As the recognized COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. and the nation’s subsequent shutdown approaches its fifth week, hotels and other small businesses are seeing some relief ahead.
Federal financial aid is coming in the form of loans and grants from the Small Business Administration.
In the past week, hundreds of thousands hotel owners have filed applications with their SBA-approved lenders for the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program.
But when hotel owners and operators will see the money is anyone’s guess as both banks and small-business owners report being overwhelmed with the filing process.
Meanwhile another group of hotel owners feels left out in the cold. These are investors holding billions of dollars in CMBS debt. Many debtors are in default with more expected as May and June mortgage payments come due with no financial intervention on the horizon.
In this episode, part 11 of Lodging Leader’s special report on the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry, we explore the state of the SBA rescue package as well as what is or is not being done to help CMBS debtors save their businesses from default.
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Lodging Econometrics has tracked the hotel industry since 1998. Its global database includes new-hotel pipelines as well as renovations and brand conversions. Hotel franchisers once eager to launch new brands are focused on converting existing hotels because it’s a faster way to recover revenue lost to the COVID-19 pandemic than through new construction. In Episode 346, Lodging Leaders explores the increasing number of conversions in the U.S. hotel industry and what owners and operators need to consider before repositioning an asset.
In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., financiers anticipated a swell of distressed hotel businesses. Some raised rescue funds to respond to what they thought was a pending crisis. Though there are financial rescues taking place, the level of such activity is far below what industry advisers and fund managers expected. Commercial real estate investors positioned to act in the early days of the pandemic held off and are now just beginning to unleash their cash hoards totaling billions of dollars. Episode 345 of Lodging Leaders podcast explores the state of capital investment in the hotel industry.