Hotel Feasibility Study in Wyoming

Wyoming leans on lodging

Hotels are the single largest asset class in Wyoming's SBA lending, ranking 1 of 39 inside the state. Wyoming's FY2017 to FY2026 record holds 72 hotel and motel approvals worth $100.7 million. A location quotient of 3.35x means lodging takes more than triple the share of Wyoming's SBA loans that it takes in the national record. By loan count the state ranks 40 of 53 for the class, so the concentration is local rather than a matter of national volume. The median loan of $1.1 million is only 0.49x the national median, with the central band running from $522,500 to $1.9 million, so the typical Wyoming hotel loan is modest in size.

A distinct cancellation rate

Two measures set this cell apart: the median and the cancellation floor. At least 20.0% of approvals dated FY2017 through FY2024 never reached funding, and the figure is 25.0% on the strict reading that counts loans still undisbursed as cancelled. A borrower can read this as a reminder that approval does not guarantee a closing. A lender should read it as pipeline attrition that has to be priced into origination effort. Among the 35 hotel loans that were disbursed from FY2017 to FY2021 approvals, none has been charged off, either to date or within five years of approval, and both figures are floors.

Programs, lenders and counties

Under SBA 7(a) the record holds 51 loans, and under SBA 504 it holds 21, with franchises behind 44.4% of loans. The 504 column belongs to Mountain West Small Business Finance, which holds 15 loans and $22.6 million. For 7(a), Open Bank holds 10 loans worth $9.1 million and Bank of Bridger National Association holds 5 worth $1.9 million. Laramie County has 17 loans, Natrona 9, Sweetwater 7, and Campbell and Fremont 5 each. Yearly volume climbed from 3 loans in FY2017 to 13 in FY2021, which brought $21.9 million, and fell to 2 in FY2023. FY2026, a complete fiscal year, closed with 4 loans and $11.9 million.

What the study must test

A Wyoming hotel study should build occupancy and rate month by month from comparable properties and count competing rooms nearby, including any new supply under way. Cost per room must fit a record where the median loan is $1.1 million. Debt service coverage should be tested with a weak season and with the loss of the largest source of demand. Because so many approvals never funded, the study should also document site control, permits and equity at the outset. The appraisal should treat the hotel as a going business, net of brand fees where a franchise applies.

Reading the blended class

Wyoming's hotel count blends every property type under a single code, so a limited-service motel is not told apart from a full-service property, and a modest motel and a branded full-service hotel are scored together. Loan sizes in this record should therefore be read as a range across different buildings, and a project should be compared with the quartile band rather than the median alone.