Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $104.8M – $172.2M
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Limited · 11 loans
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
JW Marriott is Marriott's luxury full-service hotel franchise for upscale business and leisure travelers. Franchisees own and operate individual properties, running rooms, dining, events, and guest services on Marriott's systems.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott franchise requires a total initial investment of $104.8M – $172.2M, including a $100K – $120K franchise fee and an ongoing 6.0% royalty[2]. The 2026 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), 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
- $104.8M – $172.2M
- 72nd pct Lodging
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Projection
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- 53rd pct Lodging
- Units
- 369
- 60th 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 $104.8M – $172.2M including a $100K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 reports operating metrics rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable.
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 76/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +5 franchised outlets in the latest year (7 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- DATAItem 19 reports operating metrics rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable. Ask franchisees directly for full unit-level revenue.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- MIF, L.L.C.
- Parent company
- Marriott International, Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2026 FDD
- CEO title
- Director, Chief Executive Officer, and President (of MII)
- Anthony Capuano
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 7750 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
- Auditor
- Ernst & Young LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $147.5M
- vs $103.3M prior year
Same owner · FDD Item 1, page 9
8 other brands on this site name Marriott International, Inc. as parent or ultimate parent in their own FDD.
- AC Hotels by MarriottC
- Aloft HotelsB
- City Express by MarriottB
- Delta Hotels by MarriottB
- Fairfield by MarriottA
- Postcard CabinsC
- SpringHill Suites by MarriottA
- TownePlace Suites by MarriottA
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
- Anthony Capuano
- Headquarters
- MD
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 40
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 1457% 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) | $1.1M | $2.4M |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $103.7M | $169.7M |
| Total initial investment | $104.8M | $172.2M |
Source: Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott 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
- $104.8M – $172.2M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $1.1M – $2.4M
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $100K – $120K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $210 |
| Training fee | $105K |
| Transfer fee | $16K |
| Renewal fee | $0 |
| Total fee load | 7.0% 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 Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott 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 Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott 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
Not a revenue figure
- Item 19 type
- operating metrics
- Sample size
- 232
- 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 7.0% — below the Lodging median of 8.5%.
Disclosure
Item 19 reports operating metrics rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable.
Operator retention
System roughly stable (+2.0% 3-year CAGR) with 369 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 Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott 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
- 369
- Opened
- 7
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 2
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 0.8%
- Company-owned
- 119
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 68%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +2.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +2.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 2
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 9
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Projected new
- 0
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Termination rate
- 1.2%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 40 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
237 current owners across 40 states.
- CA 25
- FL 23
- TX 22
- IL 12
- NY 11
- GA 10
- NC 9
- OH 9
- MI 8
- CO 7
- TN 7
- VA 7
- +28 more states
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20; 12 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.
- Total loans
- 11
- Loan volume
- $26.1M
- Median loan
- $2.4M
- average
- Charge-off rate
- Limited · 11 loans
- Limited SBA coverage: 11 loans, rate hidden until 10 have resolved and loans reach 2% of franchised units
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Limited · 11 loans
- 5-yr charge-off
- Limited · 11 loans
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 9
- Defaults
- 0
Vintage analysis
Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott charge-off rate by loan vintage
Top lenders financing Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott franchisees
Showing 3 of 9 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Lender network · 7(a) + 504
SBA Lending Report
Full lending analysis for Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott from SBA 7(a) FOIA data.
Top SBA lenders
| # | Lender | Loans | Volume | Default % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Fidelity Bank, FSB | 2 | $450K | 0.0% |
| 2 | Liberty Bank, FSB | 2 | $4.0M | 0.0% |
| 3 | BMO Bank National Association | 1 | $1.8M | 0.0% |
| 4 | TD Bank, National Association | 1 | $1.3M | 0.0% |
| 5 | Columbia Bank | 1 | $900K | 0.0% |
| 6 | Hanmi Bank | 1 | $3.6M | 0.0% |
| 7 | Hana Bank USA National Association | 1 | $5.0M | 0.0% |
| 8 | Bank OZK | 1 | $5.0M | 0.0% |
| 9 | Bank of Hope | 1 | $4.0M | 0.0% |
Geographic failure vector
| State | Loans | Defaults | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| CACalifornia | 4 | 0 | 0.0% |
| AZArizona | 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
| IAIowa | 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
| NYNew York | 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
| FLFlorida | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
Source: SBA 7(a) + 504 FOIA loan-level data, matched by FranchiseVerdict
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
JW Marriott presents moderate-to-cautionary risk: stagnant growth, material litigation exposure, opaque financials, and heavy royalty load without disclosed profitability benchmarks.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (defendant).
Ongoing data breach litigation from 2018 Starwood incident (MDL plus thousands of individual plaintiffs in NY state court); Canadian class action; two hotel antitrust class actions (Portillo, Segal); franchisee credit card proceeds dispute (SRG Investment). Concluded cases include resort fee class actions, UK ICO penalty, FTC/AG settlements totaling $52M+, Chicago settlement $5.8M.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Ernst & Young LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
MIF, L.L.C. statements of income ($ in thousands). FY2025 total revenue $147,482K = net fee revenues $96,599K (gross fee revenue $98,016K less contract investment amortization $1,417K) plus cost reimbursement revenue $50,883K. Other revenue = licensing fees and other revenue $2,989K (component of gross fee revenue).
ⓘ 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 76 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORMinimal unit growth (2.0% YoY) suggests market saturation or franchisee dissatisfaction in luxury hotel segment
- 02HIGHSignificant ongoing litigation from 2018 Starwood data breach, resort fee investigations, and antitrust claims creates operational and reputational risk
- 03MEDHigh capital barrier and 20-year commitment with no disclosed average net income creates asymmetric risk for franchisee vs. franchisor
- 04MINORLuxury hotel segment vulnerable to economic downturns, travel disruption, and labor cost inflation affecting already-thin margins
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 7.0% 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 | 20 years |
|---|---|
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 0 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Right of first refusalℹ | No |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 7 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | MD |
| Litigation count | 5 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Ongoing data breach litigation from 2018 Starwood incident (MDL plus thousands of individual plaintiffs in NY state court); Canadian class action; two hotel antitrust class actions (Portillo, Segal); franchisee credit card proceeds dispute (SRG Investment). Concluded cases include resort fee class actions, UK ICO penalty, FTC/AG settlements totaling $52M+, Chicago settlement $5.8M.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 40 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 0 hrs
- Training location
- Franchisor-designated location (on-site and virtual); pre-opening training at hotel or franchisor facilities
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 33 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Simphony POS by Oracle
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Simphony POS by Oracle
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
249 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 Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott franchise?
The total investment to open a Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott franchise ranges from $104.8M – $172.2M, 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 Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott 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 Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott?
Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott is franchised by MIF, L.L.C.. Its parent company is Marriott International, Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott 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 Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott (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 Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott has 369 total units in the United States, including 250 franchised units and 119 company-owned units. 7 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Marriott Hotel / JW Marriott as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 76 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.