June 5 (Reuters) - Tighter lending standards from regional banks are making it harder for U.S. hotel developers to secure funding, slowing construction of new hotels at a time Americans' appetite for travel is ripe. Analysts say slower hotel development will also limit profits of blue-chip manufacturers like Caterpillar Inc. , whose commercial real estate customers account for around 75% of construction sales. Overexposed regional banks are now offloading commercial real estate loans at a discount. Troubled regional lender PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) announced in May it would sell $2.6 billion worth of real estate construction loans. Banks started to reduce their hotel loan portfolios in the first quarter of 2023, an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence found.

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Persons: Joseph Delli Santi, James Hansen, Andy Ingraham, Ingraham, Evens Charles, Banks, Mitchell Hochberg, Bianca Flowers, Caroline Stauffer, Deepa Babington Organizations: U.S, Silicon Valley Bank, Shopoff, Reuters, Build Central Inc, Hilton, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, Marriott International, Caterpillar Inc, Signature Bank, First Republic Bank, National Association of Black, Developers, Frontier Development, Hospitality Group, Washington D.C, PacWest Bancorp, P Global Market Intelligence, Lightstone, Thomson Locations: Silicon, California, Florida , Texas, Washington, Arizona, New York, Chicago, Bengaluru