Hotel operator comparison, side by side
Every operator quotes a different headline number and none of them compare like-for-like. Here is the honest side-by-side: hard franchise, soft brand, third-party management, going it alone, and a technology-first platform - on the five things that actually decide the deal.
The five things that decide it
Ignore the brochures and compare on five dimensions: the all-in cost, the contract term, whether you keep your name, who owns the guest relationship, and how hard it is to leave.
| Hard franchise | Soft brand | 3rd-party mgmt | Independent | YMME | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-in cost | 9-12% of revenue | 6-9% of revenue | 2-3.5% + 5-12% of profit | no fee, you carry it all | from $149/room/mo or 4-6% |
| Contract term | 15-20 years | 10-15 years | 10-20 years | none | short, exit-able |
| Keep your name | no | yes | separate decision | yes | yes |
| Guest data & loyalty | chain's | chain's | operator's | yours | yours |
| Technology included | add-on | partial | varies | none | full stack |
| Exit | hard, penalties | medium | per contract | n/a | leave anytime |
Ranges are directional industry benchmarks (HVS, CBRE, Horwath HTL, JLL); YMME figures are pre-launch list terms, illustrative until proven.
How to read it
Hard franchise buys reservation muscle in gateway cities at the cost of your name and two decades of lock-in. Soft brand softens that - your name stays - but the fee still stacks and the chain keeps the guest. Third-party management hands over operations on a base-plus-incentive fee, but the brand is a separate problem. Independent keeps everything and supplies nothing - all the freedom, none of the engine. A platform is the attempt to keep the freedom and add the engine: your name, your guest, your data, plus pricing, distribution and a guest layer, on terms you can leave.
The right question is not "which brand?" It is "how do I keep what I am, and still get the engine?"