Merchant Cash Advance for Hospitality — UK eligibility guide
Sector-specific underwriting context layered on top of the base hospitality sector page and the base merchant cash advance guide.
Eligibility guidance only - not financial advice, not a loan offer, not a guarantee of approval. Lendrly is not FCA-authorised and is not a credit broker.
In short
Merchant Cash Advance for UK hospitality businesses combines a sector pattern Lendrly tracks closely with a finance type that has its own underwriting shape. Card-taking retail, hospitality and online merchants needing flexible working capital. In the hospitality sector specifically, the lenders that tend to fit are ones already comfortable with the hospitality cash cycle, asset profile and customer mix. Typical amounts sit at £500 to £1m, with most facilities sitting between £5k and £150k. and decisions usually land within often same-day to 48 hours where payment data integration exists. Final eligibility, pricing and limits are set by the lender at underwriting and depend on the full trading picture.
What underwriters in the hospitality sector typically watch for
The list below is specific to UK hospitality businesses seeking merchant cash advance — distinct from the generic blockers for either the sector or the product on its own.
- Wet-led venues with a low card share — many MCA underwriters want at least 60% of takings on card and a pure pub running cash-heavy bar service can fall below that.
- Heavy seasonality — winter trough months in coastal or rural venues can stretch repayment beyond a comfortable range and lenders price for it.
- A recent change of EPOS or card-processing provider interrupts the trailing card-history feed underwriters rely on for the average daily takings calculation.
- Venues with a recent licence variation in progress (extending hours, adding outdoor area) are sometimes paused at underwriting until the variation lands.
Documents that help in hospitality merchant cash advance applications
Lenders ask for slightly different documents depending on the sector. Expect to provide most of the following when applying for merchant cash advance as a hospitality business.
- Last 6 months of card-processor statements (Dojo, Worldpay, SumUp, Square or whichever PSP the venue runs).
- EPOS sales report broken out by service — food, wet, accommodation — to evidence the revenue mix.
- Premises licence and food hygiene rating, especially where the lender screens for licensing issues.
- Last 6 months of bank statements showing PSP settlements and trade-supplier payments.
Timing the application
Avoid applying the week before a quarterly VAT bill — underwriters see the dip in retained cash and tighten the offer. Inside hospitality, the cleanest application windows tend to be early February (after Christmas trade has cleared) and late September (after summer trade has cleared).
Worked example
A 60-cover gastropub doing around £45,000 a month, with about 70% of takings on Dojo card and 14 months of clean processor history, would typically pre-qualify for a £20-30k advance via a platform-integrated MCA provider. Factor rates around 1.20 to 1.30 are common on that profile in the UK market, with holdback in the 10-15% range. The actual rate, advance and holdback are set by the lender at underwriting.
Illustrative only. Final amounts, pricing and structure are set by the lender at underwriting.
Practical lender tips for hospitality merchant cash advance
- If the venue uses Dojo or SumUp, start with the platform-native cash advance — the data is already inside the platform and the offer can land within 48 hours.
- Hospitality groups with multiple sites under one merchant account should ask explicitly whether the lender can size the advance per site or only at the group level.