From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source
2024 FDD · 1+ year old
SBA-eligible · directory code S8680 since 2026
City Express by Marriott
Midscale hotels · parent company: not identified
City Express by Marriott is a midscale, no-frills hotel brand (originally a Mexican chain Marriott acquired) aimed at value-conscious business and leisure travelers. A franchisee owns and operates the hotel property, overseeing front desk, housekeeping, and staff while following Marriott's standards and using its reservation system.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. Most numbers on this page come from that document; others come from federal SBA loan records and labor and census data, each labelled with its source:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened, transferred and left the system, the main basis for our verdict, which rates how strong the disclosed record is, or says when the system is too new, the filing too old, or the disclosure too thin to judge.
Our rating · opinion
Not enough disclosure
The latest FDD we hold has no usable Item 20 outlet history (or our extraction of it is low-confidence), so there is no operating record to judge.
SBA loan losses
Too few to rate
0 seasoned resolved loans; 30 needed
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Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from City Express by Marriott's public FDD filings (latest: MN 2024, extracted 2026-06-18) and SBA FOIA loan records (through FY2026), extracted by us and possibly containing errors. The rating is our opinion, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Franchisor or owner and see something wrong? Report a correction — we review every request.
What each source says
FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor
Without a usable FDD there is no disclosed record to rate; any loan figures are context.
FDD record · Item 20
No usable Item 20
No outlet history to judge.
SBA loans · vs same-year loans
Too few seasoned loans
0 resolved loans approved by FY2020; 30 needed.
Modeled risk
Not scored
Too little evidence for the model.
Auditor opinion · Item 21
Not extracted
We did not extract the audit opinion.
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
No score available.
Systemwide units
Insufficient trend data.
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan outcomes · compared with franchise loans of the same years
Banks have made 3 SBA-backed loans to City Express by Marriott franchisees since 2026. Only 0 of its loans approved by FY2020 have resolved — fewer than the 30 we need to compare it fairly with other franchise loans, so we don't rate it.
All-time, 0 of 0 resolved loans charged off (—). That raw figure mixes every approval year since 2026 — loans made in 2006–08 failed at several times the rate of loans made in 2010–13 across all franchises — so it is shown as evidence, not as the score. 100% of the brand's loans have not resolved yet.
—
0 seasoned resolved · 30 needed
—
0 of 0 resolved, every approval year
—
charged-off $ ÷ approved $, defaulted loans
$4,118,667
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
shown with 10+ defaults
—
distinct banks lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%) · dashed line = all franchise loans that year
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO CITY EXPRESS BY MARRIOTT BY SBA FRANCHISE NAME/CODE · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL · EXPECTED = SAME-YEAR RATE ACROSS ALL SBA FRANCHISE LOANS, LOANS ≥ ~6 YEARS OLD
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
To open (Item 7)
$2.8M–$4.9M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$75,000
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
10.5%
of sales, ongoing
Starts at a placeholder of $2M — a round figure for the sector, not from City Express by Marriott’s filings. This brand's FDD makes no Item 19 earnings claim; set your own figure and check it with current and former owners.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$210K
10.5% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$2.1M
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This estimate is computed by software from the brand's public filings and any inputs you enter. No CPA prepared it for you and no assurance is provided on it. Actual results will differ, and the differences may be material.
This is not profit. It covers what the FDD fixes: what you put in, and the royalty you owe on sales. Your take-home depends on payroll, property costs, brand and reservation fees, debt on the building, and the months to breakeven, none of which the FDD fixes for your unit (some Item 19s include cost data — read it).
Build a real pro-forma for City Express by Marriott with a buyer-paid CPAPublic records
Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored
We have no verified public-record signals published for City Express by Marriott. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.
6 questions to ask a City Express by Marriott franchisee
Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls
The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These questions come from what City Express by Marriott has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.
- 01
You pay 10.5% royalty on gross sales, plus the ad fund, before any of your own costs. On your actual revenue last year, what did you take home as the owner — not revenue, take-home?
Royalty is charged on sales, not profit. This is the number the brochure never shows and the one your life actually runs on.
FDD Item 6
- 02
City Express by Marriott’s FDD makes no financial performance representation at all — legally, they've told buyers nothing about earnings. What did your first 24 months actually look like, month by month?
When a franchisor won't publish numbers, existing owners are the only source. Silence in Item 19 is a choice, not a requirement.
FDD Item 19 · 2024
- 03
How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?
Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.
Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner
- 04
What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?
Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.
FDD Items 6, 8, 11
- 05
If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?
The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.
Ask every owner you speak to
- 06
Who else should I call — including someone who left?
The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.
Ask every owner you speak to
Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?
I'll email you the printable version, and tell you if City Express by Marriott’s numbers move — a new filing, a rising exit rate, a distress signal. Unsubscribe in one click.
A broker is usually paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid only by you, never by a franchisor you're considering — and the job is pressure-testing City Express by Marriott’s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Franchisors: send corrections with the page reference and we will review them against the filing and update or annotate the page. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.