A motel can fund furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) and PTAC replacements with a term loan for the whole renovation, equipment financing for the units, or both, often in phases so rooms stay open. The room count and the cost per room set the size.
An article for Houston County, GA hotel and motel owners on funding FF&E, PTAC units, lobby refreshes and brand upgrades, with county lodging counts and an invented 40-room budget. Property loans are not arranged.
FF&E, PTACs and How the Pieces Are Funded
FF&E covers what a guest sees and uses in a room: beds, case goods, seating, lighting, carpet and window treatments. PTAC units, the through-wall heating and cooling units common in motels, are equipment with their own working life. A renovation request can fund both together on a term loan, or put the PTACs on equipment terms and the rest on a term loan.
Hotel loans, business term loans and equipment financing cover each piece.
Hotels, Motels and Inns in the Houston County, GA Employer Tables
County Business Patterns counted 54 hotels (except casino hotels) and motels with paid employees in Houston County, GA for 2023, the whole of the county's traveler accommodation count, with 669 paid employees and $12.4 million in payroll. Thirteen had fewer than five employees, and 16 had a ZIP 31093 address (ZIP Code Business Patterns). Nonemployer Statistics counted 66 lodging businesses without paid employees for 2024, a separate program.
Brand standards may also specify the vendors or the product lines a property must use. Bids from approved vendors, with the plan's line items matched to each bid, make the request easy for a partner to follow from the franchisor's scope to the dollar total.
An Invented 40-Room FF&E Budget and Its Payment
Illustration only, invented figures: a 40-room motel budgets $5,400 per room for FF&E and $1,150 per room for a new PTAC, $6,550 per room and $262,000 in all (our arithmetic). Spread over 84 months on a term loan at an invented annual rate of 9.75%, that comes to roughly $4,316 a month and $362,522 over the life of the loan (our arithmetic).
| Line | Invented figure |
|---|---|
| Rooms | 40 |
| FF&E per room | $5,400 |
| PTAC per room | $1,150 |
| Total project (our arithmetic) | $262,000 |
| Monthly payment at the invented rate (our arithmetic) | $4,316 |
Spread across the 40 rooms, that payment is about $108 per room per month (our arithmetic), a figure an owner can set against the room rate and occupancy to see how many nights a month each room needs to sell to cover its share.
Motel Financing Options for Houston County, GA Hotel and Motel Owners Covering Lobby Refreshes
A lobby refresh is the renovation guests see first. Illustration only, invented figures: a $55,000 lobby with new flooring, lighting, a front desk and a breakfast area, financed at an annual rate of 10.25% over 84 months, would carry a payment of about $920 a month (our arithmetic). Most of a lobby stays with the building, which points to a term loan; furniture can go on equipment terms.
Hotel Motel Loans for Houston County, GA Hotel and Motel Owners Covering Brand Upgrades
A franchisor's property improvement plan sets the scope and the deadline for a brand upgrade. A request built around the plan, the bids and the deadline gives a partner the full picture. If the plan allows phases, funding can follow the phases, with draws on a credit line or a staged loan, so the motel keeps rooms open and revenue coming in during the work.
The invented per-room figure is also the number to watch if the work runs in phases: a floor of ten rooms out of service for a month removes their revenue while the payment on the first phase begins. A phased budget can show that dip and how the open rooms cover it.
Business Loans for Hotels: HVAC Units and Room Renovations in Warner Robins, GA
HVAC units and room renovations meet in most motel projects. PTACs can be financed against themselves; the room work rides on a term loan. A motel replacing PTACs ahead of the rest of the renovation can start with the equipment request and add the room work later, as long as the payments together stay within what the rooms earn.
A business line of credit can carry payroll and operating costs while some rooms are out of service.
Records Houston County, GA Motel Owners Can Gather Before a Renovation Request
- Revenue and occupancy reports for the months a partner names.
- Bank statements and the latest tax return.
- The franchisor's improvement plan, if branded.
- Bids for FF&E, PTACs and construction.
- The renovation schedule, room by room or floor by floor.
- Current loans, leases and the property ownership or lease.
The property itself is not part of the request: buying or refinancing the building is a commercial real estate loan, which Blackmont does not arrange.
Before a Houston County, GA Motel Sends a Renovation Request: A Checklist
- Count the rooms and price FF&E and PTACs per room.
- Decide whether the work will run in phases.
- Get bids for each piece.
- Pull revenue, occupancy and bank records.
- Talk the expense through with Blackmont at (478) 209-5447, or use the web form.
The hotel payment calculator turns the total into a monthly payment; the Warner Robins, GA business page lists the Census counts for the city and its ZIP.
By Blackmont Lending · Updated
