By Cheryl Sarfaty | cheryl.sarfaty@busjrnl.com | North Bay Business Journal

PUBLISHED: January 14, 2026 at 7:21 PM PST | UPDATED: January 15, 2026 at 11:52 AM PST

Hotel openings across California finished 2025 with a year-over-year increase of 43%, according to a newly released survey.

Most of the hotel openings were in Southern California, rising 128% year over year, compared to 43% in Northern California, according to Atlas Hospitality Group’s California Hotel Development Survey 2025. Atlas is a Newport Beach-based real estate brokerage that tracks the industry.

Statewide last year, 50 new hotels opened totaling of 7,100 rooms, and 96 new hotels comprised of 11,121 rooms were under construction. In the planning stages were 1,120 hotels, made up of 140,526 rooms, according to Atlas’ year-end survey. The firm also releases mid-year surveys, both for hotel development projects and hotel sales, the latter year-end report expected next month.

“New room openings increased far more sharply in Southern California than in Northern California, highlighting that 2025’s acceleration is real but unevenly distributed and concentrated in select (Southern California) counties,” said Alan X. Reay, president of Atlas.

To that end, San Diego County led the state with 2,034 new rooms opened, driven by the 1,600-room Gaylord Pacific Resort in Chula Vista, the largest hotel opening in California. Marriott operates the property.

Of new hotels that opened in last year, Los Angeles County had the most, with seven.

Santa Clara County opened three new hotels, the most in Northern California, according to Atlas.

In the North Bay, Sonoma County saw two hotels come online. The 90-room Home2Suites by Hilton in Rohnert Park opened in August, and the 108-room Appellation Healdsburg in September.

Appellation Healdsburg is the first built-from-the-ground-up hotel under Michelin-starred chef Charlie Palmer and hospitality veteran Christopher Hunsberger’s culinary-driven Appellation brand, as the Business Journal has previously covered.

There were no other hotel openings last year in the North Bay’s six-county region, according to Atlas.

Future hotel developments

Even though California had 50 hotel openings last year versus 35 in 2024, Reay had a more measured outlook on future projects.

“The broader pipeline still reflects a disciplined development climate, as 2025 under construction and planning totals declined versus 2024,” he said, “supporting the view that financing conditions and construction costs continue to limit new starts.”

In the six-county North Bay region, Atlas shows there are currently 10 hotels listed as being under construction — limited to Sonoma and Napa counties.

— Sonoma County: River Rock Casino Hotel in Geyserville (100 rooms), Cotati Hotel (153 rooms), Graton Resort in Rohnert Park (addition of 200 rooms), and Duchamp Hotel Healdsburg (expansion of 14 rooms)

The Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians’ River Rock Casino in Geyserville partnered with Caesars Entertainment in 2024 to build Caesars Republic Sonoma County, a 100-guestroom resort property. The project broke ground Aug. 2, and is slated for completion in the summer of 2027, according to previous reporting.

— Napa County: The Elene Napa (50 rooms), Kohl’s Plaza Redevelopment (210 rooms), Embassy Suites Napa Valley (addition of 54 rooms), Home2 Suites American Canyon (107 rooms), Veranda Hotel in Calistoga (95 rooms), and Calistoga Hills Resort in Calistoga (110 rooms).

The Kohl’s Plaza Redevelopment project is slated for 161 hotel rooms, 78 condos and retail space on the site that housed Kohl’s department store until its April departure.San Ramon-based Coombs Street LLC is the project developer. Napa city leaders say the project will take years to finish.

Cheryl Sarfaty covers tourism, hospitality, health care, aviation and employment. Reach her at cheryl.sarfaty@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4259.