Country Inn & Suites by Radisson Financing After the Choice Acquisition: 2026 Costs, Fees, Performance and What Lenders Need to See

Country Inn & Suites by Radisson has been a Choice brand since August 11, 2022, and in 2026 it finances like one. The franchise disclosure document Choice issued April 1, 2026 sets the terms: a $500-per-room affiliation fee with a $50,000 minimum, a 6.0% royalty and a 3.5% marketing and reservation fee. It budgets a conversion at $851,845 to $3,623,495 for an 83-room hotel, and a new build at $12,203,495 to $19,454,145 for the 101-room prototype excluding land, site work and contractor fees. It also discloses Choice's $2,500-per-room incentive for qualifying owners. Owners finance a conversion with SBA 7(a), a Bridge direct PIP loan or a bank term loan. A new build takes a construction loan at 55% to 75% of cost, a C-PACE layer and 25% to 35% equity, or SBA 504 at 15% to 20% equity; the brand is on the SBA Franchise Directory as code S0431.

What changed for owners is mostly good. The 2026 FDD's Item 19 shows the brand's Generation 4 hotels, the 247 renovated to Choice's standard, running 61.7% occupancy, a $112.90 ADR and $69.68 of RevPAR in 2025. The 142 older-generation hotels ran $52.93, a 32% gap that is the renovation case in one number. Choice reported the brand's RevPAR index up 19 points and direct online contribution up 20% two years into the integration, and franchise agreements up 11% in the first half of 2026 after a 2025 prototype refresh that added 18 keys and cut construction cost 10% to 15%. The cost is that the system shrank: 397 franchised hotels at year-end 2025, down 19 in the year, as older properties left. The two worked deals below show the consequence: a $2.5 million Gen 4 renovation covers at 1.24x, while a $17.2 million new build with a $9.5 million senior loan fails at $75 of RevPAR.

Key takeaways

• 2026 FDD: conversion $852K to $3.6M for 83 rooms; new build $12.2M to $19.5M for 101 rooms before land.
• Fees: $500 per room ($50,000 minimum), 6.0% royalty, 3.5% marketing, plus 4.5% to 5.5% on Choice Privileges revenue.
• 2025 performance: Gen 4 hotels $69.68 RevPAR vs $52.93 for Gen 1-3; system average $63.60.
• Choice pays $2,500 per room up to $250,000 as a 10-year forgivable note to qualifying owners.
• SBA approved as code S0431; Choice counts 402 hotels at year-end 2025 and 404 by June 30, 2026.

What changed when Choice bought Radisson Americas?

Choice closed its acquisition of Radisson Americas on August 11, 2022 and finished the integration in 16 months, migrating the brand to the choiceADVANTAGE property system and the ChoiceMAX revenue tool; the 2026 FDD requires choiceADVANTAGE and runs loyalty through Choice Privileges. By March 2025 Choice reported the brand's RevPAR index up 19 points, direct online contribution up 20% and 38 pipeline additions in two years. On March 18, 2025 Choice refreshed the prototype, adding 18 keys through public-space and back-of-house changes, cutting construction cost 10% to 15% and reducing the minimum land, and on its second-quarter 2026 call it said Country Inn franchise agreements were up 11% year over year in the first half and that it had cut prototype costs by up to 25% across its midscale brands.

For an existing owner the practical changes are three: the loyalty program and its fee (4.5% to 5.5% of Choice Privileges member revenue, which was 43.7% of the brand's room revenue in 2025), the Choice PIP standard that defines a Generation 4 hotel (at least 70% of overall standards and 80% of brand-identity standards), and Choice's termination clock, which contacts owners about 18 months before a contractual out date and can issue a notice of termination if a PIP is not executed 12 months before it.

What does a Country Inn & Suites cost in 2026?

From the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson 2026 FDD, issued April 1, 2026 and amended May 20, 2026.

The new-build exclusions matter more here than on most brands. The $12.2 million low end is the obvious number to budget from, but the FDD leaves out site work, general conditions and the contractor's fee as well as land, which together add 15% to 25% to the building line, so that low end is closer to $15 million before land in practice. The conversion range is wide because the Generation 4 standard sets the scope: a hotel built after 2010 may need $10,000 per key of soft goods, and a 1990s hotel $40,000 per key of bathrooms, HVAC and public space. Item 5 discloses that affiliation fees actually paid in 2025 ranged from $0 to $65,000, so conversions in markets Choice wants get fee relief.

How does the brand perform?

Item 19 of the 2026 FDD reports 2025 results for 389 hotels: 58.8% occupancy, a $108.10 ADR and $63.60 of RevPAR across the brand, with Choice Privileges contributing 43.7% of room revenue. Split by generation: the 247 Generation 4 hotels ran 61.7%, $112.90 and $69.68; the 142 Generation 1 to 3 hotels ran 53.8%, $98.40 and $52.93. That 32% gap in the 2025 Item 19, about $500,000 of room revenue a year on an 83-room hotel (83 rooms times $16.75 of RevPAR times 365 nights), is what a conversion or renovation loan buys, and it is the number a lender will use to size one. The brand had 397 franchised U.S. hotels at year-end 2025, down a net 19 in the year. On Choice's count of all hotels, the 10-K shows 402 hotels and 32,333 rooms at year-end 2025 and the second-quarter 2026 release 404 and 32,618, so the shrinkage has stopped.

What incentives does Choice offer?

The Incentive Program for veterans and underrepresented owners holding at least 51% pays $2,500 per room up to $250,000 on Country Inn & Suites as a 10-year forgivable note, or a five-year note at half the amount, plus a 50% affiliation-fee discount on re-licensing. Choice's Selected Capital Support program adds discretionary key money on strategic properties, funded after opening and forgiven straight-line over the term; Choice's franchise-agreement acquisition costs were $83.4 million in 2025 and $72.2 million in the first half of 2026, tied to improvement plans.

Is Country Inn & Suites SBA approved?

Yes. The SBA Franchise Directory effective October 15, 2026 lists Country Inn and Suites by Radisson as code S0431, since October 2017, under the Radisson name, with the hotel manager-affiliation condition and no extended-stay transient test. A 7(a) runs to $5 million at a variable rate capped at 10.00%, which is prime plus 3.00 points. A 504 pairs a bank first mortgage with a 6.97% fixed 25-year debenture capped at $5.5 million and 15% equity on a hotel (20% if the business is new), combinable to $10 million since July 2026. Every owner must be a U.S. citizen or national since March 1, 2026. The 504 cap fits a Country Inn new build at or below about $15.7 million all-in, which after the FDD's exclusions is the low end of the range. The rules and brand table are in the SBA Franchise Directory check for hotel brands.

Who finances a Country Inn & Suites?

Bridge closed more than $500 million of hotel loans in 2025, and on acquisitions and refinances of $10 million or more it structures the loan and runs the process through closing for a 0.50% fee. Choice's own FDD names a lender writing equipment and brand-standard loans of $5,000 to $500,000 and another writing conventional and SBA loans of $500,000 to $5 million. Market terms for banks are from the Crittenden 2026 hotel lending survey.

Worked example 1: renovating a Gen 2 Country Inn to Generation 4

An owner holds an 83-room 2004-built Country Inn with $600,000 of NOI at the older-generation average ($52.93 RevPAR) and a $4.2 million bank mortgage at 6.5%. The Gen 4 PIP is $2.5 million, $30,000 per key, in the middle of the FDD's conversion range.

At the Gen 4 average of $69.68 the hotel's NOI rises to about $800,000, a 1.24x cover on the full stack and a $200,000-a-year lift against $2.3 million of new debt; Choice's $2,500-per-room incentive, if the owner qualifies, adds $207,500 of forgivable capital. The PIP routes are compared in hotel PIP financing options.

Worked example 2: building a 101-room Country Inn & Suites

Building and FF&E $13.5 million (low-middle of Item 7), site work, general conditions and contractor fee $2.4 million (the FDD's exclusions), land $1.3 million: $17.2 million all-in, $170,000 per key, in a market supporting $75 of RevPAR (NOI about $1.08 million).

Permanent debt service of about $806,000 on the senior loan and $187,000 on the assessment gives 1.09x at $1.08 million of NOI, which fails; the build needs about $82 of RevPAR ($1.25 million of NOI) for 1.25x, or the 504 structure at the low end of cost. That is the honest reading of a midscale new build at the brand's 2025 Gen 4 average: the renovation case above is stronger than the new-build case, which is why Choice's 2026 pipeline for the brand leans to conversions.

When is Country Inn & Suites the wrong frame?

• Avoid a new build on a site under about $80 of RevPAR. At $170,000 per key the stack does not cover at the Gen 4 average.
• Avoid budgeting a new build from the FDD total. Site work, general conditions and contractor fees are excluded and add 15% to 25%.
• Avoid deferring the Gen 4 PIP. The 32% gap Choice reports in its 2026 Item 19 funds the loan, and Choice's termination clock runs 12 months before the out date.
• Avoid SBA if any owner is a lawful permanent resident. Ineligible since March 2026.
• Avoid modeling 9.5% as the fee load. The Choice Privileges charge on 43.7% of revenue takes the all-in load to about 11.5%.