Philadelphia Experiences Hotel Building Boom

The city of Philadelphia is currently in the midst of a hotel building boom. The building activity going on right now hasn’t been seen since the late 1990s. Builders are taking advantage of a wave of tourism, as well as business from convention-goers and those who come to Philly for work. Those who support the hotels’ building say that the increase in rooms is needed to support Philadelphia’s higher profile as a destination for all kinds of travel. It’s believed that the availability of more rooms will only cause tourism to swell.

What will happen when the city builds new hotels – including the Four Seasons at Comcast Tower?

Eight hotels are currently under construction in Center City Philadelphia. When completed, the hotels will flood the market with 2,000 new rooms – a 20% increase over current max occupancy levels. This is the largest increase in hotel room levels since the Republican National Convention came to town in 2000. Hotel occupancy levels hit a high of 76% last year; an increase from 73% in 2013.

The new hotels include the Four Seasons planned for the monolithic Comcast Tower, which, when completed, will be one of the country’s tallest buildings. There is also the Kimpton Hotel planned for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in a converted historic building.

All these hotel rooms could be a mixed blessing, warn analysts. With more rooms, there is more pressure to fill them all – and experts wonder if it can be done. Back in 2009, occupancy rates hit a 20-year low as the economy tanked and tourism ground nearly to a halt. Those numbers are up, but are they up enough to support the addition of some 2,000 rooms to the city’s existing 11,500 ones? Only time will tell.