Hotel Feasibility Study in Florida

Florida hotel loans are bigger than hotel loans elsewhere, and bigger than Florida's SBA loans in general; the median is where this cell stands apart. The typical loan is $2.8 million, or 1.28x the national median for hotels and motels, and the middle half sits between $1.3 million and $4.2 million. Over FY2017 to FY2026 the state approved 577 hotel and motel loans for $1.60 billion, placing it 4 of 53 among states. Even so, lodging is a smaller part of Florida's SBA book than of the country's: the class ranks 9 of 39 within the state, and the location quotient is 0.67x.

A 504 market led by development companies

What Florida does differently is lean on SBA 504. Of the 577 loans, 225 went through 504 and 352 through 7(a), and the certified development companies dwarf every bank in the table. Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, Inc. holds 119 loans for $306.8 million, Florida Business Development Corporation 76 for $218.1 million, and Sunshine State Economic Development Corporation 20 for $52.2 million. The largest 7(a) lender by count is PromiseOne Bank with 28 loans ($60.2 million), then GBank (23 loans, $97.5 million), The MINT National Bank (20) and Celtic Bank Corporation (16). Franchise flags cover 64.6% of loans. Pinellas leads the counties with 51 loans, ahead of Duval (38), Hillsborough (32), Orange (30), and Polk and Volusia at 25 apiece; Miami-Dade is not among the leading counties at all.

Few losses, and approvals that take time to fund

Florida hotel loans have rarely failed. Across the 301 loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, the charge-off floor is 1.3% to date, with 0.66% inside five years: far below Florida's all class floor, though a little above lodging nationally. Cancellation after approval was 10.9% of FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, under the state's norm, but the ceiling that treats still undisbursed loans as cancelled is 14.6%, a wide spread that fits construction and renovation loans that draw slowly. Volume fell from 90 loans for $215.7 million in FY2017 to 37 in FY2023, then recovered to 56 for $201.5 million in FY2026.

What a Florida hotel study has to test

At a median near $2.8 million, the lender is relying on the study. Demand has to be built from the sources of room nights the specific market draws, with the seasonality the location carries and the new supply already permitted nearby. Cost must include the brand's property improvement plan or the full construction budget, and a 504 structure needs the equity injection shown at closing. Model debt service coverage along a ramp to stabilized occupancy and room rate, then stressed for a soft year. The appraisal has to separate the real estate from furniture, fixtures and equipment and from business value, as hotel lenders expect.

The record's limit for lodging: one industry code covers hotels and motels alike, which leaves limited service and full service properties mixed together in these figures.