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A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
A beachside hotel in Surfers Paradise, a family tavern in Nerang or Coomera, or a surf club with a bistro and gaming room can each hold several assets at once, and every one of them is priced on its own evidence before the parts are added up.
A Gold Coast pub, tavern or club is valued by splitting out what would actually change hands: the trading business, the liquor licence, the gaming machine position and, where it is owned, the freehold. Sales of comparable venues, read as a multiple of maintainable earnings, lead for the trading business, while the licence, the gaming position and the property are each valued separately so nothing is counted twice.
Most hotel engagements start with a transaction. A leasehold operator in Broadbeach is selling the business, a freehold going concern in the northern growth corridor is coming to market, one shareholder in the hotel company wants out, a lender is reviewing a facility secured over the venue, or a separating owner needs a figure at a fixed date for property proceedings in the Federal Circuit and Family Court's Brisbane registry. Club boards call when a merger with a neighbouring club is on the table, or before they sell surplus land beside the greens or car park.
Each of those situations turns on the same problem. An asking price usually wraps the trade, the licence, the gaming room and the building into one number, and a buyer, a bank or a court will want each piece shown separately. Pulling them apart is the bulk of the work.
A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
The Market Approach leads. Hotels and taverns across Queensland change hands regularly through specialist brokers, with lenders paying close attention, so actual sales say more about value than any forecast.
The first cut is what interest was sold: a freehold going concern, a leasehold business and a sale of gaming entitlements on their own are different deals. We then narrow by venue type, location, licence type and trading hours, the number of machines the venue is approved to run, and the balance of bar, bistro, bottle shop, accommodation and gaming income, before reading each price against maintainable earnings.
Gaming income is analysed on its own. How long it lasts depends on what the venue's gaming machine licence permits, how many machines are approved, the conditions attached and the operator's harm-minimisation duties, and none of those touch the food and drink trade.
The licensee's own hours are costed as a salaried venue manager and, where the operator also owns the building, a market rent is charged before sustainable earnings are capitalised. That keeps what the trade earns apart from what the property earns.
Bar, cellar and kitchen plant, bottle shop fittings, accommodation fit-out and gaming equipment are valued at market, with the liquor licence and the gaming position added as separate assets. Where trading results are weak, the gaming position on its own can outweigh the business, and the report says so.
These are the first adjustments a reviewing valuer checks, so the report sets each one out with its reason. For pubs, taverns and clubs on the Gold Coast they generally include:
Queensland puts both halves of a gaming venue under one regulator. The Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (OLGR) grants and transfers liquor licences under the Liquor Act 1992 (Qld), fixing the licence type, hours and conditions, and it also administers gaming machine licences under the Gaming Machine Act 1991 (Qld). A venue is only worth what its licences let it do today, so the report records the licence types, the number of approved machines and any conditions before a single comparable sale is chosen.
On the coast the gaming position often draws the closest scrutiny from buyers. The gaming machine licence attaches to the premises and caps the machines that can be operated there, and the entitlements behind those machines need OLGR approval when they are bought, sold or moved. In suburban taverns from Helensvale and Coomera down to Nerang and Mudgeeraba, and in the larger community clubs, the gaming room can carry a big share of total value, so we never fold it into a single goodwill figure.
Trading position changes the picture again. Hotels in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach live on visitors, events and late-night trade in precincts with extra licensing obligations; venues at Burleigh Heads, Palm Beach and Coolangatta mix holidaymakers with a loyal local following; inland taverns rely on their bistro, bottle shop and gaming room; and surf life saving, RSL and sporting clubs answer to members as well as patrons. Nationally the count of accommodation and food services businesses rose only 1.3 per cent in 2025 to 2026 (Source: ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2022 to June 2026, released 18 August 2026), so buyers price each venue on its own position, not on growth in the sector.
The report records the purpose, the standard of value, the valuation date and the information relied on, and names any gaps. It explains the approaches considered, the method used under each, every earnings adjustment and why it was made, and how the results were balanced into a range, written so a non-specialist can follow it.
Licensed venue valuations draw hard scrutiny because the sums are large and the asset mix is tangled. Whether the hotel is at the centre of a shareholder dispute in the Supreme Court of Queensland, a club board must justify a merger to its members, or a refinance is going before a credit committee, the first question tends to be how much of the price is gaming and how much is trade. Our reports are prepared in line with APESB, APES 225 Valuation Services and signed by a certified valuer prepared to explain that split and defend it.
Ask how the gaming position will be separated from goodwill, and what evidence will back each number. If the answer is a single figure for both, the analysis has not been done.
An Indicative valuation fits a licensee sizing up an approach from a hotel group or deciding whether to put a leasehold on the market. It is for internal decision-making and is not written for third party reliance. A Summary report fits buying or selling a leasehold business or a freehold going concern, renewing a lease or refinancing. A Detailed report is required for a shareholder dispute, a family law matter, a club merger or an insurance claim, where another expert is likely to pick over the opinion.
Ask who else will read it. If a court, the ATO, a lender or an opposing valuer will test the number, the report has to be deep enough to answer them.
For internal decision-making. Useful for testing an offer, setting an expectation before a negotiation, or deciding whether to go to market. It is not written for third party reliance.
Sets out the approaches applied, the normalisation adjustments made and the reasoning behind the conclusion. The usual choice for a sale, an ownership change or a finance application.
Applies and reconciles all relevant approaches in full. The level required where a court, the ATO, a lender or another expert will review the opinion.
Talk your situation through with a certified valuer before you commit to anything, at no cost.