Independent feasibility studies prepared to 7 CFR Part 5001, Appendix A to Subpart D, for USDA Business and Industry guaranteed loans on glamping resorts, cabin resorts, campgrounds and outdoor hospitality developments in rural areas. Part of our glamping and short-term rental feasibility study cluster.
From $4,900, fixed fee. 9 to 16 business days. Rush from 5 business days.
Why USDA B&I is the primary pathway for resort-scale glamping
The B&I programme guarantees loans up to $25 million, which is five times the SBA 7(a) ceiling, and it accepts tourist and recreation facilities by name. 7 CFR 5001.105(b)(8) lists hotels, motels, bed and breakfast establishments, and resort trailer parks and campgrounds operated as a public or private commercial enterprise as eligible projects. Nearly every glamping site sits outside a city or town of more than 50,000, which is the programme's rural test. The combination of loan size, eligibility by name and rural geography makes B&I the first programme a lender scopes for a resort of 20 units or more.
The constraint is documentary. For a new business, a B&I loan over $1,000,000 cannot be approved without a feasibility study prepared by an independent qualified consultant acceptable to the Agency, and the Agency may raise the borrower's equity requirement when the study or management experience is weak. The study is not a formality on the file; it is one of the two documents the Agency reads first.
Eligibility: four tests the study documents
1. Rural area (7 CFR 5001.3). A rural area is any area not in a city or town of more than 50,000 inhabitants and not in the urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to such a city or town, measured on the latest decennial census. The test applies to the city or town, not the county, so a parcel can be rural inside a county of 200,000 and non-rural inside a county of 40,000 if it sits in a city's contiguous urbanized area. Applications cannot be approved subject to meeting the rural requirement later, and a mixed project receives a guarantee only for the rural portion under 5001.105(c). The study records the parcel-level determination from the USDA Eligibility Map and cites the census boundary.
2. Eligible purpose (5001.105(b)). Tourist and recreation facilities under (b)(8). Mixed-use projects qualify where at least 50 percent of projected revenue is business use under (b)(13). Owner-occupied living quarters are permitted only where their pro rata value, by square footage, is deducted from loan proceeds.
3. Not an ineligible purpose (5001.118). 5001.118(a) excludes timeshares, residential trailer parks, apartments, duplexes and other residential housing where the primary purpose is independent housing. A glamping resort that sells units to individuals, a park model village that leases pads to unit owners, or a cabin community that lets monthly all cross this line. The study documents the operating model as transient hospitality, with the booking engine, the stay-length policy and the revenue mix as exhibits.
4. Equity (5001.105(d), Table 1). The tier depends on the borrower, not the structure:
| Borrower | Balance sheet equity at closing | Or percent of total eligible project cost |
|---|---|---|
| Existing business | 10 percent (or 9 to 1 debt to equity) | 10 percent, or owner-contributed capital of 10 percent of net fixed assets plus depreciation |
| New business with adequate sales contracts | 10 percent | 10 percent |
| New business, construction project, guarantee requested before completion | 25 percent (or 3 to 1) | 25 percent |
| All other new businesses | 20 percent (or 4 to 1) | 25 percent |
The balance sheet test includes subordinated debt under standstill; the project-cost test is cash or other funds actually invested. Appraisal surplus and bargain purchase gains never count. The Agency may raise the requirement for higher-risk projects, including those with a weak feasibility study and management experience (5001.105(d)(5)(i)). A new glamping resort that wants the loan note guarantee issued before construction is complete is in the 25 percent tier, and the study sizes equity to it.
FY2026 programme terms
The OneRD annual notice for fiscal year 2026 (Federal Register 2026-04581, 91 FR 11272, March 9, 2026) sets the terms below; no FY2027 notice had issued as of October 8, 2026, so these stand until one does.
| B&I loan size | Guarantee | Initial guarantee fee | Annual retention fee | Pre-completion loan note guarantee fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $5 million | 85 percent | 3.0 percent | 0.55 percent | 0.50 percent |
| $5 million to $25 million | 80 percent | 3.0 percent | 0.55 percent | 0.50 percent |
| Reduced-fee projects | 80 percent | 1.0 percent | 0.50 percent | 0.50 percent |
| Isolated rural Alaska | 90 percent | 1.0 percent | 0.50 percent | 0.50 percent |
The retention fee rate is locked for the life of the loan. The maximum term is 40 years, with practical maximums of 30 years for real estate, 15 for machinery and equipment and 7 for working capital; the term is set by the useful economic life of the assets financed and of the collateral. The interest rate is negotiated between lender and borrower, fixed or variable, and a variable rate may reset no more often than quarterly. WSJ prime stood at 7.00 percent on October 8, 2026, effective September 17, 2026, and the study tests DSCR at the quoted spread and at plus 100 basis points.
Collateral must have documented value, discounted to the lender's loan-to-value policy, and the discounted value must at least equal the loan. A 40-year term is not available on canvas tents with a 10-year life. The study therefore carries a separate collateral schedule: site work, bathhouses, lodges and foundation-set cabins as real property; tents, domes, yurts and park models on chassis as equipment with their own useful life and their own term. See our USDA B&I loan calculator for the fee arithmetic.
When the feasibility study is required
Under 7 CFR 5001.306:
- Guaranteed loans of $600,000 or less may use the streamlined application package under 5001.306(b).
- Guaranteed loans over $600,000 follow 5001.306(a).
- A feasibility study is required for guaranteed loans over $1,000,000 to a new business, with scope set by the Agency, prepared by an independent qualified consultant acceptable to the Agency.
- The residual authority sits at 5001.303(c)(4): where the Agency cannot determine a basis for successful repayment from the lender's analysis, the business plan or other project information, or where the project will significantly affect existing operations, it may require an independent feasibility study using the applicable Appendix A elements.
A new resort has no operating history to underwrite, so lenders request a study on nearly every new glamping project regardless of the threshold.
The five Appendix A components
7 CFR 5001.3 defines a feasibility study as the evaluation of the economic, market, technical, financial and management feasibility of the project under Appendix A to Subpart D. Our studies are organized to those five components:
| Component | What the glamping study delivers |
|---|---|
| Economic | The tourism economy of the market area from official counts: National Park Service recreation visits by month, state tourism economics reports, event attendance from official releases, drive-time population from the Census |
| Market | The competitive set of glamping resorts, cabins, campgrounds, hotels and short-term rentals with unit counts and dated peak, shoulder and off-season rates; AirDNA and Key Data market extracts reconciled across vendors; the known pipeline |
| Technical | Site access, developable acreage, flood zone and wetlands, water supply, electric line extension at the serving utility's tariff, onsite wastewater sized to the state design-flow rule, the campground licence and zoning pathway, unit classification |
| Financial | Development cost from documented shell prices plus an engineered site takeoff; a ten-year pro forma by unit type and season; DSCR by year and for the weakest three consecutive months; break-even occupancy; sensitivities on season length, ADR, ramp-up, cost and rate |
| Management | The operating plan, staffing from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for the project's own area, the operator's experience, and the management-agreement structure |
The exhibits are the study. Every figure traces to a document, and spoken-only facts go to a signed management representation. See our methodology.
What USDA reviewers look for in a glamping study
Seasonality tested, not averaged. Gateway-park demand is sharply seasonal: New River Gorge runs above 200,000 recreation visits a month in summer and below 100,000 in winter, and Great Smoky Mountains swings roughly 3.5x to 4x between January and October. Sun Communities guides its RV NOI at 16, 25, 40 and 19 percent by quarter. A B&I reviewer reads DSCR across the weakest months, so the study reports it that way and underwrites soft structures to their operating season, which at some gateway markets is six months.
Supply pressure priced in. AirDNA's 2026 midyear outlook places the strongest short-term rental supply growth in small-city, rural and mid-size markets, which is where B&I projects are built. In Fayetteville, West Virginia, tracked listings rose 201.9 percent in a year while ADR fell 11.8 percent. The study carries a downside ADR case drawn from the market's own trend.
Wastewater as the critical path. A 32-unit resort with a bathhouse and a lodge exceeds the 1,000 gallon per day threshold that moves a West Virginia system out of the individual tier into engineered design under 64CSR47; North Carolina sizes cabins at 200 gallons per unit per day against 75 to 100 per campsite. The technical component names the system tier and the engineer's cost before the loan is sized.
Equity and reserves sized to the tier. For a new-business construction project requesting the guarantee before completion, the study models 25 percent equity and a funded interest and operating reserve through ramp-up, and it shows the Agency what happens to DSCR if the reserve is not funded.
The distress record acknowledged. Sandy Pines, a 268-site Maine resort with 66 glamping sites, filed Chapter 11 in February 2026 ahead of a bank foreclosure auction and sold for $14.25 million against $20.6 million of listed liabilities; Frio Country Resort in Texas filed the day before its auction in April 2026. Both were single-asset operators carrying bank debt through a seasonal downturn. The study stress-tests debt service under weather, drought and visitation shocks because that is where B&I collateral has actually been lost.
REAP for on-site solar and efficiency
Rural Energy for America Program guaranteed loans continue under 7 CFR 5001 for renewable energy and efficiency work at campgrounds and cabins, covering up to 75 percent of project cost. USDA's REAP eligibility screener treats nightly rentals such as campgrounds and cabins with their own booking platform as non-residential. USDA's March 31, 2026 REAP FAQ states that no FY2026 grant notice of funding will issue until 7 CFR 4280 Subpart B is rewritten, so REAP is a loan-guarantee product for now. See our USDA REAP page.
Model case study
Related pages
The programme rules in full are on our USDA feasibility study page, with the regulatory record in USDA B&I loan eligibility: who qualifies and what can be funded and the annual state of USDA Rural Development financing 2026. Parks with RV pads are covered on the RV park feasibility study page; branded lodging on the hotel feasibility study page. SBA alternatives for smaller sites are on SBA 7(a) and 504 for glamping and cabin resorts. Check rural status on the USDA Eligibility Map and see where we work for state pages.
Frequently asked questions
Does a glamping resort qualify for USDA B&I financing?
Yes, as a tourist and recreation facility under 7 CFR 5001.105(b)(8), provided the parcel is rural under 5001.3, the project is not a timeshare and it operates as transient hospitality rather than residential housing under 5001.118(a).
Is a feasibility study required for a USDA glamping loan?
It is mandatory for guaranteed loans over $1,000,000 to a new business under 5001.306(a)(3)(i). Lenders request one on nearly every new resort.
How much equity does USDA require for a new glamping resort?
Under 5001.105(d), a new business building a project and requesting the loan note guarantee before completion needs 25 percent balance sheet equity or 25 percent of total eligible project cost; other new businesses need 20 percent balance sheet equity or 25 percent of project cost; an existing business needs 10 percent. The Agency may raise the figure for higher-risk projects.
What guarantee percentage applies in 2026?
85 percent on loans under $5 million and 80 percent on $5 million to $25 million under the FY2026 OneRD notice, with a 3.0 percent initial fee and a 0.55 percent annual retention fee. FY2027 terms had not been published as of October 8, 2026.
Can tents and domes be financed over 30 or 40 years?
No. The term is set by the useful economic life of the assets financed and used as collateral. Real estate can run to 30 years in practice; soft and movable structures carry an equipment-length term.
Is my site rural?
The test is the city or town and its contiguous urbanized area, not the county. Check the parcel on the USDA Eligibility Map; the study cites the determination.
Prepared by Michal Mohelsky, J.D., FMVA, Practicing Affiliate of the Appraisal Institute. Studies are prepared under USPAP discipline and to 7 CFR Part 5001, Appendix A to Subpart D. A senior analyst responds to proposal requests within 12 business hours from the firm's San Francisco office at 27 Maiden Lane, Suite 625.
Where we work
The same study, prepared to the lender requirements of the state the project sits in.
