Expedia CruisesFranchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Expedia Cruises franchise requires a total initial investment of $149K – $259K, including a $49K franchise fee and an ongoing 9.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $4.3M[2]. Verdict grade: A. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified June 18, 2026 · figures per the 2026 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $149K – $259K
- 13th pct Recreation & …
- Avg gross sales
- $4.3M
- 22nd pct Recreation & …
- Royalty
- 9.0%
- 33rd pct Recreation & …
- Units
- 93
- 36th pct Recreation & …
- SBA default
- N/A
Quick verdict · Recreation & Entertainment · color = vs category peers
Green = >15% above Recreation & Entertainment avg · No shading = within ±15% · Red = >15% below avg · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Each dollar invested generates 20.9x in gross revenue, well above the typical 1.5-2.5x range.
The system contracted 5% year-over-year. Investigate why units are closing.
Bottom line
- Total investment $149K – $259K including a $49K franchise fee, 9.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $4.3M/year (median $3.3M).
- Verdict A (Top Quintile) with a risk score of 36/100.
- System contracting at -6.1% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
- Legal entity
- CruiseShipCenters USA Inc.
- Parent company
- Expedia
- Ultimate parent
- Expedia Group, Inc.
- CEO title
- President and Director
- Matthew Eichhorst
- Incorporated in
- NV
- HQ
- 1111 Expedia Group Way West, Seattle, Washington 98119
- Auditor
- Ernst & Young LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $12.8B
- vs $13.7B prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Affiliated brands
- CII
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
Expedia Cruises franchisees operate independent travel agencies specializing in cruise vacation sales, booking, and customer service. Day-to-day activities include client consultation, itinerary planning, reservation processing through the Expedia platform, and post-sale support. Franchisees generate revenue through commissions on cruise bookings and ancillary travel services while operating from a retail or home-based office.
- CEO
- Matthew Eichhorst
- Headquarters
- WA
- Founded
- 2007
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 26
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $49K | $49K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $36K | $59K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $65K | $150K |
| Total initial investment | $149K | $259K |
Source: Expedia Cruises 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$426K
10.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
170%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
7 mo
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $149K – $259K
- Better than avg vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $36K – $59K
- Better than avg vs category
- Franchise fee
- $29K – $49K
- Better than avg vs category
- Royalty
- 9.0%
- percentage_of_gross · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 4.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 15.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 9.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 4.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $2 |
| Transfer fee | $29K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Total fee load | 15.0% of rev |
At 15.0% total fee load, roughly $640K per year goes to the franchisor before you pay a single operating expense.
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $4.3M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $3.3M
- Item 19 type
- Projections based upon historical data
- Sample size
- 59 units
- vs category median 5 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $252K→$13.5M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $263K→$671K
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Transparency tier
- revenue_only
- Categorical assessment of disclosure depth
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Transparency
- 4 / 5
- vs category median 4 / 5 · typical
Compared against 176 Recreation & Entertainment brands
Revenue is 20.9x the investment midpoint. At typical franchise margins, this suggests a payback under 3 years.
vs Recreation & Entertainment averages
How Expedia Cruises Compares
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 93
- Opened
- 4
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 3
- Terminated
- 1
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 3.2%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 5.9%
- Net growth (yr3)
- -5.1%
- Net unit change last year
- 3-yr CAGR
- -6.1%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Closed (3yr)
- 4
- Transfers (3yr)
- 2
- Transfer rate
- 2.2%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Continuity rate
- 91.2%
- Units that stayed open
- Termination rate
- 1.1%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 2.2%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 25 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.
Available to sell in · Item 12
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Michigan
- New York
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
States where the franchisor is registered to sell new franchises (FDD registration filings).
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 18
- Loan volume
- N/A
- Amount data pending
- Median loan
- N/A
- Charge-off rate
- N/A
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- N/A
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 0
- Defaults
- 0
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Contracting franchise system with litigation history, non-transparent profitability data, and aggressive royalty structure creates elevated investment risk.
Litigation (Item 3)
Two litigation matters: (1) CII v. MRMA Travel Ltd. et al. filed December 19, 2018 in BC Supreme Court for breach of franchise agreement, non-compete violation, unjust enrichment, and trademark infringement - discontinued January 5, 2024. (2) The Kay Group, LLC v. CruiseShipCenters USA Inc. filed November 13, 2024 with AAA for arbitration alleging franchisor breach and seeking damages - franchisor terminated franchise agreement January 22, 2025 for material breach of payment obligations and failure to disclose legal proceedings.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Ernst & Young LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 36 / 100 rating
- 01MINORUnit count declining 5.1% YoY (93 units) indicates system contraction and potential market saturation or franchisee dissatisfaction
- 02MEDNo average net income disclosed despite $4.26M average revenue—suggests thin margins, operational challenges, or franchisor unwillingness to disclose profitability
- 03HIGHTwo litigation events within recent period (CWC affiliate lawsuit and Kay Group arbitration) signal franchisor-franchisee relationship strain and governance concerns
- 04MED9% royalty on gross revenues is high relative to travel/booking business model and compounds pressure on undisclosed net margins
- 05MINOR$149,300-$258,545 initial investment with $49,000 franchise fee requires significant capital but lacks clear ROI transparency
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Territory type | Market Area |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory population | 15,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | No |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Seattle, WA |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Washington |
| Litigation count | 2 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Two litigation matters: (1) CII v. MRMA Travel Ltd. et al. filed December 19, 2018 in BC Supreme Court for breach of franchise agreement, non-compete violation, unjust enrichment, and trademark infringement - discontinued January 5, 2024. (2) The Kay Group, LLC v. CruiseShipCenters USA Inc. filed November 13, 2024 with AAA for arbitration alleging franchisor breach and seeking damages - franchisor terminated franchise agreement January 22, 2025 for material breach of payment obligations and failure to disclose legal proceedings.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 35 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 0 hrs
- Training location
- franchisor location and on-site
- Site selection
- franchisor
- POS system
- CruiseDesk
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: CruiseDesk
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
89 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Expedia Cruises · FDD (2026) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Expedia Cruises franchise?
The total investment to open a Expedia Cruises franchise ranges from $149K – $259K, with an initial franchise fee of $49K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Expedia Cruises franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Expedia Cruises FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $4.3M. The median is $3.3M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Expedia Cruises's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Expedia Cruises (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 Expedia Cruises franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Expedia Cruises has 93 total units in the United States, including 93 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 4 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Expedia Cruises a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Expedia Cruises as a A-grade franchise with a risk score of 36 out of 100, based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. 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
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent Expedia Cruises, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Claim this brandOther Recreation & Entertainment franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Recreation & Entertainment category
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.