SIC code for hotels: 7011, and the NAICS codes for hotels and hospitality

This page is for hotel owners and operators filling in a SIC or NAICS field (a loan or insurance application, a vendor or government form) and for sellers building lists of hotels, from independents to management companies.

The SIC code for hotels is 7011

In the 1987 SIC, hotels sit in Major Group 70, Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps, and Other Lodging Places. The codes in that group:

7011 is the answer for any hotel, motel, resort, casino hotel or inn on a form that asks for US SIC. UK companies use the UK SIC 2007 list at Companies House, where hotels are 55100, Hotels and similar accommodation. One SIC code covers what NAICS treats as four industries, so a SIC 7011 list mixes 30-room motels, casino resorts and B&Bs.

The SIC codes for hospitality

Hospitality isn't a classification term. In SIC, it spans two major groups in two divisions:

NAICS puts both halves in one sector, 72 Accommodation and Food Services, which County Business Patterns 2023 counts at 784,882 establishments and 14,608,170 employees. Most of that is food service (714,532 establishments); accommodation is 70,350. A "hospitality" target list built from Sector 72 is mostly restaurants unless you narrow it to 721.

The NAICS codes for hotels, and how to choose

The Census cross-references settle the edge cases:

A hotel's restaurant, spa and conference rooms don't change its code; the definition of 721110 includes food and beverage, recreation, conference and convention services.

How many hotels there are

County Business Patterns 2023, on a 2017 NAICS basis (these codes didn't change in 2022):

For 721110, 17,262 establishments have fewer than five employees, 8,340 have 5 to 9, 12,120 have 10 to 19, 12,907 have 20 to 49, 2,764 have 50 to 99, 1,717 have 100 to 249, 508 have 250 to 499, 220 have 500 to 999 and 57 have 1,000 or more. The states with the most are California (6,020), Texas (5,643), Florida (3,546), New York (2,362) and Georgia (2,157). Casino hotels are concentrated in Nevada (144 establishments).

CBP counts properties with paid employees, not companies or brands, and it includes government-sponsored casino hotels, which most government establishments aren't.

SBA size standards

From the SBA's table effective March 17, 2023, in average annual receipts:

Affiliates count toward receipts, which matters for hotels owned through one company per property: when one owner controls several property companies, the SBA adds their receipts together.

Where the code gets used

• Loans and insurance. Lenders and insurers classify hotels by code; SBA loan eligibility depends on the size standard for the code.
• Government lodging. If you bid to house government travelers or host a conference, the solicitation's NAICS code sets the size standard you must meet.
• Tax returns. The IRS Schedule C list groups all of these as 721100, Traveler accommodation (including hotels, motels, & bed & breakfast inns), a tax code rather than a NAICS code.

Finding hotel companies

On EDGAR, hotel brands, operators and casino resorts file under SIC 7011 (EDGAR list for SIC 7011). The largest by revenue in their latest 10-K:

The table shows why brand revenue misleads sellers. Most of Marriott's and Hilton's revenue is costs reimbursed by hotel owners, and Host, a hotel owner, reports $6.1 billion in revenue with 162 employees of its own. The purchase decisions for a branded hotel are split between the owner, the management company and the brand's standards, so a sale to one property usually means finding the ownership group. Hotel REITs file under 6798 (Real Estate Investment Trusts), though some, such as Park Hotels & Resorts, file under 7011, so search both.

For the 55,895 hotel and motel establishments, filter by size: the 5,266 with 50 or more employees are full-service and resort properties with department heads for sales, food and beverage, engineering and rooms. The list of hotels explains the public sources for property-level lists, and Bebop finds hotel ownership and management groups from a plain-language description.

Worked example

Illustrative example. The company and figures are invented to show the method.

Harborline Hospitality (harborline.example) owns and runs five select-service hotels and one 12-room inn in South Carolina, with 230 employees, plus a restaurant at its largest hotel.

1. SIC for a bank form: 7011, for all six properties.
2. NAICS: 721110 for the hotels; the inn, if it serves breakfast and runs as a B&B, is 721191. The hotel restaurant stays within 721110.
3. Size check for an SBA loan: combined average annual receipts of $21.0 million across the affiliated property companies, under the $40.0 million standard for 721110.
4. Tax return: activity code 721100.

Next step: see who owns and operates the biggest brands on the largest hotel companies page.