Comfort Hotel Formats Offered

There are three hotel formats offered under the Comfort brand, depending on the franchisee's desired hotel size and room configuration.

• Comfort Inn: mid-tier, limited-service hotels with a minimum of 60 rooms;
• Comfort Inn & Suites: mid-tier, limited service hotels with 25-50% suites room configuration; and 
• Comfort Suites: mid-tier, limited service, suites-only hotels featuring oversized rooms with partially delineated sleeping vs seating areas.

Regardless of the specific brand name and format chose, all Comfort hotel franchisees benefit from Choice Hotel’s 36 million member Choice Privileges Rewards program as well as its substantial investment in homegrown technology: its cloud-based ChoiceEdge booking system was recently rolled out across all Comfort franchise owners as well as the rest of the Choice Hotels franchisee footprint to help franchisees more effectively attract, book, retain, and serve their guests.

Comfort Franchise Opportunities - History

Choice Hotel’s Comfort brand (including Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, and Comfort Inn & Suites) is the most widely known subsidiary under Choice’s management, with 99% brand awareness. Established in 1981, the brand was crafted to compete with other hotels within its market such as Days Inn, Best Western, and Friendship Inn, specifically targeted toward traveling families. The brand was remodeled in 2012 with new standard requirements, which led to the franchise’s removal of several hundred subpar-performing locations. Since the rebranding commenced, the Comfort brand has grown to over $7 billion in annual system-wide reservation volume, posted four consecutive years of RevPAR Index growth, expanded to some 36 million loyalty program members (across the Choice system), and enjoys leverage over booking partners because more than 60% of revenues originate from Choice Hotels’ owned or controlled marketing channels.

In addition to its brand refresh efforts, Choice Hotels has committed to building out proprietary technology systems to give its hotel franchisees a competitive advantage. The company hired nearly 200 engineers and IT staff and spent tens of millions of dollars across several years to develop its new ChoiceEdge booking system. The new reservation technology was released property by property and now allows every franchisee in the portfolio to better manage their reservations and maximize room occupancy rates.

Comfort Franchise Cost / Initial Investment / Comfort Franchise Income

The investment required to open a hotel under one of the Comfort formats varies depending on the hotel type and whether the franchisee is building a brand new hotel construction or converting an existing property into a Comfort hotel location. 

In general, to open an 86-room Comfort Inn, Comfort Inn & Suites, or Comfort Suites hotel that is a conversion of an existing hotel property, a franchisee can expect to invest $312,250 - $2,241,099, including a franchise (affiliation) fee of $50,000 (minimum) or $500/room. To open a newly constructed, 86-room Comfort Inn or Comfort Inn & Suites hotel, a franchisee can expect to invest $4,472,670 - $8,152,272 (including the $50,000 or $500/room franchise fee). And to open a newly constructed Comfort Suites hotel, a franchisee can expect to invest $5,027,342 - $9,145,231 (including a $50,000 or $500/room franchise fee).  The minimum franchise fees increase to $60,000 in the case of a transfer or renewal. These investment estimates do not include the cost to acquire the underlying real estate for the hotel properties or the taxes associated with such real estate.

Franchisees must also pay an ongoing 6% royalty on monthly gross room revenues as well as contribute 3% of monthly gross room revenues toward the franchisor's system fees, which are meant to cover ongoing maintenance and improvements of the brand's software programs, systemwide advertising efforts, and similar services. 

Comfort Franchise System Size and Composition

The Comfort chain has approximately 2,000 hotels operating or in the development pipeline within the U.S. and around 550 operating or in the development pipeline internationally. The chain is fully franchised. Systemwide, Comfort Inn, Comfort Inn & Suites, and Comfort Suites generate some $4 billion in annual revenues.

Comfort's Parent Company

The Comfort brand is owned by Choice Hotels International, Inc. The Choice Hotels' portfolio includes several franchised hotel chains that cater to prospective franchisees looking to invest in both new constructions as well as hotel and brand conversions.

Choice Hotels' brands vary considerably in terms of total locations and rooms. The chains include, of course, Comfort Inn, Comfort Inn & Suites, and Comfort Suites (approximately 2,500 locations and nearly 200,000 rooms), Quality (approximately 2,000 locations and some 160,000 rooms), Sleep Inn (over 400 locations and around 30,000 rooms), Clarion (around 300 locations and over 40,000 rooms), Cambria Hotels (around 40 rooms and nearly 6,000 rooms), MainStay Suites (around 60 locations and about 4,500 rooms), Suburban (over 60 locations and around 7,000 rooms), Econo Lodge (around 1,000 locations and 55,000 rooms), and Rodeway Inn (over 600 locations and about 35,000 rooms). In addition, Choice Hotels oversees an association of distinctive, high-end properties that form the Ascend Hotel Collection. Finally, Choice has begun moving aggressively into the professionally managed vacation home category with its Vacation Rentals by Choice Hotels business line.

The brands are also grouped by their target consumer. Below is a summary of the Choice Hotels brand lineup, organized by hotel category.

Boutique & Upscale Hotels

• The Ascend Hotel Collection
  
• Cambria Hotels
  

Mid-Scale Hotels

• Comfort
  
• Sleep Inn
  

Economy / Value Hotels

• Quality
  
• Clarion
  
• Clarion Pointe
  

Extended Stay Hotels

• MainStay Suites
  
• WoodSpring Suites
  
• Suburban Extended Stay
  

Roadside / Motor Hotels

• Econo Lodge
  
• Rodeway Inn
  
• Dual Brand Hotels
  
• Sleep Inn and Mainstay Suites
  

Vacation Properties

• Vacation Rentals by Choice Hotels
  

International Hotels

• Choice Hotels International