Hotel companies battered by the coronavirus pandemic have leaned hard on their banking relationships in a bid to generate cash amid widespread property closures.

Occupancy and revenue per available rooms have declined to an unprecedented degree in U.S. hotels since the crisis began, prompting some hotel owners and operators to draw more than $7 billion from their revolving credit facilities and others to renegotiate loans.

The credit facility drawdowns affect a host of lenders, including industry giants like Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Smaller banks, meanwhile, have exposure to the hotel industry through commercial real estate loans backed by lodging properties,and through commercial and industrial loans to owners and operators.

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Lodging market participants are still trying to assess the degree to which weaker borrowers will default on property loans, Robert W. Baird lodging analyst Michael Bellisario said in an interview. While legislation passed by Congress in response to the virus will help borrowers make interest payments for three months, the future beyond that is uncertain, he added.

For borrowers with property-specific debt, in a crisis that extends for months, "you're probably considering, 'Is there any equity left, do I fund shortfalls, or do I just hand the keys back and walk away?'" Bellisario said.

As of year-end 2019, Wells Fargo had roughly $11.78 billion in hotel loans outstanding in its commercial real estate portfolio, while Bank of America had roughly $6.98 billion. Both figures represented a relatively small slice of the banks' total lending books, and both banks declined to comment.

Banks with proportionally greater exposure included East West Bancorp Inc., which had $1.87 billion of hotel property loans outstanding at year end, up 15.1% from a year earlier. The figure represented 5.4% of gross total loans. Bank OZK's $857 million in hotel property loans was down 12.4% year over year but represented a relatively high 4.9% of the bank's gross loans.

Bank OZK spokesperson Susan Blair said in an email that the bank is always the sole senior secured lender in its construction and development loans, in the lowest-risk position of the capital stack. Leverage in the bank's hotel portfolio, assuming all loans are fully funded, stood at 40% loan-to-value and 52% loan-to-cost, she said, adding that conservative and defensive loan structures, combined with borrower strength, provides "substantial protection" to the bank. East West Bancorp declined to comment, citing a quiet period before it releases first-quarter earnings.

Among commercial and industrial lenders, Fifth Third Bancorp had roughly $3.75 billion in outstanding loans to companies classified as accommodation and food providers at year end, for 3.4% of the bank's gross loans, while Huntington Bancshares Inc.'s accommodation and food services loan book grew by 21.2% year over year to $2.07 billion, or 2.7% of gross loans. Fifth Third declined to comment, and Huntington did not reply to a request for comment.

Borrower health varies across the hotel industry. Brand companies like Marriott International Inc., Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Hyatt Hotels Corp. are generally in a better position than owners because their business model involves less operating leverage, Bellisario said. Still, he added, "the brand is only as strong as the franchisee, and if the franchisees aren't healthy, it's hard to pay the bills."

Among owners, most publicly traded real estate investment trusts are unsecured borrowers, maintaining operating leverage in the 30% to 50% range, avoiding property-level mortgage debt.

Despite flagging equity prices, Bellisario said the hotel REITs are some of the highest quality credits. He said banks should be "far more worried" about 90% of the other U.S. hotel owners.

But even some of the industry's largest companies have moved to raise cash. Marriott drew $2.5 billion from its $4.5 billion revolving credit facility, which includes more than a dozen lenders like Bank of America, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank AG and Wells Fargo. Hilton drew down the remaining $1.5 billion of capacity on its $1.75 billion revolver, and Host Hotels & Resorts Inc., the largest hotel REIT, drew all $1.5 billion on its facility.

Other hotel companies that announced drawdowns in March include Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, which drew $643 million from its $650 million facility; RLJ Lodging Trust, which drew $400 million from its $600 million facility; DiamondRock Hospitality Co., which drew the remaining $360 million from its $400 million facility; and Extended Stay America Inc., which drew all of its $400 million revolver capacity. Xenia Hotels & Resorts Inc. drew down the $340 million remaining in its $500 million facility.

In a note, Bellisario said Condor Hospitality Trust Inc., a small-cap REIT, offers an example of the ways lodging-industry borrowers may seek to restructure their loans. The company disclosed that it amended the terms of its credit facility with KeyBank NA to lower a mandated fixed-charge coverage ratio and push back a maturity date, among other adjustments.

For a separate mortgage loan on a Kansas hotel, the company's lender, Great Western Bancorp Inc., granted a three-month deferral of principal and interest payments, plus waivers on mandated debt-service coverage ratios for March and June, and modifications of ratios for September and December.