Is Your Hotel Brand on the SBA Franchise Directory? Every Major Flag Checked (October 2026)

Yes, almost certainly. Every major hotel brand in the United States is on the SBA Franchise Directory as of the October 15, 2026 edition. That covers Best Western, all of Choice's brands including Comfort, Cambria, WoodSpring and Everhome, and Hilton's Hampton, Home2, Tru, LivSmart and Spark. It also covers Hyatt Place, Hyatt House and Hyatt Studios, Marriott's Fairfield, TownePlace, Courtyard, Residence Inn, StudioRes and City Express, and IHG's Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood and Staybridge. Wyndham's Super 8, La Quinta, Microtel and ECHO Suites, Red Roof and HomeTowne Studios, Motel 6 and Studio 6, Extended Stay America, My Place and stayAPT round out the list. Each listing carries an SBA Franchise Identifier Code, and under SOP 50 10 8.1, in force since October 1, 2026, a brand that meets the FTC definition of a franchise must be on the directory for the hotel to get an SBA 7(a) or 504 loan.

Being listed does not make your loan eligible by itself. Five 2026 rules actually decide a hotel SBA loan. They are the citizenship requirement that took effect March 1, the management-company test printed on every hotel listing, the 10% to 20% equity injection, the $5 million per-program cap now combinable to $10 million, and the 1.15x historical coverage test on 504 loans. This guide gives the directory status and code for every flag, explains what the listing does and does not do, and walks a $5.35 million Comfort conversion through the SBA 7(a) tests. Bridge places SBA loans with the lenders that do hotel deals; the program sits on its SBA loans page.

Key takeaways

• Every major hotel brand is listed on the SBA Franchise Directory as of October 15, 2026.
• A listed brand means the lender can approve under delegated authority; unlisted means it cannot.
• Since March 1, 2026, every owner and guarantor must be a U.S. citizen or national.
• Hotels are special-purpose property: 15% equity on a 504, 20% if the business is also new.
• A borrower can now hold $5 million of 7(a) plus $5 million of 504, $10 million in total.

Which hotel brands are on the SBA Franchise Directory?

The table is read from the October 15, 2026 edition of the SBA's directory spreadsheet, which the agency updates weekly. Every brand below shows "meets FTC definition: yes" and "franchisor certification received: yes." The code is the SBA Franchise Identifier Code your lender enters in the loan system; the brand name on your franchise agreement must match the listing exactly. Where the notes column says n/a, the listing carries only the standard management-company note.

Two brands you might expect are missing. Four Points Flex by Sheraton has no U.S. listing, consistent with Marriott having no U.S. franchise disclosure document for it. And Red Roof PLUS+ has no separate line because it is a tier under the Red Roof Inn franchise agreement, code S1414. If your brand is not in the table, check the spreadsheet; the October 15, 2026 edition has 3,498 brand rows. A listing is necessary but not sufficient: the citizenship, management and coverage rules below reject deals on listed flags every week.

What does being on the directory actually do?

It decides whether your lender can approve the loan, not whether the loan is a good one. SOP 50 10 8.1, effective October 1, 2026, carries the rule forward from the 2025 SOP that reinstated the directory: if the brand meets the FTC definition of a franchise, it must be on the directory to obtain SBA financing. With a listed brand, the lender no longer reviews the franchise agreement for eligibility; it records the brand name and identifier code, keeps a copy of the listing in the file, and follows any note printed on it. With an unlisted brand, a non-delegated lender cannot submit the file and a delegated lender cannot approve it. The lender is supposed to tell you how the franchisor gets listed: the franchisor emails its franchise agreement and FDD to the SBA, signs a Franchisor Certification, and receives a code, at no fee.

The directory was eliminated in May 2023 and reinstated on June 1, 2025, and brands listed under the old regime had until July 31, 2025 to sign the new certification or be dropped. The hotel brands all re-certified, which is why the table above is complete. One change from the pre-2023 process: the current SOP text contains no requirement for the old SBA franchise addendum, so most lenders no longer ask for it, although the form remains posted.

What is printed on every hotel listing?

Two notes, and they matter more than the code.

The management-company test. Every hotel listing says that if the applicant uses a third-party management agreement, the lender must review it for affiliation, and the hotel is ineligible if the manager is, or is affiliated with, the franchisor. Third-party management is allowed; what the SOP requires is that the owner keeps "meaningful oversight," defined as all four of approving the annual budget, approving capital and operating spending above a threshold, controlling the bank accounts, and overseeing employees who are the applicant's own employees. A management agreement that gives the manager sole discretion makes the hotel a passive business, which is ineligible.

The transient test on extended-stay brands. Listings for WoodSpring, Everhome, MainStay, Suburban, LivSmart, Residence Inn, StudioRes, Hawthorn, ECHO, HomeTowne, Studio 6 Extended Stay, Extended Stay America and stayAPT add that more than 50% of revenue must come from guests staying 30 days or less. A start-up meets it through projections. A hotel that leans on monthly stays can fail it even with a perfect flag.

Which 2026 SBA rules decide a hotel loan?

Six, and four of them changed in the past 18 months.

The combination rule is the one AAHOA fought for. AAHOA's June 2026 member alert explained the decoupling, and the association is now asking Congress to raise each program's cap to $10 million. AAHOA's 20,000 members own about 60% of U.S. hotels, and AAHOA members get Bridge's pricing through AAHOA Lending; the program is described in AAHOA member hotel financing. The obvious reading, that a listed brand plus the combined cap clears any hotel up to $10 million, breaks down when an owner holds a green card or the manager is affiliated with the franchisor; neither rule has an exception.

What do lenders need to see beyond the listing?

The executed franchise agreement and every document the franchisor requires you to sign, in the file before the first 7(a) disbursement or the 504 closing. The lender will also review the franchisor's failure data and any cash-flow projections it supplied. It must document why a franchise term shorter than the loan term is acceptable (a 20-year Choice or Marriott agreement against a 25-year real-estate loan), confirm the PIP is funded at closing, and run the management agreement through the four-part oversight test. The SOP does not address PIPs, key money or brand approval timing, so those are the lender's call; the full document list is in Bridge's SBA hotel loan benchmarks.

Worked example: a $5.35 million Comfort Inn conversion on SBA 7(a)

You buy an unflagged 100-room hotel for $4 million and convert it to a Comfort Inn with a $1.2 million PIP, $50,000 affiliation fee and $100,000 of closing costs and working capital. Comfort is listed, code S0410, so your lender approves under delegated authority.

• Equity injection: a complete change of ownership needs 10% of $5.35 million, $535,000, in cash; a seller note on full standby could supply up to half of it.
• Loan: $4.815 million 7(a), under the $5 million cap, variable at prime plus 2.75 (9.75%, inside the 10.00% cap), 25-year amortization because the real estate fully secures it.
• Coverage: annual debt service of about $515,000 requires $644,000 of NOI at 1.25x. At the Comfort brand average of $64.28 RevPAR in Choice's 2026 FDD, 100 rooms times 365 nights produce about $2.3 million of revenue; at a 34% margin that is about $800,000 of NOI, a 1.55x cover.
• Eligibility checks: every owner a U.S. citizen or national; the management company, if any, unaffiliated with Choice and under your oversight; the executed Choice agreement and PIP addendum in the file before funding.

If the purchase price were $6.5 million, the loan would exceed $5 million and the deal would move to a 504 for the real estate plus a 7(a) for the PIP and FF&E, $10 million combined, with 15% equity on the 504 piece. The lenders that write hotel 7(a) and 504 loans in volume are ranked in the best SBA lenders for hotels.

When is the directory check the wrong question?

• If any owner is a lawful permanent resident. The brand is irrelevant; the loan is ineligible under the March 2026 rule.
• If the franchisor or its affiliate manages the hotel. Ineligible on every hotel listing, regardless of code.
• If the loan is over $10 million. SBA does not reach it; a bank, CMBS or debt fund loan does.
• If the hotel is a monthly-stay property on an extended-stay flag. The transient test, not the listing, decides it.
• If the brand is listed but your agreement is a master or area-development agreement. Franchise development agreements are ineligible even when the brand is on the directory.