When are taxes due to Sonesta Simply Suites?
Sonesta_Simply_Suites Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
"Gross Rooms Revenue" means all revenue attributable to or payable for rental of Guest Rooms at your Hotel, whether from cash, check, credit and debit card, barter exchange, trade credit, or other credit transactions, whether or not collected, including guaranteed no-show revenue, revenue calculated on reservations cancelled outside of your Hotel's cancellation policy or outside of the reservation channel in which it was made, any proceeds actually received from any business interruption or similar insurance applicable to the loss of revenue due to the nonavailability of Guest Rooms, and any miscellaneous fees charged to all guests regardless of the accounting treatment of such fees, net of chargebacks from credit card issuers. Excluded from Gross Rooms Revenue are separate charges to guests for food and beverage (including room service); vending machine receipts; actual telephone charges for calls made from a guest room; key forfeitures and entertainment (including internet fees and commissions); allowances for any Guest Room rebates and overcharges; gratuities to employees or service charges levied in lieu of such gratuities, which are payable to employees; and federal, state and local sales, occupancy and use taxes collected from guests.
Source: Item 6 — OTHER FEES (FDD pages 25–36)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Sonesta Simply Suites's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees do not directly pay taxes to Sonesta Simply Suites. The FDD states that federal, state, and local sales, occupancy, and use taxes collected from guests are excluded from Gross Rooms Revenue. Gross Rooms Revenue is used to calculate fees such as the Royalty and Brand Promotion Fee.
Several fees are payable to Sonesta Simply Suites, but these are not taxes. These fees include the Royalty fee (5% of Gross Rooms Revenue), Brand Promotion Fee (3.5% of Gross Rooms Revenue), and Loyalty Program fees (2.5% of Qualified Revenue). These fees are payable monthly by the 20th day of the following month.
Other fees, such as the Initial Brand Training Fee ($1,500 plus travel costs), Ongoing Training Fees (ranging from $200 per hour for virtual ad-hoc training to $2,000 per day for in-person training, plus expenses), and various maintenance and service fees, are due as incurred or as billed, depending on the specific fee. Late payment charges, if incurred, are due upon demand.