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Hilton Garden Inn Franchise Fees 2026: Royalty, Marketing and Initial Fee
Hilton Garden Inn is an upscale brand from Hilton. Here is what it charges to join and to stay in the system, where the numbers come from, and how they compare with similar brands.
Hilton Garden Inn fees at a glance
| Initial fee | $100,000 plus $400 for each additional guest room or suite over 150 (new development or conversion) |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.5% |
| Marketing or program fee | 4% |
| Royalty plus marketing | 9.5% of rooms revenue |
| Franchisor | Hilton |
| Segment | Upscale |
| Disclosure year | 2026 |
Note: Change of ownership application fee $200,000; re-licensing $100,000.
Source: Read in Hilton Garden Inn’s 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Source 1
How Hilton Garden Inn compares
Hilton Garden Inn’s royalty and marketing fees add up to 9.5% of rooms revenue. That is above the 8.7% average for the 11 upscale brands in our table with a comparable headline figure, the highest of the 11.
| Upscale brand | Franchisor | Royalty | Marketing | Headline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crowne Plaza | IHG | 5% | 3% (Services Contribution) | 8% |
| voco | IHG | 5% | 3.5% (Sales and Marketing Services Contribution) | 8.5% |
| EVEN Hotels | IHG | 5% | 3.5% (Sales and Marketing Services Contribution) | 8.5% |
| Hyatt Place | Hyatt | 5% | 3.5% (Commercial Services Fee) | 8.5% |
| Sonesta Hotels, Resorts & Cruises | Sonesta | 5% of GRR | 3.5% of GRR | 8.5% |
| The Royal Sonesta | Sonesta | 5% of GRR | 3.5% of GRR | 8.5% |
| Sonesta Select | Sonesta | 5% | 3.5% (Brand Promotion Fee; can rise to 4.5%) | 8.5% |
| DoubleTree by Hilton | Hilton | 5% | 4% | 9% |
| Cambria Hotels | Choice Hotels | 6% | 3% (Marketing and Reservation Fee) | 9% |
| Radisson | Choice Hotels | 6% | 3% (Marketing and Reservation Fee) | 9% |
What it costs on a typical hotel
Take a 100-room Hilton Garden Inn running 70% occupancy at a $130 average daily rate. That is about $3,321,500 in rooms revenue a year.
| Royalty (5.5%) | $182,683 a year |
| Marketing (4%) | $132,860 a year |
| Royalty plus marketing | $315,543 a year |
Illustrative math by The Hotelier Times, not a quote. It leaves out reservation, loyalty, technology and other program fees, which usually push the real total higher.
What the headline number leaves out
Royalty and marketing are only the start. Most brands also charge for reservations and distribution, loyalty-program assessments on member stays, required technology and property-management systems, training and quality assurance. Brands also negotiate: ramp-up royalty discounts, key money and conversion incentives are common. Ask Hilton for its estimate of total fees as a share of rooms revenue, and read Items 5 and 6 of the current FDD before you sign. Our analysis of what owners really pay a brand puts the typical all-in bill at 10% to 13% of rooms revenue.
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Keep going
- Compare franchise fees for all 164 brands
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- 2026 hotel sales tracker
The Hotelier Times is a publisher, not a franchise adviser. Fees change; confirm every figure in the brand’s current Franchise Disclosure Document. Spot an error? Email nathan@hoteliertimes.com.