Small business loan guarantee goes to large chain hotel : Rent-Seeking Gone Wild

Watchdog reports:

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. touts itself in corporate filings “as one of the largest hotel and leisure companies in the world,” with about $6 billion in annual revenue and more than 180,000 employees.

But in 2013 the Small Business Administration provided a $5 million loan guarantee — the maximum allowed under SBA regulations — to help build one of Starwood’s signature Aloft hotels in downtown Denver, according to a Watchdog.org review of a federal database obtained by openthebooks.com.

Openthebooks CEO Adam Andrzejewski said the SBA has gone far beyond its mission of helping small business, and lawmakers should review the program.

Rent-seeking gone wild.