FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

Verified — real FDD extraction

Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender

HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES

Other · independent · est. —

Cobblestone Inn & Suites is a mid-market hotel brand focused on smaller and rural communities, offering modern guest rooms and amenities at reasonable rates. A franchisee owns and operates a hotel property, managing front desk, housekeeping, and guest services.

HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES net unit count grew +5.6% from 20202022 per its FDD Item 20.

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. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:

  • 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 and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).

The verdict

Proven & steady

Distress

0
STABLE

A real track record with an unremarkable region of the ledger: neither the growth nor the exits stand out, for better or worse. The standout in the record: owner turnover is low.

Exit rate · latest year

0.0%

fiscal 2022, per Item 20

Cost to open

$65K–$12.4M

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

Too few resolved

1 loans exist; too few resolved to rate

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth35%

3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1

Fair
Exit quality25%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Strong
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Strong
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Weak
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Strong

Systemwide units

2020–2022

+5.6%
107202010920211132022

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2022, 0 of 109 franchised outlets left the system — a 0.0% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.

Show the outlet tables
Status (FTC)202020212022
Outlets at start94107109
Opened1344
Transfers252
Terminations020
Non-renewals000
Reacquired by franchisor000
Ceased — other reasons000
Outlets at end107109113
Net change+13+2+4

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present

Banks have made 1 SBA-backed loans to HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES franchisees since 2000. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.

Charge-off rate

1 resolved · too thin to rate

Loss given default

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$75,000

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

distinct banks lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL

What it costs — and what it drags

FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty

Buying in means a $40K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $65K–$12.4M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$65K–$12.4M

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$40K

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$1M/yr

Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$0

0% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$0

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.

Build a real pro-forma for HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES with an independent CPA

Modeled risk

FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record

Lower risk

The public record puts this brand toward the safer end of the systems we score — but the evidence is thin, so treat it as a range, not a number.

Risk percentile (range)

5–29 / 100

Directional

Modeled SBA charge-off

8.3%

Observed SBA charge-off

no resolved cohort

Top drivers: Investment ceiling (log) (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers) · System size (log units) (raises) · Net unit growth (raises). Thin loan history — treat this as a range, not a number. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.

Distress signals

news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits

No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

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HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES franchise questions, answered from the filings

What percentage of HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES franchises closed last year?

In HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2022), 0 of 109 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 0.0%. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.

How much does a HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES franchise cost?

Per HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES's 2023 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $40K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $65K–$12.4M (Item 7).

Does HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2023 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.

Is HOTEL & SUITES, COBBLESTONE INN & SUITES a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk