Montgomery hotels: over six times the national weight

Montgomery ranks 47 of 807 among areas for hotel and motel loans, and hotel and motel ranks 1 of 39 in Montgomery itself. The location quotient of 6.64x is the headline: lodging carries more than six and a half times its national weight and leads the local list. SBA's files hold 38 loans for $92.1 million, FY2017 to FY2026. The Montgomery median of $2.1 million equals 0.98x of the national hotel median; ordinary hotel loans run $905,000 to $4.0 million. The band is wide, so the cell mixes modest properties with very large ones.

Montgomery hotel lending leans on SBA 7(a) for 33 loans, with SBA 504 behind 5. Franchise brands show on 60.5% of the Montgomery hotel loans. On the 7(a) side, the holders listed are Metro City Bank, with 5 loans worth $8.7 million. Read the Montgomery lender lines as the institution now carrying notes, saying nothing of Metro City Bank’s requirements. Holdings, not wishes.

For hotel loans in Montgomery, the cancelled-after-approval floor as well as a charge-off percentage cannot be shown given how few loans exist; read it as missing. FY2018: 8 loans, $13.9 million; FY2023: 6 loans, $17.3 million; FY2025: 6 loans, $14.7 million; and FY2026: 5 loans, $9.5 million.

Only one lender reaches the named threshold, so the lender list says little; the weight of the class in Montgomery in the local ranking is the dominant fact of this cell.

What a Montgomery lodging study tests

These Montgomery figures describe lodging as a whole; the shared code prevents any split between limited and full service. A study should test business, government-related and event travel, event demand, competing supply near the site, brand terms, and debt service across the wide range of sizes. For Montgomery, each hotel loan is placed from the project county named per the July 2023 boundaries. Unplaceable loans are skipped. The very wide middle band, from under a million dollars to several million, means that the same cell holds small roadside properties and large branded ones. A study should state where the proposed property sits in that range, because the demand, cost and appraisal questions are very different at the two ends. We offer this record ahead of a hotel feasibility look at Montgomery, where Daniel Smith, MAI, is signatory; approval is the lender’s call.

SBA hotel and motel loans in the Montgomery, AL Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	38
Gross dollars approved	$92.1 million
Median loan	$2.1 million
Middle half of loans, from	$905,000
Middle half of loans, to	$4.0 million
SBA 7(a) loans	33
SBA 504 loans	5
Franchise share of loans	60.5%
Rank among metro and micro areas for hotel and motel loans	47 of 807
Rank of hotel and motel among the classes in this area	1 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	6.64x
Median loan against the national median for the class	0.98x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	not reported: fewer than 30 loans in the cohort
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)	withheld

Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.

SBA hotel and motel loans approved in the Montgomery, AL Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	withheld	withheld
FY2018	8	$13.9 million
FY2019	withheld	withheld
FY2020	withheld	withheld
FY2021	withheld	withheld
FY2022	withheld	withheld
FY2023	6	$17.3 million
FY2024	withheld	withheld
FY2025	6	$14.7 million
FY2026	5	$9.5 million

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
Metro City Bank	5	$8.7 million

Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.

Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.

One code for hotels and motels; limited service and full service cannot be separated.

Shared code: Hotels and motels share 721110.

A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MA-33860-C07.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a hotel and motel project in the Montgomery, AL Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

Daniel Smith, MAI

Hotel Feasibility Study in the Montgomery, AL Metro Area