It isn't just the highest-profile cities that are optimistically anticipating more visitors as the economy improves. Each of the following U.S. destinations has more than 4,000 hotel rooms in the development pipeline, according to Smith Travel Research. STR's Comprehensive Pipeline Outlook (released in February) counts developments by metropolitan statistical area, including hotels in the planning and construction phases. Here's a rundown of what's in store.
Baltimore 5,070 rooms in pipeline
Baltimore will host Reed Travel Exhibition's inaugural Americas Incentive Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition in 2011, which likely will further raise the city's profile with domestic and international planners. Baltimore proper currently offers more than 15,000 hotel rooms, with 8,500 of them near the Inner Harbor and convention center. More than 5,000 additional rooms are in the pipeline for the Baltimore/Towson metropolitan area, in projects such as the 256-room Four Seasons in Harbor East, to open in 2011; the 75-room Inn at Penn Station, slated for a 2012 opening; and a 165-room Hyatt Place, to open in 2013.
San Antonio4,729 rooms in pipeline
San Antonio, with its picturesque River Walk, has 35,000 hotel rooms, with more than 4,700 to come. In addition to the new 1,002-room JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, which has 140,000 square feet of meeting space, smaller properties are in the works and include the 285-room Embassy Suites San Antonio Riverwalk, set to open downtown in August with 6,300 square feet of meeting space. The 126-room Hyatt Place San Antonio-North/Stone Oak debuted late last month, near the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Austin, Texas4,716 rooms in pipeline
Austin's popularity has grown in large part because of its arts and culture scene. More than 4,700 hotel rooms are on the way, adding to 26,000 rooms already available in the Austin/Round Rock area. A 250-room W Hotel anchors the $225 million multiuse Block 21 complex, to open late this year in the 2nd Street District. Also in the works: a Hyatt Place at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and the 160-room Seaholm Plaza Hotel, part of a $117 million redevelopment of the Seaholm Power Plant, which will include a pavilion, meeting space and direct trolley service to the Austin Convention Center.
Honolulu 4,203 rooms in pipeline
The
city and county of Honolulu, which includes the entire Hawaiian island
of Oahu and several smaller islands, could debut more than 4,200 new
hotel rooms in the coming years. Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa,
broke ground at Ko Olina on the west shore in 2008 for a fall 2011
opening. The resort will offer 360 guest rooms, in addition to meeting
space and an 18,000-square-foot spa. Later this year, Honolulu is slated
to welcome the first Edition hotel, the new brand collaboration between
Marriott and Ian Schrager.
Pittsburgh4,193
rooms in pipeline
Pittsburgh's David L. Lawrence Convention
Center is the country's first green convention facility and the largest
LEED-certified building in the world -- facts that contributed to the
city hosting the high-profile G-20 Summit last year. Another
LEED-certified development, Three PNC Plaza, is home to the 185-room
Fairmont Pittsburgh, which opened at the end of March. The hotel was
built using recycled materials -- from the carpeting to the furniture
fabric -- and offers a 102-seat restaurant and bar, as well as 12,000
square feet of conference and event space. Projects slated to debut
around press time include the 115-room Marriott SpringHill Suites in
SouthSide Works, the 180-room Residence Inn by Marriott on the North
Shore and a SpringHill Suites at Bakery Square in East Liberty. Coming
this fall are a 178-room Hyatt Place, part of a $25 million development
on the North Shore near PNC Park; and a 142-room Cambria Suites
alongside the Consol Energy Center, new home of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Seattle 4,185 rooms in pipeline
In
late March, Seattle welcomed the 140-room Maxwell Hotel, within walking
distance of the Space Needle. The property offers three meeting spaces,
a full-service restaurant and lounge, an indoor pool and lots of retail
space. The Courtyard Marriott Pioneer Square opens this month. Other
projects in the Seattle/Tacoma/Bellevue metropolitan area include a
Hyatt Place at Sixth Avenue and Denny Way, and the Bellevue Park Hotel
in nearby Bellevue, Wash.
Raleigh,
N.C.4,136 rooms in pipeline
The Greater Raleigh area,
home to seven colleges and universities, comprises a key part of the
high-tech development area known as Research Triangle Park. Hotel
projects under construction include the 175-room Embassy Suites Brier
Creek, which will open this month with 6,500 square feet of indoor
meeting space and 7,000 square feet of outdoor reception and event
space. Two Fairfield Inn & Suites projects are on the way: a
102-room property in Apex, N.C., which will include a 24,396-square-foot
conference center, and a 130-room hotel near Interstate 540 in Raleigh.
Both properties are expected to open this year. A 99-room Wingate Inn,
with 1,270 square feet of meeting space, is expected to open in October
on Corporate Center Drive.
Kansas City,
Mo.4,097 rooms in pipeline
Over the past couple of
years, a lot of development has occurred in Kansas City's convention
district; in addition to a renovation of the convention center, a new
eight-block entertainment district has been built. In the planning
stages is a proposed 1,000-room convention center headquarters hotel.
Also on the horizon is a 1,800-room hotel at Schlitterbahn Vacation
Village, a water park across the border in Kansas City, Kansas. That
hotel is slated to open within the next two years. And more than 600
rooms currently are under construction at smaller hotels scattered
throughout the metropolitan area.