Embassy Suites by Hilton Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $59.1M – $90.9M
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Embassy Suites by Hilton is an upscale, all-suite hotel franchise with free made-to-order breakfast and evening receptions. Franchisees own and operate individual properties, running suites, food and beverage, and guest services to Hilton standards.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Embassy Suites by Hilton franchise requires a total initial investment of $59.1M – $90.9M, including a $100K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.5% royalty[2]. The 2026 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - issued within the last 12 months
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored4 of 5 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $59.1M – $90.9M
- 68th pct Lodging
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Incl. company outletsProjection
- Royalty
- 5.5%
- 39th pct Lodging
- Units
- 239
- 55th pct Lodging
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Lodging · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Lodging median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $59.1M – $90.9M including a $100K franchise fee, 5.5% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 discloses ADR, Occupancy, RevPAR, and RevPAR Index for 221 Comparable Hotels in US for 2025. These are per-room operational metrics, not total gross revenues. Actual hotel revenues not disclosed.
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 60/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +2 franchised outlets in the latest year (3 opened, 1 closed); 24 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- LEGAL15 litigation matters disclosed in Item 3, higher than typical. Review the summary for patterns (franchisor-initiated vs. franchisee-initiated).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Hilton Franchise Holding LLC
- Parent company
- Hilton Domestic Operating Company Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2026 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2026 FDD
- Predecessor
- Embassy Suites Franchise LLC
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer and President
- Christopher J. Nassetta
- CEO experience
- 2013 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 7930 Jones Branch Drive, Suite 1100, McLean, Virginia 22102
- Auditor
- Cherry Bekaert LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $1.6B
- vs $1.5B prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Same owner · FDD Item 1, page 9
17 other brands on this site name Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. as parent or ultimate parent in their own FDD.
- Apartment Collection by HiltonC
- Canopy by HiltonB
- Curio Collection by HiltonB
- DoubleTree by HiltonA
- Graduate by HiltonB
- Hampton by HiltonA
- Hilton Garden InnA
- Home2 Suites by HiltonA
- Homewood Suites by HiltonA
- LXRB
- Motto by HiltonB
- Outset Collection by HiltonC
- Project Q by HiltonC
- Tapestry Collection by HiltonB
- Tempo by HiltonC
- Tru by HiltonA
- Undergraduate by HiltonC
Grouped by the owner's name as each filing prints it (this page: the 2026 FDD). Spelling variants of the same group may be listed apart; a brand is never grouped with an owner its filing does not name.
Overview
About
- CEO
- Christopher J. Nassetta
- Headquarters
- VA
- Founded
- 2007
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 43
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 743% above the typical lodging franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $100K | $100K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $600K | $1.0M |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $58.4M | $89.8M |
| Total initial investment | $59.1M | $90.9M |
Source: Embassy Suites by Hilton 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $59.1M – $90.9M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $600K – $1.0M
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $100K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.5%
- Tiered by sales volume · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 4.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.5%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.5% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 4.0% of gross sales |
| Training fee | $18K |
| Transfer fee | $200K |
| Renewal fee | $100K |
| Inventory (initial) | $700K – $1.0M |
| Total fee load | 9.5% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for Embassy Suites by Hilton is on file. The return models need a revenue figure to start from, and the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit are in no FDD. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions — nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Embassy Suites by Hilton unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for annual revenue, COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
Item 19 discloses ADR, Occupancy, RevPAR, and RevPAR Index for 221 Comparable Hotels in US for 2025. These are per-room operational metrics, not total gross revenues. Actual hotel revenues not disclosed.
Includes company-owned outlets
An occupancy metric, not unit revenue
- Item 19 type
- RevPAR and Room Rate (operational hotel metrics, not gross revenues)
- Sample size
- 221 outlets
- vs category median 98 · large
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2025
Compared against 175 Lodging brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.5% (near the Lodging median).
Disclosure
Item 19 reports hotel occupancy metrics rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable.
Operator retention
System roughly stable (+1.3% 3-year CAGR) with 239 units.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Lodging medians
How Embassy Suites by Hilton Compares
Category median of published Lodging brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 239
- Opened
- 3
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 1
- Terminated
- 1
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 0.4%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -1.3%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +1.3%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 1
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 9
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 24
- 0.10 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 1
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 3.8%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 7 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
7 current owners across 7 states.
- CA 1
- CO 1
- GA 1
- MD 1
- NY 1
- TX 1
- VA 1
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20; 2 entries carry no state. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Embassy Suites presents elevated risk due to litigation exposure, absent financial transparency, negligible growth despite brand strength, and unprotected territories creating cannibalization risk.
Why this reads harsher than the B grade: the grade weighs financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency across the whole filing, while this summary lists individual flags without that weighting. The flags are worth checking with current owners; neither is investment advice.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (defendant).
5 pending actions (1 vs franchisor breach of contract, 4 class action antitrust); 5 concluded actions involving franchisor (breach of contract, consumer protection/fee disclosure settlements with TX $2.1M and NE $300K, franchise disputes); 4 collection suits against former franchisees; 1 historical 1971 Sherman Act consent decree involving predecessor HHC
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Cherry Bekaert LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results — the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 60 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORStagnant unit growth (0.8% YoY) suggests franchisee recruitment and retention challenges despite major brand recognition
- 02MINORMultiple active antitrust lawsuits and recent AG settlements indicate systemic compliance issues with pricing transparency and guest fee disclosures
- 03MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk; franchisees may face cannibalization from nearby Embassy Suites locations
- 04HIGHLitigation pattern shows breach of contract and termination disputes with franchisees, suggesting contentious franchisor-franchisee relationships
- 05HIGH23-year term is lengthy given declining unit trajectory and litigation exposure; exit options may be limited
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.5% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 23 years |
|---|---|
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 0 |
| Territory type | No territory protection |
| Protected territory | No |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Right of first refusalℹ | No |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 10 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 17 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 4 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Fairfax County, Virginia (Puerto Rico only) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | NY |
| Litigation count | 15 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
5 pending actions (1 vs franchisor breach of contract, 4 class action antitrust); 5 concluded actions involving franchisor (breach of contract, consumer protection/fee disclosure settlements with TX $2.1M and NE $300K, franchise disputes); 4 collection suits against former franchisees; 1 historical 1971 Sherman Act consent decree involving predecessor HHC
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 113 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 1 hrs
- Training location
- Virtual and on-site at the hotel
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 36 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- OnQ (Hilton Property Management System / PEP)
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: OnQ (Hilton Property Management System / PEP)
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
9 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Embassy Suites by Hilton franchise?
The total investment to open a Embassy Suites by Hilton franchise ranges from $59.1M – $90.9M, with an initial franchise fee of $100K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Embassy Suites by Hilton franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the Embassy Suites by Hilton FDD discloses figures for part of the system but no single average across all outlets. These are gross sales figures, not profit; the Revenue section shows what the filing reports and on what basis. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns Embassy Suites by Hilton?
Embassy Suites by Hilton is franchised by Hilton Franchise Holding LLC. Its parent company is Hilton Domestic Operating Company Inc.. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Embassy Suites by Hilton FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Embassy Suites by Hilton FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Embassy Suites by Hilton's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Embassy Suites by Hilton (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Embassy Suites by Hilton franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Embassy Suites by Hilton has 239 total units in the United States, including 239 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 3 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Embassy Suites by Hilton a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Embassy Suites by Hilton as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 60 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.