What’s fueling increased growth in Houston’s hotel demand?

HOUSTON – Houston’s hotel industry is set for new heights, according to NewsTalk Texas’ Houston hotel supply, demand, and occupancy update. Numerous factors are driving the predicted increase in demand, including:

• the booming oil & gas industry;
• convention activity, which is expected to get a major boost when the 1,000-room Marriott Marquis convention center hotel is completed in 2016;
• Exxon Mobil Corp.’s new corporate campus in Springwoods Village;
• Southwest Airlines’ new international terminal at Hobby Airport, set for completion in 2015; and
• major sporting events on the horizon, including the NCAA Final Four in 2016 and the Super Bowl’s return to Houston in 2017.

In addition to the Marriot Marquis, Houston-area hotels on the horizon include four others downtown:

• 200-room Westin Houston Downtown (formerly the Inn at the Ballpark) is set to open Oct. 10, 2013;
• Holiday Inn Flagship, on the site of the former Savoy Hotel on Main St.;
• 250-room JW Marriott, scheduled for completion in 2014; and
• 166-room SpringHill Suites, by mid-2015, which will accompany the current 191-room Courtyard Houston Downtown Convention Center and the 171-room Residence Inn Houston Downtown Convention Center.

In addition to downtown, the increase in rooms will be concentrated in the energy corridor and the Galleria/Greenway area.