Even though the economy is opening up, hotels continue to suffer as business travel remains muted.

Add this lingering effect to the fact that there were more than one billion unsold room nights in 2020, and it is clear why many hotel owners are not able to meet their debt-service payments or cover their basic operating expenses. Some others are making these payments out of pocket.

Even if they're surviving, they may still have to make it two to three more years before conditions return to normal. The good news is that there is plenty of rescue capital out in the market, according to Trepp. Lenders are providing capital in many forms for hotel owners, whether it is equity to purchase properties or creative debt structures to ensure liquidity and carry interest until stabilization. There is so much capital out there that hotels aren't being discounted today.