, costs, loading, average tariff, share of additional services, the commission of the Criminal Code and the size of the reserve.
Without transparency, the boiler model becomes a source of distrust; with transparency, it becomes a strong collective income mechanism.
14.The management company in Altai must sell not only rooms
The city's aparthotel sells more accommodation, the Altai resort has to sell the program, a fundamentally different task for the UK.
The operator must be able to sell packages: accommodation plus wellness program, accommodation plus stress, accommodation plus excursions, accommodation plus bath, accommodation plus glamping departure, accommodation plus RDT, accommodation plus family program, accommodation plus corporate rehabilitation, accommodation plus remote work and club activities.
It's the package model that increases the length of stay, so if you buy only a room, you can come for 2-3 nights, and if you buy a recovery program, you can come for 10 or 21 days.
This is critical to the investor, and unit yields increase not only by the price of the night, but also by how much the object is able to hold the guest longer.
15 What a strong UK should do in a resort town
A strong management company must perform several functions simultaneously.
It should be a hotel operator: booking, check-in, cleaning, service, reviews, tariffs, loading, reports.
She should be a revenue manager: dynamic prices, seasonal rates, packages, promotions, sales channel management, low-season work.
It should be a service integrator: medicine, bath, restaurant, excursions, rental, transfers, clubs, children's programs, corporate groups.
It should be the defender of the standard: uniform furniture, repair, equipment, cleanliness, safety, appearance, rules for owners.
It should be a financial administrator: revenue, expenses, commission, reserves, payments, reporting, audit.
It should be a marketing operator of the territory: the resort brand, repeat guests, international channels, work with China, Germany, Russian-speaking foreign audience, corporate clients and medical/wellness tourism.
Without such a UK resort city does not work as a single economy.
16. For the developer, the MC is not a contractor, but a project partner.
Developers often see the UK as a company that will be connected after the facility is commissioned, which is a mistake, and in the aparthotel and resort model, the UK should be an early partner.
It affects room design, unit size, public areas, operating costs, profitability model, finishing standards, equipment, sales system and investor trust. If the manager is known and professional, it is easier for the developer to sell units. If the operator is not, the investor only buys the promise.
This is particularly important for Altai, because the resort unit market is still in the process of being shaped, and the buyer will ask the questions: who manages what experience, what sales channels, what is the profitability, what is seasonality, who creates loads in winter, who works with foreigners, who is responsible for medical programs, how will revenue be controlled.
The answer to “we’ll find a management company later” is weak for a serious investor.
17 What model should be laid for Altai resort projects
For apartment complexes in the resort towns of Altai, the optimal model should be mixed.
Accommodation is through a single management company and a boiler model or a hybrid model, which will allow you to manage the room stock as a hotel.
Medical, bath, excursion, restaurant and transport services – through separate service areas or project companies, so that the economy of additional services is transparent.
Unit investors receive income from the placement and, if provided by the model, a part of the income from additional services.
Investors of project JSCs can own shares in service facilities: baths, a medical center, glamping, a restaurant, routes, rental or a transport company.
The land owner and developer receive an increase in the capitalization of the territory, unit sales, participation in project companies and the long-term value of the brand.
This model is more complicated than just selling rooms, but it gives the main thing: the resort area becomes an ecosystem, not a set of objects.
18.A practical conclusion for the investor
The unit investor should not be looking at the finish and the look first, but the management economics.
Who's the management company? What's the experience? What's the commission? What's the basis? What's the payout model: individual, boiler, rent, warranty or hybrid? What's the cost deductible? Is there a repair fund? What's the additional revenue included? Can you see the loading and tariff reports? How the owner uses the unit himself? What happens after the warranty ends? Can I change the CC? Who controls the costs?
If these questions are not answered clearly, the investment model is weak, even if the property is beautiful.
19.The practical conclusion for the developer
The developer has to understand that the management company is part of the product, without it, the unit is sold as a risky property, and with a strong criminal code, it is sold as a profitable asset.
If a developer wants to sell units in Altai, he must show the investor an operating model before the start of sales: who controls how the load is formed, what programs create demand, how revenue is distributed, what costs, what commission, what guarantees, what reports and what strategy for the development of the territory.
In a resort, the management company has to be more than just a maintenance service; it has to be a demand operator.
20.A practical conclusion for Altai
For the Altai Republic, the management company is one of the key institutions of the future resort market: without the UK, each apartment complex will live separately, each owner will expect its profitability, each hotel will compete on its own, and the territory will develop chaoticly.
A strong CC can link accommodation, medical core, glamping, restaurants, baths, routes, excursions, rentals, transfers, international marketing and investor reporting, and it turns a set of units into a resort business.
The bottom line is that unit returns are not created by buying property, but by quality of management. In resort development, a management company is as important an asset as land, architecture and location.
A unit in an apartment hotel becomes an investment product only when a professional management company is behind it, and it is the UK that creates loads, manages tariffs, receives guests, organizes cleaning, maintenance, repairs, advertising, reporting and payments to investors.
In Russian practice, management company commissions are often in the range of 20-30%, and the public benchmark for the St. Petersburg market is about 25%, but it is important for an investor to look not only at the percentage, but at the entire formula: what revenue is considered a commission, what expenses are deducted, how additional income is distributed, whether there is a number renewal fund and how transparent the reporting is.
For Altai, the management company must be stronger than the usual accommodation operator, and it must sell not only nights of stay, but resort programs: medical rehabilitation, stress relief, RDT, baths, routes, glamping, excursions, active recreation, remote work and long stay, only in this case the unit becomes not just a room, but part of the resort ecosystem with a stable load and understandable investment logic.