SBA 7(a) Hotel Feasibility Study in Louisiana

Large, branded lodging loans

Louisiana hotel and motel borrowers received 144 loans under SBA 7(a), $369.3 million approved gross over the span FY2017 to FY2026. The state is 21st for the pairing, yet lodging is the 3 of 39 class inside Louisiana, so the program leans on hotels more here than the national table does. Tickets are big: a median of $2.5 million, 1.15x the national median, with the heart of the distribution running $1.4 million up to $3.7 million. The franchise share is 75.0%, so most lenders here are underwriting branded properties with a system behind them.

Peoples Bank leads with 16 loans, then Readycap Lending, LLC with 11, First Western SBLC, LLC (shown by its Peachtree Group trade name) with 8, Celtic Bank Corporation with 7 and Wallis Bank with 6. Such counts record who holds or held each loan; they do not describe underwriting. Parish totals follow: Calcasieu and East Baton Rouge each 16, Lafayette 13, Orleans 12, Jefferson 9, with Caddo and Tangipahoa at 7. The spread shows lodging tied to industry, travel corridors, government business and rebuilding rather than one city.

Cancellation, charge-off and swings in volume

Louisiana's cancellation floor is 4.8% of approvals made across FY2017 to FY2024, and its ceiling is identical. Charge-offs so far reach at least 4.9% of the 82 loans that disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, with 1.2% inside five years; a loan that is open might still fail, so read each as a minimum. Approvals surged to 28 loans in FY2021 and 23 loans worth $78.8 million in FY2022, then dropped to 7 in each of FY2023 and FY2024 before edging up to 10 in FY2025 and FY2026. A study must explain why its project is financeable in the leaner years.

What a Louisiana lodging study must prove

A single NAICS code spans hotels and motels, so limited service cannot be told from full service here, and the franchise share blends both. The study must therefore define the product: brand, room count, and which demand fills it, whether leisure, industrial crews, medical or events. Test seasonality, hurricane exposure and insurance cost, and any property-improvement plan the brand requires. Weigh the request against a ticket that runs above the national norm. Show debt service at a stabilised occupancy and on a slower ramp. A going-concern appraisal will follow, so revenue per available room needs support.