The Most-Anticipated Hotel Openings for the Remainder of 2023
October 23, 2023
More New Hotels To Open This Year Than in 2022
In the U.S., more new hotels are expected to open this year than last year, despite the number of hotel rooms under construction essentially flat-lining over the past year. If all hotels open on time, there will be nearly 755 new hotels, compared to nearly 575 last year, a 32% increase.
By room count, about 86,700 rooms will enter the hotel space, representing a 41% year-over-year increase. Some of the most-anticipated openings for the remainder of this year include new brands, high room counts or offer something new to the area. The hotels are listed based on geographic locations from west to east.
The Ritz-Carlton, Portland
The luxury-class, 251-room Ritz Carlton Portland Downtown is the largest hotel under construction in Oregon and will be the first Ritz Carlton in the Pacific Northwest. The 35-story development is a $700 million-plus development that will be one of the tallest towers in Portland. The hotel will include a 7,000-square-foot fitness center, and an infinity pool on the 19th floor with panoramic views of downtown Portland, the Cascade Mountains and West Hills. Portland is the home of food-cart-inspired eateries, including Flock, which will open a food hall on the hotel’s ground floor.
Construction started in August 2019, and the hotel, residences and office space are expected to open in the fourth quarter. The new hotel will be adding to the limited luxury-class hotel room inventory, which represents only 3% of the total hotel room inventory in Portland.
The development is known as Block 216. In addition to the hotel, the tower includes 132 residences, with prices ranging from under $1.2 million to nearly $9 million, a signature restaurant, abundant meeting space, 169,000 square feet of Class A office space and ground-floor retail space.
Marriott New York JFK Airport
The 360-room Marriott New York JFK Airport will feature an M-Club concierge lounge with views overlooking the airport runways, along with 6,000 square feet of meeting space, a restaurant and a fitness center. The upper-upscale hotel is owned by MCSAM Hotel Group LLC and will be operated by Chartwell Hospitality.
MCSAM, founded in 2001 by its current chairman, longtime hotel developer Sam Chang, also owns the nearby Hilton New York JFK Airport. It was reported earlier this year that the 356-room Hilton would be turned into a housing development in a $150 million conversion project. The project will be the first under a 2021 state program called Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity. Approximately $48 million of the $150 million cost will come from the state program designed to make hotel conversions easier and cheaper.
The Marriott will be well-positioned to pick up demand from the nearby Hilton that is set to close later this year. The hotel also looks to benefit from the expected growth at JFK Airport. The airport handled about 60 million passengers annually prior to the pandemic and is projected to handle 75 million by 2030. To accommodate the growth, the Port Authority has begun a $19 billion redevelopment project that will include two new terminals, expansion and modernization of the existing terminals, and other enhancements.
InterContinental Bellevue at The Avenue
The luxury, 208-room InterContinental Bellevue at The Avenue in Bellevue, Washington, was set to open in 2022 but faced construction delays that all property types are facing nationally. The hotel is now set to open in late 2023 and represents the first InterContinental in the Pacific Northwest. Upon opening, it will be the second-largest luxury hotel in that area. The hotel is owned and developed by the local group, Fortress Development. It is also a mixed-use tower, with the hotel occupying the first 11 stories of the 26-story building and luxury residences occupying the remaining floors. The property will feature a spa, fitness center and 12,000 square feet of event space.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas
The 67-story, 3,644-room Fontainebleau Las Vegas is the largest hotel under construction in the nation and announced in September that it will open its doors on Dec. 13. The hotel is accepting reservations and seeking to hire 6,000 employees. Development started in 2007, and the project has gone through multiple owners, construction starts and stops and various names. Late last year, the developers secured a $2.2 billion construction loan, providing confidence in the project’s completion. Sitting on 25 acres, the hotel will be the tallest occupied building in Nevada. Some hotel amenities include a 14,000-square-foot fitness center, a 55,000-square-foot spa and a six-acre pool deck with seven pool experiences.
CitizenM Austin Downtown
Earlier this year, Turnbridge Equities and CitizenM broke ground in Austin, Texas, on a 17-story, 344-room hotel. This project will be the first hotel by the Dutch hospitality brand in Texas, and it is also the first one located inland and not next to a major coastline. The hotel is in the heart of downtown Austin and is one of several new hotel brands being constructed in the booming state capital.
The Dutch hospitality brand hotel CitizenM has been progressively expanding its presence in the U.S. since 2018, when its inaugural hotel opened in the Village/Soho/Tribeca area of New York City. The brand, known for its modular construction and prefabricated rooms, has since established itself in major U.S. coastal cities such as Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami.
Plans for CitizenM to expand further inland are already in progress, with a new location in Denver’s central business district already in the final planning stage with anticipated completion in 2025.
Dollywood’s HeartSong Lodge & Resort
Located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the HeartSong Lodge & Resort is a 302-room hotel and resort 10 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park entrance. Its design is inspired by the surrounding landscape of the Great Smoky Mountains and the foothills.
It is the second lodging property to be built at Dollywood and the first piece of a $500-million expansion plan to make the park the top destination for family vacations. The lodge and resort is expected to attract 3 million visitors a year.
Reservations for the resort’s grand opening on Nov. 3 began in late June. Guests will enjoy a five-story resort featuring a pool complex, 26,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space and themed rooms with views of the national park. It will be the largest resort to open in the area since Dollywood’s 300-room DreamMore Resort in 2015.
Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor
The 785-room Sunseeker Resort, a 22-acre waterfront complex with views of the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor, will be the first resort from Allegiant Travel Company, the parent company of Las Vegas-based Allegiant Airlines.
The luxury resort is the largest hotel under construction on Florida’s Gulf Coast and the second largest under construction in the state. The largest hotel under construction in Florida is the 800-room Omni Fort Lauderdale, scheduled to open in 2026.
Located about 25 miles north of Fort Myers, the Sunseeker Resort was in the path of Hurricane Ian and experienced approximately $35 million of hurricane-related damage when the storm passed in September 2022. Construction on the resort began in 2019 but has been halted twice, once due to the COVID-19 pandemic and again due to the hurricane.
Sunseeker Resort will feature more than 60,000 square feet of meeting space, seven restaurants, 11 bars and lounges and a 25,000-square-foot food hall. Perched 127 feet up and overlooking the Charlotte Harbor, the Sunseeker Resort is reported to feature the largest rooftop pool in Florida, holding 127,000 gallons of water.
CoStar’s Director of Hospitality Analytics, Colin Sherman, contributed content to this article.