Hotel Bridging Loans
We arrange market leading hotel bridging finance for property developers and experienced hotel operators who wish to acquire existing hotels, whether to refurbish, reposition, or invest in capital expenditure to improve trading performance.
Bridging loans and development finance for hotels
At Tiger Financial, we specialise in hotel bridging loans and commercial property finance. We focus on the best rates, responsive service and total reliability. As a leading bridging loan and development finance broker, we invest time to fully understand your business strategy and funding requirements before approaching lenders on your behalf.
Hotel transactions rarely fit neatly into standard commercial mortgage criteria. A vendor may be under time pressure, a licence may need renewing, or a property may need refurbishment before it can trade at the level a term lender requires. Bridging finance closes that gap, allowing you to move quickly on acquisition while a longer term funding or exit strategy is put in place.
Funding is also available for developers who wish to build a new hotel in a location that has demonstrable demand for that type of hotel in that micro-location. As always, the borrower must be able to evidence relevant experience in the sector, either directly or through a project team with a track record of delivering hospitality assets, as well as the feasibility of the proposed project.
Why hotel acquisitions need specialist bridging finance
Hotels are operational businesses as much as they are property assets, and lenders assess them differently as a result. Valuers will typically consider both the bricks and mortar value and the trading potential of the business, which means the loan structure needs to reflect occupancy levels, average daily rate, seasonality, and the strength of any management contract or franchise agreement in place. A boutique coastal hotel with a strong summer season, for example, presents a very different risk profile to a budget hotel with year round corporate demand near a motorway junction or airport.
We regularly arrange finance for:
- Acquisition of trading hotels, including those sold with vacant possession or as a going concern
- Refurbishment and capital expenditure works to upgrade rooms, public areas and back of house facilities
- Change of use projects, such as converting a former office, care home or residential block into a hotel or aparthotel
- Rebranding and flag changes, where a property is being brought up to franchise standard ahead of an operating agreement
- Refinancing existing debt where a hotel needs breathing space to complete works or stabilise trading before moving to a commercial mortgage
- Extension and expansion projects, including adding rooms, function space or leisure facilities to an existing operation
Licensing, planning and seasonality
Hotel projects often carry practical timing pressures that standard commercial finance is not built to accommodate. A premises licence or alcohol licence may need to be transferred or applied for before trading can begin. Planning permission or listed building consent may be a condition of a change of use scheme. Works may need to be scheduled around the shoulder season to protect existing trading income. Bridging finance gives you the flexibility to complete a purchase or begin works while these processes run their course, rather than losing a deal because a term lender cannot commit until every condition is satisfied.
Bespoke loans for hotels
Using our in-depth knowledge and experience, we ensure no piece of the puzzle is overlooked, so that you can be sure of a successful financing outcome.
- Rates from 0.75% pcm
- Loan to Value up to 70% LTV
- Terms from 1 to 24 months
- No monthly payments
- No proof of income required
- Loans from £1m to £100m+
- Available across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
If you are considering a refurbishment bridging loan alongside your hotel purchase, or need development finance for a ground-up scheme, we can structure funding to cover both stages of the project.
Hotel bridging finance FAQs
Valuers typically assess a hotel on both its bricks and mortar value and its trading potential as a going concern. This means recent trading accounts, occupancy rates and average daily rate are as relevant to the lending decision as the physical condition of the building.
Yes, this is common where a hotel is being purchased with vacant possession, is under-trading, or is being changed from another use. Lenders will focus more heavily on your experience, the exit strategy and any projected trading figures in these cases.
In most cases, yes. Loans can be structured to release funds in stages against works completed, allowing you to fund the acquisition and the refurbishment programme under a single facility rather than arranging separate borrowing for each stage.
Timescales depend on the complexity of the transaction, but bridging finance is generally arranged far faster than a commercial mortgage. Straightforward acquisitions can often complete within a few weeks, provided legal and valuation work progresses without delay.
Common exits include refinancing onto a commercial mortgage once the hotel is trading and stabilised, sale of the completed asset, or conversion to another use such as serviced apartments. We agree the exit strategy with you before the loan is arranged, so the plan is realistic from the outset.
Not always. Funding can sometimes be arranged conditional on planning being secured, or structured so that the loan supports the acquisition while a planning application is progressed. Where a scheme depends entirely on a change of use or listed building consent, having an indication of planning support in place strengthens the application considerably.