Hotels galore in El Paso

EL PASO – New hotel activity is picking up, despite declining occupancy and revenues. Two new East Side hotels will open in 2014, a large project on Airway Blvd. is set to begin in June 2014 and renovations have begun at the former Artisan Hotel Downtown.

A 101-room Hampton Inn and Suites is under construction at George Dieter Dr. and I-10, and a 100-room Courtyard by Marriott is scheduled to be built at the same site in 2015.

A 146-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott, located at Edgemere Blvd. and Airway Blvd., will open in March 2014.

In June 2014, construction is scheduled to begin on a $64 million, 220-room, upscale Westin Hotel and 80,000-sf restaurant and retail project. The project, situated on nine acres of El Paso airport-owned land, will be located on Airway Blvd. near Montana Ave.

Renovations on the 120-room, former Artisan Hotel Downtown, located at 325 N. Kansas, are scheduled to be complete by the end of 2014. The hotel is currently vacant.

El Paso’s hotel occupancy rate dropped to 64.2 percent in 2013 compared to almost 66 percent in 2012, and hotel revenues declined 3.1 percent, according to STR, which tracks hotel industry data worldwide.

Even though El Paso’s hotel occupancy declined, it was above the Texas rate of almost 63 percent. However, Texas hotel revenues increased almost 9 percent while El Paso’s fell 3.1 percent to an estimated $153.8 million.

El Paso has almost 90 hotels with more than 8,900 rooms.