How Much Does a La Quinta Inn Franchise Owner Make?

Officially, Item 19 measures room-rate and room-revenue performance—not owner earnings. For January 1 through December 31, 2025, the 435 qualified franchisee-operated hotels reported median ADR of $108.46, median Occupancy Rate of 66.9%, and median RevPAR of $73.13. RevPAR is gross room revenue per available room; it is not total hotel revenue, operating profit, cash flow, or owner take-home pay.

The average results were $112.75 ADR, 66.5% occupancy, and $74.95 RevPAR. Only 201 of 435 qualified hotels, or 46.2%, met or exceeded the average RevPAR. That distinction matters: an average is not a typical guaranteed result, and less than half of the reporting properties reached it. The model therefore uses the median RevPAR as its central revenue anchor.

The FDD reports no company-owned hotels for 2023, 2024, or 2025. That removes a same-brand company-operated profit proxy. The strongest evidence therefore remains same-brand RevPAR, supplemented by a broad U.S. hotel operating-margin benchmark. See the official La Quinta by Wyndham franchise page for the brand’s current U.S. development information. FDD citations: La Quinta Franchising LLC 2026 FDD, Item 19, pp. 84–87; Item 20, pp. 87–97.

The modeled manager-run range is $464,000 to $889,000, with a $660,000 base case. These are independent annual scenarios for a mature 100-room conversion property, not probabilities, forecasts, or franchisor-reported profits.

The calculation starts with median RevPAR, converts it to annual room revenue, and applies a broad U.S. hotel EBITDA margin. The full-precision inputs are calculated first; published dollar values are rounded to the nearest $1,000.

• Revenue sensitivity: 80%, 100%, and 120% of the FDD-derived median room revenue. This spread is analytical, not disclosed in Item 19.
• Margin sensitivity: the 24.7% benchmark margin minus three percentage points, unchanged, and plus three percentage points. These are scenario assumptions, not La Quinta margins.
• Fee treatment: the CoStar/STR P&L framework records royalty, franchise marketing, loyalty, reservation, labor, general-manager, and management costs within operating accounts. The model therefore does not subtract the FDD fee percentages a second time.
• Revenue scope: the calculation uses room revenue only. It does not add food, beverage, meeting, vending, or other ancillary revenue.

The EBITDA definition and expense classification come from the CoStar/STR hotel performance glossary and CoStar/STR P&L reporting guidelines. The broad benchmark includes hotel types beyond La Quinta’s upper-midscale format, which is the main reason the confidence rating is limited.

An owner who genuinely replaces a paid lodging manager could have an estimated owner-operator benefit of about $541,000 to $966,000. That figure adds $77,120—the 2025 mean annual wage for lodging managers within the U.S. accommodation industry—to each manager-run scenario. The added amount is compensation for work performed, not passive business profit.

Item 15 permits an owner not to participate personally, but a non-operating owner must hire an experienced individual manager or management company. The franchisor may require approved third-party management when the owner lacks significant hotel-management experience or receives a development incentive. Any owner-operator adjustment is therefore conditional on the owner being qualified, performing equivalent duties, and actually removing a comparable payroll cost.

The fixed percentage burden starts with royalty and system-assessment charges, but the complete fee load depends heavily on booking mix and loyalty activity. The 2026 FDD requires a 5.5% royalty on Gross Room Revenues for the first 24 full calendar months and 6.0% thereafter, plus a 3.5% System Assessment Fee. That creates a core 9.0%–9.5% burden before reservation, channel, loyalty, revenue-management, sales, technology, conference, training, and other charges.

Royalty

5.5% of Gross Room Revenues through the first 24 full calendar months; 6.0% afterward. A 0.5% annual credit may be available at the 6.0% level for qualifying superior results.

System Assessment Fee

3.5% of Gross Room Revenues for marketing, national advertising, training, reservations, and other services; subject to change under the FDD terms.

Distribution and loyalty

Includes per-reservation GDS and channel fees, agency commissions, a mandatory pay-for-performance commission, Wyndham Connect Plus charges, and a 4.25%–5.5% Loyalty Program Charge on qualifying member spend.

Revenue management and sales

Standard RMS is generally 0.75% of Gross Room Revenues subject to monthly minimums and maximums; Remote Sales Service is generally $1,500 per month unless alternate criteria are met.

Technology and training

PMS support, mobile-operations, continuing-education, conference, training, and other recurring or event-driven charges can add fixed costs.

These percentages cannot be safely added as though every fee applies to every room dollar. Agency, loyalty, digital, and reservation charges depend on the source and type of booking, and some overlap in the same reservation. The modeled EBITDA margin is treated as all-in because the hotel P&L reporting framework places franchise royalties, marketing charges, loyalty costs, reservation fees, management fees, and general-manager payroll in operating accounts. Subtracting the disclosed percentages again would double-count costs.

FDD citation: La Quinta Franchising LLC 2026 FDD, Item 6, pp. 28–42. The FDD’s Gross Room Revenues definition differs from total hotel revenue and excludes specified non-room receipts and taxes.

The largest uncertainty is the property-specific cost structure, especially debt, capital needs, labor, insurance, utilities, property taxes, and management costs. Item 19 does not disclose any of those expenses, and the external margin is a broad U.S. all-hotel benchmark rather than a La Quinta or upper-midscale-only margin.

• Market and demand: local competitive supply, seasonality, corporate accounts, events, and highway or airport traffic can move ADR and occupancy.
• Property condition: deferred maintenance, renovation obligations, room downtime, and FF&E replacement can reduce cash even though EBITDA excludes capital spending.
• Labor model: wage levels, staffing ratios, housekeeping productivity, management-company fees, and employee benefits vary sharply by market.
• Insurance and property costs: premiums, property taxes, utilities, repairs, and security costs can diverge materially from national averages.
• Channel mix: direct, loyalty, online travel agency, group, and other bookings carry different commissions and fees.
• Cohort mismatch: the FDD sample includes only qualified, mature U.S.-and-Canada hotels and excludes properties that left the system during 2025.

For industry classification context, the closest U.S. Census category is NAICS 721110, Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels. Parent-company context is available in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ 2025 Form 10-K. Neither source supplies a La Quinta franchisee owner-profit figure.

The defensible working range is $464,000–$889,000 for a manager-run 100-room model, or $541,000–$966,000 of owner-operator benefit when the owner replaces a comparable lodging manager. Both ranges are scenario-based. The most important driver is room-revenue performance relative to the hotel’s fixed and semi-variable cost base; the largest unresolved issue is the absence of same-brand franchisee expense and profit data.

• Request the franchisor’s written Item 19 substantiation and identify the U.S. properties most comparable in room count, age, market type, and operating model.
• Ask several current and former franchisees for property-level trailing-12-month statements that separate room revenue, ancillary revenue, payroll, management fees, utilities, insurance, property taxes, repairs, franchise fees, and replacement reserves.
• Confirm whether the property will be personally managed, managed by an employee, or operated by a third-party management company—and price that structure explicitly.
• Build a separate debt schedule using the actual purchase price or development budget, equity contribution, interest rate, amortization, lender reserves, and maturity.
• Reconcile every earnings claim to Item 19, actual outlet records, or written substantiation. The Federal Trade Commission’s franchise buyer guide explains why gross sales do not establish profit and why buyers should compare claims with franchisee records.

Until comparable property-level P&Ls are obtained, the range should be used as a sensitivity framework—not a prediction of salary, distributions, or after-tax take-home pay. Personal taxes depend on entity structure, jurisdiction, deductions, and the owner’s circumstances.

All scenario figures use USD and are rounded only after full-precision calculations. No personal income-tax estimate is presented.