The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), the Biden Administration and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) collaborated over the last several months to expand and improve the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program for the hotel industry, which was heavily impacted by COVID 19.
The ongoing dialogue led to an increase in the cap on total loan amounts and a waiver of affiliation rules to ensure hotels can benefit from long term, low interest rates.
AHLA has been working with Biden Administration and SBA officials for months to secure the changes, which would directly benefit hoteliers. The changes, outlined in a special webinar for AHLA members today, include:
- Raising the loan cap to $2 million per property
- Raising the aggregate loan cap to $10 million
- Waiving the program’s affiliation rules to mirror those of the Paycheck Protection Program
- A low 3.75% interest rate over a 30-year fixed amortization period
- Waiving the credit-elsewhere requirement
- Allowing use of funds to pay down prior commercial debt and to make monthly Principal and Interest payments toward federal debt
The application period for the revised EIDL program begins the week of August 16, and AHLA is encouraging members to apply as soon as possible since Congress may attempt to use some of the program’s funding to pay for pending legislation. Information on how to apply for the loans is here.
