Hotel fixed asset list: a sample by room, lobby and kitchen, and how to count it

A hotel fixed asset list, or demirbaş list, is a coded record of every durable item the hotel owns, by area, with its location and the person who holds it. It is built by walking the building, counted at least once a year, and kept separate from, but reconciled with, the accountant's depreciation register.

A hotel changes hands in October, and the incoming owner asks for the fixed asset list. What arrives is a spreadsheet last edited three years ago, with one column headed "rooms" and no room numbers in it. This article shows how to build the list properly: what goes on it, a sample by area, how to code and label each item, how to run the yearly count, and how items leave the list when they break or are sold.

What is a hotel fixed asset list, and why must two lists match?#

The fixed asset list is the operating record of every durable item the hotel owns, row by row and area by area, with a code, a location and a named holder. It is a different document from the accountant's register, and the two have to be reconciled.

The operating list carries what a team needs to act: code, area, room number, quantity, condition, acquisition date and who holds it. It answers "where is it and who is responsible". The accounting register is the depreciation schedule: it carries cost, acquisition date and the depreciation applied, because tax law asks for those. It does not tell you which room the television is in.

Reconcile once a year, line by line. A purchase on the register with no row on the operating list means nobody knows where the item went; a row on the operating list with no register entry means an unrecorded purchase.

The usual failure is not a bad list but a frozen one. It is built for an opening, a bank or an insurance policy, then never touched while items move between rooms, floors and storage. Give the list a named owner, usually the technical manager or the financial controller, and a revision date on every page. A list without a date cannot be trusted at a handover.

Be clear about what it is: a management record. It does not by itself prove ownership of anything, and it is not a legal inventory.

What goes on the list, and what counts as a consumable?#

If the hotel expects the item to still be there in twelve months and it has an identifiable value, it belongs on the list. If it is used up, given to the guest or worn out within a season, it is a consumable and belongs in stock, not on the asset list.

Apply the test item by item: does it leave with the guest, get used up, or wear out within a year? Amenities, minibar contents, cleaning chemicals, paper and guest stationery fail the test and stay out. Linen and towels are usually handled as a stock group with a par level and a replacement cycle rather than as individually coded items, because they wear out and are replaced in batches. Treat this as common practice, not as a rule.

Tax law sets a second, separate line. Article 313 of the Tax Procedure Law covers tools, equipment, furnishings and fixtures used in the business for more than one year and exposed to wear, tear or loss of value, and allows items below a stated value to be expensed directly instead of depreciated. That threshold is TRY 12,000 from 1 January 2026, set by VUK General Communiqué No. 588 from the Gelir İdaresi Başkanlığı (31 December 2025) (opens in a new tab). Where several items form an economic and technical whole, the limit is applied to them together, so a bed base, mattress and headboard bought as one set are judged as one.

The operating list can be finer than the register. An item the accountant expensed can still carry a code, because operations still needs to know where it is and who signed for it. Depreciation rates are set by the Ministry under Article 315 and belong in a separate discussion. Do not copy a rate into the asset list; it will be wrong within a year and nobody will notice.

Hotel room equipment list: a sample by area#

The sample below is a starting point for a walk-through, not a legal inventory. Copy the columns, then add and remove rows until they match your own building.

Build the room list by room type, not by room: list one standard double, one suite and one accessible room, count how many of each exist, and multiply. Then walk every room once to catch the exceptions. Keep built-in items out of the room list. Joinery, built-in wardrobes and bathroom fixtures are integral parts of the immovable under Article 269 of the Tax Procedure Law, so they belong on the building record, not on a list that changes when a room is refitted.

Add a serial number column for anything electronic: televisions, safes, minibars, card terminals, laundry machines. Serial numbers settle insurance claims and warranty questions faster than any description. Record condition at every count with a small fixed scale, for example good, worn, damaged. A quantity alone tells the incoming owner nothing about what it will cost to keep. Photograph one room of each type, empty and furnished; a photograph ends an argument at a handover in a way a spreadsheet row cannot. For the guest supplies that stay off this list, see guest room amenities: choosing the list and setting par stock.

Washbasin, WC and shower and bath fittings are integral parts of the immovable under Article 269, so they sit on the building record, not on the room list.

How do you code, label and assign each item?#

One code per item or per identical set, a label that survives cleaning, and one named person per area who signs for what is there.

Build the code from position, then type: building or block, floor, area, room number, item type, sequence. For example, a code reading B1-03-1204-BED-01 says block one, third floor, room 1204, bed, first of its set. Keep the segments fixed so a sort gives you a floor walk.

Put the label where cleaning does not reach and guests do not see: the underside of a chair, the back of a television, the inside of a wardrobe door. A label on a visible face gets removed by the first housekeeper who finds it ugly. Write the position in words next to the code, for example "underside of the writing desk, right-hand leg". A counter can then confirm an item without moving furniture.

Assign custody by area, not by item: housekeeping holds the rooms, the chef holds the kitchen, engineering holds the technical spaces, front office holds the lobby. Each holder signs the area list and its revision date. Record moves with one line: date, from, to, who approved. Items drifting between rooms are a common source of count differences, and a move log costs nothing to keep.

Keep the list in one place that the area holders can read, and print the area page for the count. A list that only the controller can open will not be maintained.

How do you count the list, and when?#

Count the whole list once a year in a low-occupancy week, and count targeted areas before any event that changes who is responsible: a handover, a winter closing, a refit.

For the full count, freeze moves for the day, work area by area, and put two people on each area: one counts aloud, one records. The area holder walks with them, because that person knows where the odd items live. Spot-count the high-loss items quarterly: hairdryers, remote controls, safes, small kitchen appliances, tools. A short list counted often catches drift before it becomes a write-off.

For a handover, count jointly with the incoming party, sign every page, photograph anything missing or damaged, and attach the dated list to the contract as an annex. The contract decides who owns what; the list only records what is there. For a winter closing, count before the hotel closes and again after it reopens; anything stored off site needs its own location code, or it will be counted as missing in spring. The order of operations is in the winter closing checklist.

Use manager on duty rounds to catch moves early: a missing chair noticed on a round is a note, the same chair noticed a year later is a loss. The rounds log and the asset list should reference each other. Sort every variance into three buckets, found, missing and damaged, each with a value and a decision. A variance list without decisions is just a longer list.

Broken, sold or moved: how does an item leave the list?#

An item leaves the list only through a dated disposal record with a reason, an approver and the supporting document. The row stays, marked as disposed, so the history survives.

Name the three exits: scrapped beyond repair, sold or transferred out of the hotel, and lost after a count. Each needs its own reason code, because they are treated differently by the insurer and by the accountant. Never delete a row. Mark it disposed with the date, the reason and who approved it, and attach the scrap note, the sales invoice or the count variance. A deleted row cannot be explained a year later.

Maintenance records carry the evidence. A pump that failed three times before it was scrapped is a documented decision; the same pump with no history looks like an unexplained disappearance. A preventive maintenance plan produces exactly that record. For insurance, build the sum insured from the list at replacement cost, not at book value, and refresh it after every refit. Keep the invoices and the photographs with the list, not in a separate folder nobody opens.

For a lease or a takeover, the list is an annex to the contract: it records condition and count, while the contract decides who owns the fixtures and who replaces what. Do not let the list be read as an ownership statement; the ownership question is covered in the article on leasing out a hotel. During a refit, record removals before the new deliveries arrive. Otherwise the list quietly doubles, and the next count spends a day chasing furniture that was thrown out two winters ago.

What to do next#

Start with one floor this week: photograph a standard room, write down every durable item with its position, and give the page a code, a holder and a date. That single page is the template for the lobby, the kitchen and the technical spaces, and it is the page you will want in your hand the next time a hotel changes hands, closes for winter or files an insurance claim.