Hilton Franchise Fees by Brand in 2026: Hampton, Home2, Tru, LivSmart, Garden Inn, Homewood and Spark, With What Lenders Need to See

Hilton's franchise fees in 2026 are a $100,000 application fee on every new-build brand, a royalty of 5.5% to 6% of gross room revenue at the full rate (Homewood ramps up from 3.5%) and a program fee of 2.5% to 4%, on a franchise agreement that runs 22 years from signing for new construction and 10 to 20 years from opening for a conversion, according to the U.S. franchise disclosure documents Hilton issued on March 30, 2026. Hampton and Hilton Garden Inn charge $400 per room above 150; Spark, the conversion brand, charges $75,000. The fees are only part of what a lender reads: the same documents put a new 98-room Tru at $14.3 million to $20.7 million before land and a 107-suite Home2 at $18.1 million to $26.6 million, and they show Hilton waived or cut the application fee on some 2025 deals.

What a lender needs to see on a Hilton deal is the executed franchise agreement, the 22-year term against a 25-year loan, the PIP funded at closing, a stabilized pro forma anchored to the brand's 2025 performance (Hampton $105.90 RevPAR, Home2 $112.63, Tru $91.27), and the Lender Comfort Letter Hilton issues for a $3,500 fee. Bridge is Hilton's official capital partner, lends directly on Hilton construction from $10 million to $50 million and PIPs from $500,000, and arranges acquisitions and refinances at a 0.50% fee on $10 million-plus loans. This guide gives the fees, costs and performance by brand, the key money facts, the lender checklist and a worked Hampton Inn stack. The partner terms are on Bridge's Hilton owner page.

Key takeaways

• 2026 Hilton fees: $100,000 application, 5.5% to 6% royalty, 2.5% to 4% program fee, 22-year new-build term.
• Build costs per key before land: Tru $146K to $211K, Home2 $169K to $248K, Hampton $192K to $278K.
• 2025 performance: Home2 78.0% occupancy and $112.63 RevPAR; Hampton $105.90; Tru $91.27.
• Hilton pays key money on about 9% of rooms under construction, mostly upscale; incentives are discretionary.
• Hilton's 2025 application fees actually ranged from $0 to $100,000, so negotiate on multi-unit deals.

What are Hilton's franchise fees by brand in 2026?

All figures are from the March 30, 2026 U.S. FDDs for each brand. Royalty and program fees are percentages of gross room revenue; Hilton may raise the program fee at any time, but not above the current rate plus 1% over the term. Hampton's 6% royalty and 4% program fee are the top of the range; Tru charges 5.5% and 4%, Home2 6% and 3.5% and LivSmart 6% and 2.5%.

Other recurring charges sit outside the two headline percentages: a $400 room-addition fee, a $5,500 processing fee on a permitted transfer, the $3,500 Lender Comfort Letter fee, and the OnQ property system at $27,606 to $101,971 for a Home2 and $36,652 to $90,846 for a Tru. Hilton Honors charges run through the program fee. The practitioner's read on the headline rates: Hampton's 10% total (6% plus 4%) is the highest in the group; Homewood's 8% at the full royalty (5.5% plus 2.5%) is the lowest, with LivSmart's 8.5% (6% plus 2.5%) next; and the Homewood ramp from 3.5% to 5.5% is worth about $90,000 over two years on $3 million of rooms revenue.

Does Hilton negotiate or waive fees?

Yes, more than the schedule suggests. Item 5 of the 2026 FDDs discloses that the application fees franchisees actually paid for new development in 2025 ranged from $0 to $100,000, and Item 6 notes that Hilton modified the royalty in 32 Home2 agreements, 28 LivSmart agreements and 53 Spark agreements in 2025. Multi-unit developers, conversions in markets Hilton wants, and the newer brands get the concessions; a single first-time Hampton owner usually pays the schedule.

Does Hilton give key money for Hampton?

Rarely for a Hampton, and never as a published program. Every 2026 Hilton FDD says in Item 10 that Hilton may, at its sole discretion, offer incentives for new hotels, disbursed within 30 days after opening against a Development Incentive Promissory Note that is forgiven ratably over the term and repaid on early termination or transfer; no amounts are disclosed. Hilton uses key money on about 9% of the rooms it has under construction, and 85% to 90% of that goes to upscale and luxury brands, which leaves Hampton, Tru and Home2 owners competing for a small pool; amounts across the industry are capped near 5% of project cost. A Hampton conversion in a market where Hilton has no distribution is the realistic case. Ask before the agreement is signed; the note funds only after opening.

What does it cost to build a Hilton brand in 2026?

Item 7 of each FDD gives the estimated initial investment for a new build, excluding real property; per-key figures are the FDD total divided by the prototype room count. Hampton's FDD puts an 89-room Hampton Inn at $17,043,739 to $24,732,532 and reports 71.0% occupancy, a $149.08 ADR and $105.90 RevPAR for 2025; Home2's puts the 107-suite prototype at $18,075,688 to $26,550,592 with 78.0% occupancy, a $144.47 ADR and $112.63 RevPAR; Tru's puts 98 rooms at $14,258,164 to $20,659,558 with 71.2% occupancy, a $128.20 ADR and $91.27 RevPAR.

Home2's low end rose about 15% from the 2025 FDD, the steepest increase in the group, which is consistent with HVS's finding that hotel construction cost indexes rose 4.8% over the trailing twelve months plus a prototype change. Hampton is the most expensive limited-service build per key because of the breakfast area and larger lobby; Home2 earns the gap back with the highest occupancy and RevPAR index of any Hilton select brand.

How big is each brand, and what is in the pipeline?

Hilton's second-quarter 2026 release put the system at 9,453 properties and a record pipeline of 3,853 hotels and 541,300 rooms, almost half under construction. The franchised counts below are from that release; the signed-but-unopened U.S. agreements are from Item 20 of each FDD at year-end 2025.

Home2 is the brand Hilton is building fastest, LivSmart the one it is signing fastest relative to its size.

What do lenders need to see on a Hilton franchise deal?

Six items, beyond the standard hotel package; the draw mechanics and the rest of the construction checklist are in hotel construction loans in 2026.

1. The executed franchise agreement and every Hilton-required document, in the file before any SBA disbursement and before any construction draw; brand approval takes 60 to 90 days.
2. The term against the loan. A 22-year new-build term fits inside a 25-year SBA or bank amortization, but the lender documents it; a 10-year Spark conversion term against a 25-year loan needs an explanation in the credit memo.
3. The PIP, funded at closing, on any acquisition or conversion; 2026 CMBS loans sweep cash to 115% of an unfunded PIP.
4. The Lender Comfort Letter, Hilton's Exhibit K form, for a $3,500 fee ($1,500 on an assignment), which gives the lender notice and cure rights on a franchise default.
5. A pro forma anchored to Item 19. A Hampton underwritten at $120 of RevPAR against a brand average of $105.90 gets haircut; a Home2 at $112 does not.
6. The SBA Franchise Directory code on an SBA loan: Hampton Inn S0781, Hampton Inn & Suites S5593, Home2 S0812, Tru S1816, Hilton Garden Inn S0802, Homewood S0818, Spark S7770, LivSmart S8393 and S8734; every Hilton brand is listed. The full table and the 2026 SBA rules are in the SBA Franchise Directory check for hotel brands.

Bridge is Hilton's official capital partner and the financing partner for Hilton's Unlocking Doors program for aspiring owners. It closed a $22 million senior construction loan on a Home2 Suites in California, a $15.5 million construction loan on a 106-key Tru in Florida and an $18.5 million Hampton Inn CMBS refinance in Arizona in 35 days.

Worked example: an 89-room Hampton Inn new build that does not close at brand-average RevPAR

Building cost $20 million (inside the $17.0 million to $24.7 million FDD range), land $1.8 million, $21.8 million all-in, $245,000 per key. The stack below is the one most sponsors bring; it fails the coverage test at the brand's 2025 RevPAR, and the paragraph after it shows what the site has to earn.

At the brand's 2025 average of $105.90 RevPAR, 89 rooms produce about $3.44 million of room revenue and $3.6 million in total; at a 36% margin after a 4% FF&E reserve, NOI is about $1.3 million. Permanent debt service on the two layers is about $1.38 million, a 0.94x cover, which fails. The hotel needs $1.75 million of NOI for 1.27x, about $145 of RevPAR, 37% above the brand's 2025 average. That is the practitioner's reading of a Hampton build in 2026: at $245,000 per key it pencils only on a site that out-earns the system by a wide margin, which is why Hilton's own pipeline tilts to Home2 ($112.63 RevPAR at $169,000 to $248,000 per key) and Tru ($91.27 at $146,000 to $211,000). The Home2 and Tru stacks are worked in Home2 Suites and Tru by Hilton new-build financing.

When are Hilton's fees the wrong frame?

• Avoid comparing royalties without the program fee and Honors charges. Hampton's 10% total is 200 basis points above Homewood's 8% at the full royalty and 150 above LivSmart's 8.5% (6% plus 2.5%).
• Avoid budgeting the full $100,000 application fee on a multi-unit deal. Hilton granted $0 fees in 2025; ask.
• Avoid a Hampton new build on a site under about $140 of RevPAR. The build cost per key is the highest in the select tier.
• Avoid counting key money on a Hampton or Tru. Hilton spends 85% to 90% of it on upscale and luxury.
• Avoid a Spark conversion term shorter than the loan without a lender conversation. Ten years against 25 is a credit-memo item.