CORONAVIRUS
Hoteliers Among Mass Of Businesses Seeking Aid
CORONAVIRUS
It was a week of high anxiety for U.S. hotel owners seeking financial relief from the federal government and the CMBS bond market. Hotel owners rushed applications to SBA-approved lenders to qualify for the agency’s Paycheck Protection Program. Some primary lenders such as JP Morgan cut off applications, saying they had met their quota as early as Monday. Meanwhile, hoteliers with CMBS loans were frustrated with attempts to seek relief, fearing a loss of capital reserves as well as triggering financial penalties and legal costs. In this update of Long Live Lodging’s special report on the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hotel industry, we feature owners and financing experts who are feeling the pain of an economic downturn of historical proportions.
CORONAVIRUS
-
346 | Repositioning For Recovery: Hotel conversions to outpace new builds
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.
-
345 | ‘Rosy View of Future’: Hotel industry sees unleashing of pent-up investor demand
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.