A 25 basis point hike on a $20M hotel loan adds $333 per room in annual debt service, and that's the easy part to model. The interest rate caps expiring across 2025 and 2026 are the line item most owners haven't stress-tested yet.
The Fed held at 3.75%, futures are pricing higher by year-end, and that $20M floating-rate loan you underwrote in 2023 is quietly eating your NOI from the inside. The owners who haven't stress-tested their debt stack against a flat-to-rising rate environment are about to learn what "recalibration" actually costs.
The Fed held at 3.50–3.75% last week, but four FOMC members dissented for the first time in over 30 years, and market odds now price a hike above 50% by early 2027. If you're carrying floating-rate hotel debt originated in 2021–2023, the assumptions baked into your pro forma are about to get tested.
March CPI just printed at 3.3% and the Fed is now discussing hikes instead of cuts. If your hotel acquisition was underwritten assuming SOFR would be 150-200 basis points lower by now, the refinancing math isn't tight... it's broken.
