Hotel Feasibility Study in the Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC Metro Area

Augusta hotels carry almost four times the national weight

Count areas and Augusta is 43 of 807 for hotel and motel; count classes and hotel and motel is 2 of 39 in Augusta. The 3.94x location quotient is the largest figure on the page: lodging weighs nearly four times its national share and sits second among local classes. The area reaches into South Carolina and the files hold 43 loans for $92.5 million, FY2017 to FY2026. Against the countrywide hotel median, Augusta posts $1.9 million, or 0.90x, and a $1.4 million to $2.9 million band holds the usual hotel loan.

Franchise brands appear on 83.7% of the Augusta hotel loans. Brand ties of that size make the franchisor's terms part of almost every credit file, and GBank's 10 loans for $24.4 million show that the dollars sit with a few holders. Richmond County, Georgia has 23, Aiken County, South Carolina has 10 and then Columbia County, Georgia has 5. The 7(a) names are GBank at 10 loans and $24.4 million, and Metro City Bank at 6 loans and $12.8 million. Each lender figure shows the holder on record and says nothing about Metro City Bank’s criteria. Loan Analytics withholds the split between the two programs as too few loans stand behind it; read it as missing, not as zero.

The cancellation rate and the charge-off floor are withheld in the same way, so neither is printed here. FY2017 shows 5 loans for $9.4 million; FY2018 shows 5 loans for $8.9 million; and FY2020 shows 11 loans for $22.1 million.

The very high franchise share and the high local weight together mean that most Augusta hotel credits are branded, so a study of an independent property has little direct comparison in this cell.

Testing an Augusta lodging plan

The Augusta hotel class is one code, so nothing here says whether a loan went to a select-service or a full-service property. A study should test the demand drivers behind occupancy, the competing supply, brand and renovation terms, and debt service at tickets near $1.9 million. The Augusta hotel count is built by placing each project's county on the July 2023 metro map, and loans from unmatched counties are skipped. These figures give background for assessing an Augusta hotel site, and approval is the lender’s call.