Practical market notes on financing hospitality property
Articles on the debt that funds trading hospitality businesses, and the commercial mortgage, bridging, development and refinance markets around it.
Written by Matt Lenzie, who has arranged more than £500 million of property and trading-business finance over 25 years. For the structured explainers behind these articles, start with our guides at /guides/ and the market briefs at /insights/.
Buying a hotel, pub or guest house at auction
Trading assets sell at auction all the time: a closed pub, a repossessed hotel, a guest house whose owner has retired. The lot is often keenly priced, but the auction clock runs faster than any commercial mortgage, and that is where most bidders come unstuck. This guide sets out how the finance is arranged around the deadline.
Read the article → ComplianceEPC and MEES rules for hospitality property
Energy performance has moved from a compliance footnote to a live valuation and lending issue for hospitality property. A poor rating can cap what you can borrow, complicate a sale, and force capital works before a building can be let or refinanced. This guide sets out where the rules stand and how the upgrade is funded.
Read the article → CashflowFunding seasonal cashflow in hospitality
A hospitality business earns its year in a handful of months and spends it across all twelve. Coastal lets, festival-town hotels and country pubs all live with the same problem: the costs are steady, the income is not. This guide sets out how operators bridge the low season and fund the run-up to the high one.
Read the article → Serviced accommodationConverting a property to serviced accommodation
Serviced accommodation has pulled a lot of investors out of plain buy-to-let, and much of the new stock comes from conversion: a tired house, a flat above a shop, a small commercial building turned into professionally run short-stay units. This guide sets out the planning, the works and the finance behind that conversion.
Read the article → RefinancingSale and leaseback for hospitality property
A freehold hotel, pub or restaurant ties a lot of capital up in bricks that could be working in the business. Sale and leaseback is one way to release it: sell the building, keep operating it on a lease. This guide sets out how it works, what it costs in rent and control, and when a refinance is the better answer.
Read the article → Operating structureHotel management agreement vs lease vs owner-operator
How a hotel is operated is not just an operational question; it decides who carries the trading risk and, with it, how a lender reads the asset. The same building can be an owner-operated business, a leased investment or a managed asset, and each structure changes what the debt can be. This guide sets out the differences and their effect on finance.
Read the article → Holiday letsHoliday home mortgage vs holiday let finance
Holiday home mortgage and holiday let mortgage sound like the same product with two names. They are not. One funds a place you use, the other funds a business you run, and applying for the wrong one is a common and costly mistake. This guide sets out the difference and how each is assessed.
Read the article → Cost pressuresRefinancing hospitality under cost pressure
Energy, wages and business rates have all pushed the wrong way for hospitality operators, and the pressure lands on the profit line that a lender leans on to refinance. A tighter margin does not make a refinance impossible, but it changes how the case has to be built. This guide sets out what lenders look at when costs bite.
Read the article →Buying or refinancing a hospitality business?
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