Travel Weekly
07/12/17

2017 a Big Year for California Hotel Openings
By Danny King

http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/2017-a-big-year-for-California-hotel-openings

California has shattered its record for hotel rooms opened during the first half of a year.

Developers opened 26 hotels totaling 4,730 rooms from January to June, a 53% increase for hotels and a 65% surge for rooms from a year earlier, according to hotel real estate broker Atlas Hospitality Group.

The previous record for new rooms was 2,502 with the 33 hotels that opened during the first half of 2008.

Four of the state’s five largest new hotels are in Los Angeles, including the 889-room InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown and the 350-room Hotel Indigo. The 317-room Pendry San Diego is the state’s third-largest new hotel.

Hotel developers have been looking to meet surging demand in Southern California. Last year, revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area rose 11%, the fastest demand-growth rate out of the largest 25 U.S. hotel markets, according to data research firm STR.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles’ hotel supply was little-changed last year after inching up 0.5% in 2015.

As for the entire state, there were 18,271 rooms under construction as of June 30, up 6% from a year earlier.

The new InterContinental in downtown L.A. is the brand’s largest hotel in the Americas. The hotel occupies part of the new 73-story Wilshire Grand Center.