Every month, your hotel writes a check to a franchisor. Royalty fees. Marketing assessments. Technology surcharges. Reservation levies. Loyalty-program tithes, and now PIP.
PIP and brand standard costs are about 18% to 32% of NOI for a typical hotel; add standard franchise fees and fines and you get closer to 50% of NOI! [CapEx Spending] [ ISHC CapEx 2023]
Individually, each charge looks tolerable. Stacked together over several years, they can strip $300,000, $500,000, or more from a small hotel's bottom line — money that should have stayed on your balance sheet, not migrated to a corporate headquarters that may be producing a shrinking share of your business.
That is the premise behind Project Independence 2027.
For a growing number of owners, this arithmetic no longer works. Most reservations now arrive through OTAs, digital marketing, local accounts, repeat guests, and the hotel's own reputation — not the brand's reservation engine. Yet franchise fees keep rising regardless of how little the flag actually delivers.
The bill doesn't stop at royalty and marketing fees. Technology charges. Mandatory vendor programs. Reservation assessments. Loyalty-program expenses. Inspection penalties. Fines. Liquidated damages. Training costs. Compliance charges. Fees that were rarely spelled out — and even more rarely understood — at the moment the franchise agreement was signed.
Then comes the PIP. Owners are told to borrow hundreds of thousands more, not to grow revenue, but simply to stay compliant with a brand that may be sending them less business every year. That is not investment. That is bureaucratic drag wearing a hospitality logo.
Independence Carries Its Own Risk — and That's the Point
Skeptics have a fair argument. Brand recognition, they say, still drives visibility and consumer confidence, even when most bookings come through OTAs. Strip the flag, and OTA production could soften. Revenue could fall. There are cautionary tales — hotels that went independent unprepared and paid for it.
Those concerns are legitimate. They are exactly why Project Independence 2027 exists: to replace assumption with evidence.
Beginning in January 2027, Project Independence 2027 will convert multiple franchised hotels into independent properties, each professionally operated for a full year under a single, comprehensive revenue management, sales, marketing, distribution, and guest-service strategy. This is not a white paper. It is a live demonstration across multiple properties, built to produce a dataset large enough to finally answer the question every owner weighing independence has to ask.
Some brands still earn their keep — generating real demand, real consumer confidence, and real long-term value. There are flags we would tell an owner to keep without hesitation.
Others are charging more while delivering less. When a brand's contribution shrinks as its fees, fines, and PIP mandates grow, an owner has a responsibility to ask whether the relationship still protects the investment.
Project Independence 2027 is built for hotels where franchise-related costs and required PIP spending approach or exceed $500,000. PIP dollars are usually financed and capitalized over time — but the project will measure both the immediate cash burden and the long-term drag on profitability and debt.
Owners have argued for years over whether an independent hotel can outperform a franchised one. Project Independence 2027 settles that argument with results, not opinion, by testing real conversions across multiple properties. The goal isn't simply removing a flag — it's building a disciplined, repeatable playbook that lets qualified hotels go independent without losing revenue, visibility, operating standards, or long-term value.
If your franchise relationship has reached a dead end, this may be the exit ramp to a more profitable future. If you're not ready to convert but want a front-row seat — to observe the results and prepare for what comes next — there's a place for you in Project Independence 2027 too.
Multiple hotels. One full year. Complete transparency. Real results, built on a dataset broad enough to trust.
Every year you stay on the current path is another year of fees compounding against you. Contact me to discuss whether your property — or your portfolio — belongs in Project Independence 2027.