Americas Best Value Inn franchise cost
Americas Best Value Inn (Sonesta) charges a royalty of $32 per room per month (minimum $1,600) and a brand promotion fee of $18 per room per month, both raised up to once a year by the greater of 10% or the change in CPI, according to its franchise disclosure document issued March 31, 2026. The franchisor estimates the total cost of a new-build hotel at $4,202,294 to $9,577,069, not counting land; converting an existing hotel runs $160,399 to $1,572,569.
- Royalty
- Per rooma flat monthly fee per room; see the table below
- Marketing
- Per rooma flat monthly fee per room; see the table below
- Fee to take over on a purchase
- None statedItem 5 lists no separate transfer fee. Ask Sonesta what it charges on a change of ownership.
- Fee for a new franchise
- $19,000Item 5 formula at 60 rooms. Fees actually charged can be lower; see the notes below.
- Total investment
- $4.20M to $9.58MItem 7 estimate for a new-build hotel
Recurring fees in the 2026 FDD
| Royalty | $32 per Guest Room per month, minimum $1,600 per month; escalator: 'Fee Adjustment' no more than once per year by the greater of 10% annually (compounding) or CPI change |
|---|---|
| Marketing or brand fund | Brand Promotion Fee: $18 per Guest Room per month, minimum $900 per month; subject to Fee Adjustment |
| Reservation, loyalty and technology | Loyalty Program 2.5% of Qualified Revenue; Reservation Fees $1.75-$10.50 per reservation; Groups 3% of consumed master folio; travel agency commission settlement $0.85/transaction; TMC/consortia 3.5% of consumed revenue; corporate RFP $23 per RFP. |
| Initial fee (Item 5) | (a) $17,500 plus (b) the product of $150 times the number of Guest Rooms in excess of 50; No separate application fee (formerly 'application fee', now called Initial Fee). In FY2025 discounted Initial Fees ranged from $7,500 (48 rooms) to $17,500 (98 rooms); financing up to $15,000 of the Initial Fee offered to qualified franchisees. |
| New build (Item 7) | $4,202,294 to $9,577,069 |
| Conversion (Item 7) | $160,399 to $1,572,569 |
| What Item 7 assumes | 50-room Americas Best Value Inn: conversion table and new-construction table. Americas Best Value Studios 50 rooms: conversion $160,399-$2,002,569; new construction $4,864,374-$9,587,069. Excludes land. |
Americas Best Value Inn charges a royalty of $32 per room per month (minimum $1,600) and a brand promotion fee of $18 per room per month, both raised up to once a year by the greater of 10% or the change in CPI.
From the filing: Cover: new construction 'excluding site acquisition and preparation'. Royalty and Brand Promotion Fee are per-room flat fees with a compounding 10%/CPI escalator, unusual versus percentage royalties.
What the fees cost a 60-room hotel
Take a 60-room Americas Best Value Inn with $1,500,000 of rooms revenue a year. The royalty and the marketing or system fees that apply to every room night come to 0%, or $0 a year, and per-room fees add $36,000 ($50.00 per room per month, before the FDD's minimum and maximum). That is $36,000 a year, about $3,000 a month, before payroll or utilities. Fees charged only on some bookings, such as loyalty-member stays, central reservation bookings and online commissions, come on top.
Those fees come straight off NOI. At 1.25x coverage, $36,000 of fees is $28,800 a year of payment you can no longer borrow against, or about $260,000 of loan at 10% over 25 years.
Fees billed per reservation, per transaction or as a fixed amount are not in this total; they are listed in the table above as the FDD states them. Run your own numbers with Americas Best Value Inn fees filled in.
Financing an Americas Best Value Inn
Lenders read the franchise agreement as closely as the appraisal. On a purchase, expect the brand to require a change-of-ownership application, a new franchise agreement on current terms and often a property improvement plan (PIP), and expect the lender to fold the PIP cost into the project. For a new build, the Item 7 range is the starting point for the construction budget a lender will test.
Most owner-operators finance a branded hotel with an SBA 7(a) or 504 loan. Read SBA 7(a) for hotels and SBA 504 for hotels, or send the deal to Janover Capital.
Source
Americas Best Value Inn Franchise Disclosure Document, issued March 31, 2026, as filed with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Cover p.1; Item 5 FDD p.15 (PDF p.22); Item 6 FDD p.18 (PDF p.25); Item 7 FDD p.26. View the filing record. Fees change every year and the franchise agreement you sign controls. Read on 2026-10-24.
Other Sonesta brands
- Sonesta Simply Suites: royalty 5%, all percent fees 8.5%
Buying or building an Americas Best Value Inn?
Send the deal to Janover Capital, which runs this site and arranges hotel financing through lenders.