Franchise Deep Dive: Comfort Inn & Suites Franchise Costs, Fees, Profit and Data

As the largest brand in the Choice Hotels portfolio, Comfort Inn & Suites is a top choice for developers looking to enter the hospitality and lodging industry.

By Luca Piacentini1851 Franchise Managing Editor

8:08AM • 06/28/23

LAST UPDATED: May 22, 2023

FRANCHISE WEBSITE: https://choicehotelsdevelopment.com/brands/#comfort

NUMBER OF LOCATIONS: 2,350+

REPORTED COST TO GET IN: $307,125 - $9,243,275

REPORTED ROI (Item 19): N/A

Comfort Inn & Suites is a limited-service franchise, the largest brand out of the 10 in the Choice Hotels portfolio. Comfort Inn is complemented by its slightly more premium counterpart Comfort Suites. The latter provides enhanced amenities, including a business center, more spacious guest rooms and better-equipped kitchen facilities.

How Many Comfort Inn & Suites Locations Are There?

The Comfort brand, encompassing Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites and Comfort Inn & Suites, stands as the most recognized subsidiary within the portfolio managed by Choice Hotels. The brand, launched in 1981, was designed to go head-to-head with rivals such as Days Inn, Best Western and Friendship Inn, with a specific focus on accommodating families on the go.

In 2012, a significant revamp of the Comfort brand introduced stricter standards, which resulted in the elimination of several hundred underperforming franchises. Alongside revitalizing its brand, Choice Hotels has also dedicated resources to establishing proprietary tech systems to ensure a competitive edge for its hotel franchisees. The firm enlisted the expertise of roughly 200 IT professionals and engineers, investing a substantial amount in the tens of millions over several years to build its innovative ChoiceEdge reservation system. The state-of-the-art booking technology was gradually implemented across properties, and now empowers every franchisee to optimize their reservation management and room occupancy rates.

Today, franchisees own 100% of Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites hotel locations, comprising over 2,300 units open or in development worldwide. In 2022, Comfort Inn & Suites was ranked No. 35 on Franchise Times’ list of the Top 500 Franchises.

What Is the Comfort Inn & Suites Business Model?

Comfort franchise owners provide guests with a comfortable lodging experience at an affordable price point. There are three hotel formats offered under the Comfort brand, depending on the franchisee's desired hotel size and room configuration.

Comfort Inn: mid-tier, limited-service hotels with a minimum of 60 rooms
Comfort Inn & Suites: mid-tier, limited service hotels with 25%–50% suites room configuration
Comfort Suites: mid-tier, limited service, suites-only hotels featuring oversized rooms with partially delineated sleeping vs seating areas

Regardless of the specific brand name and format choice, all Comfort hotel franchisees benefit from Choice Hotel’s 36 million member Choice Privileges Rewards program, as well as its substantial investment in homegrown technology. Its cloud-based ChoiceEdge booking system was recently rolled out across all Comfort franchise owners, as well as the rest of the Choice Hotels franchisee footprint to help franchisees more effectively attract, book, retain and serve their guests.

How Much Can Comfort Inn & Suites Franchise Owners Make?

The Comfort Inn & Suites franchise does not have publicly available financial representations. Prospective franchisees will need to reach out to learn more and gain access to the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).

Choice Hotels saw a record-breaking sales year companywide in 2022. Total revenues reached a company record of $1.4 billion, a 31% increase compared to the same period of 2021. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the full-year 2022 reached a company record of $478.6 million, a 19% increase compared to the same period of 2021.

How Much Does It Cost to Open a Comfort Inn & Suites?

The investment required to open a hotel under one of the Comfort formats varies, depending on the hotel type and whether the franchisee is building a brand new hotel construction or converting an existing property into a Comfort hotel location.

To open an 86-room Comfort Inn, Comfort Inn & Suites or Comfort Suites hotel that is a conversion of an existing hotel property, a franchisee can expect to invest $312,250–$2,241,099.
To open a newly constructed, 86-room Comfort Inn or Comfort Inn & Suites hotel, a franchisee can expect to invest $4,472,670–$8,152,272.
To open a newly constructed Comfort Suites hotel, a franchisee can expect to invest $5,027,342–$9,145,231.

These investment estimates do not include the cost to acquire the underlying real estate for the hotel properties or the taxes associated with such real estate.

Franchisees must also pay an ongoing 6% royalty on monthly gross room revenues, as well as contribute 3% of monthly gross room revenues toward the franchisor's system fees, which are meant to cover ongoing maintenance and improvements of the brand's software programs, systemwide advertising efforts and similar services.

Liquid capital required: $1,000,000
Net worth required: $1,000,000–$10,000,000

What Is the Franchise Fee for Comfort Inn & Suites?

The initial franchise fee is $50,000 or $500 per room. The minimum franchise fees increase to $60,000 in the case of a transfer or renewal.

Who’s On Comfort Inn & Suites’ Leadership Team?

What Helpful Articles Can I Read to Learn More About Comfort Inn & Suites?

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