Industries · hospitality & accommodation
Finance that understands seasonality and shift work.
Hospitality runs on tight margins, card-heavy revenue, and fitout cycles. Lender appetite varies sharply between fast-decision fintechs that price card-volume risk well and traditional banks that prefer freehold ownership.
How hospitality & accommodation financing actually works
Cashflow patterns and lender appetite.
Hospitality runs on tight margins, card-heavy revenue, and fitout cycles. Lender appetite varies sharply between fast-decision fintechs that price card-volume risk well and traditional banks that prefer freehold ownership.
We help operators sequence fitout finance, equipment finance, and working capital so a launch period is properly funded rather than starved. Pubs and licensed venues sit in a separate lender pool we engage when relevant.
Common products for this industry
Where the money tends to come from.
Pillar
Asset & equipment finance
Fitouts, kitchen equipment, coffee machines, POS, beverage systems.
Read moreSub-product · live
Unsecured business loans
Launch capital, marketing, payroll smoothing across quiet weeks.
Read morePillar
Working capital
Merchant cash advance for venues with strong card sales but limited security.
Read moreSub-product · live
Owner-occupier purchase
Owning the freehold rather than renting it (common pathway for established venues).
Read moreSub-product · live
Invoice discounting
For catering and accommodation operators with large B2B clients on long terms.
Read more
Industry lender programs
Specialist appetite for hospitality & accommodation.
- Pepper Asset Finance
- Angle Finance
- Liberty Commercial
- Prospa
- Moula
- Capify
- Banjo Loans
These lenders run programs or have specialist teams for this industry. Specific deal fit still depends on your business profile.
Anonymised case studies
Recent hospitality & accommodation situations.
Anonymised to protect client identity. Real shapes of deals we've helped place.
Case study
Café fitout, three weeks before opening
SituationNew café, $180K fitout, $40K of equipment, $25K working capital for launch.
What fitBlended structure: $180K equipment finance via specialist asset financier, $25K unsecured working capital from fintech.
OutcomeEquipment settled in time for fitout, working capital available from day 1, quarterly repayments matched to expected cashflow build.
Case study
Existing restaurant refit during winter quiet
Situation5-year-old restaurant, refitting kitchen and front-of-house, $260K combined.
What fit$220K equipment-finance facility, $40K working capital line for marketing and bridging.
OutcomeRefit completed during 6-week winter close, reopening with a fresh equipment package and a marketing buffer.
Industry questions
Common questions from hospitality & accommodation operators.
How do lenders price seasonal cashflow?
Specialist hospitality lenders look at year-on-year revenue rather than month-on-month and price seasonality into the structure (for instance, a lower-payment "shoulder season" plus a step-up across peak months). Generalist lenders often miss this and price the deal as if every month should look identical.
What's the right split between equipment finance and working capital for a fitout?
Hard goods (kitchen equipment, coffee machine, refrigeration, POS) usually fund via equipment finance, secured against the asset. Soft costs (paint, fittings, branding, marketing, opening payroll) fund via unsecured working capital. The split changes pricing and security materially; we model both before recommending.
Pub or licensed venue, different lenders?
Yes. The pub and licensed-venue space has a smaller specialist lender pool (some non-banks won't lend on liquor-licensed venues at all). We engage that pool directly when liquor licensing is in scope.
When is merchant cash advance actually the right fit?
For venues with strong card volume but limited security or recent trading history, MCA can settle in days where a traditional loan would take weeks. The cost is real (factor rates of 1.15 to 1.45 translate to 25 to 50% p.a. effective), so we only recommend it where speed and structure genuinely beat a slower, cheaper alternative.
Can I package the freehold purchase with the fitout finance?
Often yes. Owner-occupier commercial property loan for the freehold, plus a separate equipment-finance facility for the fitout, sometimes with a shared lender relationship. Coordinating the two avoids two separate underwriting processes pulling in different directions.
Industry brief
Twenty minutes on the hospitality & accommodation situation.
Tell us where the business is at and what's on the table. We'll come back with a lender shortlist tuned to your industry, or an honest signal that this isn't the right product yet.