Bridge vs a traditional hotel mortgage broker

If you are refinancing, buying, or recapitalizing a hotel, the clear answer is this: on a conventional hotel acquisition or refinance, Bridge charges a 50 basis point placement fee where a traditional hotel mortgage broker usually charges about 1%.

On a $10 million loan, that is a $50,000 difference at closing. The fee matters, but structure and execution matter more. A lower fee does not help if leverage, recourse, prepay, or closing coordination break late in the process.

Bridge is a direct lender on some deals and a financing partner on others. It builds the lender package, comp set, and market data, prices the deal with its own capital where it fits, and runs the process through closing. If you are comparing fee lines, start with how to compare hotel loan terms without missing the gotchas.

Key takeaways

• Bridge charges 50 bps on conventional acquisition and refinance loans, versus a broker's typical 1%.
• On a $10M loan, that is $50,000 at Bridge versus $100,000 at a 1% broker fee.
• Bridge can lend directly on some deals and also place loans with banks, SBA lenders, and debt funds.
• SBA loans and ground-up construction are priced separately from the 50 bps fee.
• The bigger risk is not getting loan terms, it is getting to closing on competitive structure.

Bridge vs a traditional hotel mortgage broker at a glance

The structural differences matter more than any single fee line. A broker earns a placement fee for assembling and shopping your package. Bridge earns a smaller placement fee for the same core work, plus it can price the loan itself. On a $10 million conventional loan, that distinction is worth $50,000 at closing, the gap between a 1% broker fee and Bridge's 50 bps. For owners weighing layered structures, this also intersects with tools like C-PACE financing for hotels.

The obvious winner on fee is not always the right winner for your deal. If your transaction needs a bespoke stack, a long-standing portfolio relationship, or a specialist on an unusual asset, a cheaper placement fee is not the main issue. Compare the full execution path, not just the headline cost.

How much does a hotel mortgage broker charge? The fee math

Traditional hotel mortgage brokers typically charge about 1% of the loan amount as a placement fee, and that fee scales directly with loan size. The dollar gap between a 1% fee and Bridge's 50 bps widens as the loan gets larger. That matters most on mid-size and large hotel transactions.

The 50 bps fee applies to conventional acquisition and refinance loans. SBA loans and ground-up construction are priced separately; check the hotel financing pricing page for how those are structured.

That 50 bps figure covers one thing: placement. There is no separate origination or underwriting fee from Bridge layered on top. Third-party reports, the appraisal, the property condition assessment, any environmental review, are paid by you directly to the firms that produce them. That is true whether you work with a broker or with Bridge, so it is not a point of difference between the two paths.

The fee gap comes from where the labor sits. A broker's team builds the lender package, runs the comp set, and researches the market by hand for every deal, and that labor gets priced into the fee. Bridge's platform does that assembly work, so there is no equivalent labor cost to pass on to you. On a $10 million loan, that difference is the $50,000 shown above, not a rounding error.

The lower fee is the obvious advantage here, but it is not the only question. If your deal needs structured layers above senior debt, the better comparison may be stack design, not broker fee. That is where tools like hotel mezzanine debt or C-PACE lenders for hotel renovations can change the answer.

How does a traditional hotel mortgage broker work?

A traditional hotel mortgage broker starts by collecting your financials and the deal narrative, then builds an offering package by hand. The broker's team sends that package to lenders and collects loan terms one by one. The broker negotiates on your behalf and recommends a preferred option.

You close with the chosen lender and pay the broker's fee at closing, typically out of loan proceeds. Brokers earn their fee through relationships built over years, often with regional banks and private lenders you would not otherwise reach. On complex or unusual deals, a broker's judgment and hand-holding through negotiation carry real value, particularly when a deal does not fit a standard underwriting box.

How does Bridge work?

Bridge is a direct lender that also shops the deal, which makes it different from a pure balance-sheet lender and different from a pure broker. The process runs in four steps, from intake through closing.

Intake: You share a few deal details and upload documents, covering the property, the financials, and the scope of the request.

Package: Bridge's platform builds the comp set, market data, and lender package that would otherwise take analysts days to assemble by hand.

Terms: Bridge prices the deal with its own capital where it fits, then shops it across banks, SBA lenders, and debt funds. You see Bridge's own loan terms next to the best outside loan terms, with the tradeoffs explained.

Close: A Bridge banker carries the file from signed term sheet through closing, coordinating the lender, the title company, and any third-party reports along the way.

This is the direct answer to whether Bridge lends or brokers: it does both. Bridge can fund a deal with its own capital, and it can place a deal with another lender, and you see both paths at once rather than choosing one before knowing the market. If you are comparing starting positions, you can also see how that differs from other hotel financing companies.

When is a traditional hotel mortgage broker the better fit?

A broker is still the right call in specific situations.

Choose a traditional hotel mortgage broker if:

• Your deal is outside Bridge's financing and placement range in size or type.
• You are financing a highly unusual property or a distressed situation.
• You have worked with the same broker for years and that broker already knows your portfolio, lenders, and track record.
• You want one advisor structuring preferred equity, mezzanine debt, and senior debt as one coordinated relationship.
• Your capital stack is bespoke enough that a specialist relationship matters more than fee savings.

Some owners should make this choice with no hesitation. If the real value in your deal is niche judgment, not package efficiency, the cheaper path is not necessarily the stronger one. That is especially true when the stack itself is the issue.

Proof: recent hotel closings

Bridge's execution model is built for the coordination problem that stalls hotel deals: a senior lender, an appraiser, an environmental consultant, a title company, a franchise brand, and a seller all need to move together, sometimes with a CDC involved for SBA 504 structures.

AAHOA launched AAHOALending.com, powered by Bridge and announced Bridge as a new Club Blue Industry Partner. Across hundreds of millions of dollars of hotel financing guided through closing, the pattern holds: preparation, not luck, separates funded deals from stalled ones. That is the same logic behind the $10 million worked example below. A better-prepared package does not just save a fee, it closes.

Worked example: $10M hotel refinance: 50 bps vs a 1% broker fee

You are refinancing a branded select-service hotel with a $10 million conventional loan and comparing two paths. One is a traditional broker charging a 1% placement fee. The other is Bridge, charging 50 bps on the same loan.

• Loan amount: $10,000,000
• Broker fee at 1%: $100,000, paid at closing out of loan proceeds
• Bridge placement fee at 50 bps: $50,000, same timing, same source of funds
• Owner keeps: $50,000 in additional proceeds, available for reserves, renovation budget, or retained equity
• Scope: this comparison covers conventional acquisition and refinance loans. SBA loans and ground-up construction are priced separately from this 50 bps fee

Both paths cover the same work: building the lender package, shopping it to capital sources, negotiating loan terms, and running the file to closing. Both paths pass third-party report costs, the appraisal, and any property condition assessment directly to you. The difference is the labor cost baked into the placement fee itself.

The 50 bps structure keeps an extra $50,000 in your pocket at closing on a $10 million loan, covering the same scope as a 1% broker fee. That is the obvious winner if your deal is a standard conventional refinance and the real question is fee drag. It is the wrong winner if your refinance needs a bespoke capital stack, if a specialist relationship is carrying the process, or if you are really comparing structures such as senior debt plus C-PACE financing for hotels or hotel mezzanine debt, not just placement fees.

When is this the wrong tool?

Comparing Bridge against a traditional broker on fee and speed is useful when your deal is a standard acquisition, refinance, PIP, or new build inside conventional underwriting. It is less useful once the deal itself sits outside that frame.

Avoid this comparison if:

• Your deal falls outside Bridge's financing and placement range in size or type.
• You already have a long relationship with a broker who knows your portfolio and lenders.
• You want one advisor running a bespoke equity-and-debt stack as a single relationship.
• You are financing SBA or ground-up construction, which are priced outside the 50 bps scope.

A lower placement fee only matters if the underlying loan terms, leverage, amortization, recourse, and prepay are also competitive. Before you compare fee lines, confirm the deal type fits a conventional structure. If it does not, the fee question is premature. For capital stacks that need a layer beyond a senior loan, a C-PACE assessment or a mezzanine piece can change which path makes sense regardless of placement fee.