Hotel Feasibility Study in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area

The first hotel market in the country

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell is the top-ranked area, 1 of 807, for SBA hotel and motel lending, with 331 approvals and $933.2 million from FY2017 to FY2026. Inside Atlanta the class comes sixth, 6 of 39, and a location quotient of 1.34x shows hotels claiming a clearly larger piece of local lending than the national book gives them. Lenders here have read many lodging requests, so a thin one will not pass unnoticed. Only Georgia counties appear in the record, led by Fulton County, GA with 66 loans.

Tickets are large. A median of $2.8 million sits at 1.27x of the national class value; the lower quartile is $1.6 million and the upper $4.0 million. Of the 331 loans, 253 came through SBA 7(a) and 78 through SBA 504, a strong fixed-asset side for a property class. Franchise flags cover 76.4%, so flag standards, property improvement plans and brand fees weigh on most projects. The file cannot tell limited service from full service because Atlanta lodging shares one code, so the study must name its own type.

Lenders and counties

HomeTrust Bank tops SBA 7(a) with 39 loans and $93.1 million, with Embassy National Bank at 35 and $72.7 million, PromiseOne Bank at 17, Commonwealth Business Bank at 15 and Metro City Bank at 12. The SBA 504 table is led by Florida Business Development Corporation, 25 loans and $70.8 million, followed by Capital Partners Certified Development Company at 22, Georgia Certified Development Corporation at 8 and Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, Inc. at 6. A Florida development company heading an Atlanta table is a detail a borrower should ask about. Each name is simply SBA's holder entry, with no implication for practice. After Fulton, DeKalb County, GA has 39 loans, Cobb County, GA 38 and Gwinnett County, GA 35, so the record reaches well into the suburbs.

Cancellations of at least 10.9% mark the FY2017 to FY2024 approvals; no ceiling is published for Atlanta. Both charge-off measures print as 0.00% for the 176 loans funded across FY2017 to FY2021, the overall rate and the five-year rate, so that group shows no loss yet, although a floor can still rise. Yearly approvals peaked at 49 loans and $139.4 million in FY2018, dipped to 23 in both FY2022 and FY2023, and stood at 26 loans and $95.4 million in FY2026. A loan counts toward Atlanta only if the 2023 delineation can place its project county there.

Testing an Atlanta hotel project

A hotel study has to measure room demand from the airport, conventions and corporate travel around Fulton County and the suburban counties, then count the supply already open. It must cost out the build or the renovation and the brand's requirements against a $2.8 million median and show that occupancy and room rate carry debt service, judged per available room. The appraisal must cover the operating hotel business and the land and building together. Loan Analytics staffs each Atlanta assignment; Daniel Smith, MAI, attaches his credential, yet 331 approvals never promise a yes.