Boston planning to add more than 4,000 hotel rooms

Boston has now started to look ahead after the turmoil it had undergone during the recession. The city is determinedly moving on and is planning to open new hotels after two-year stagnation during which no hotels were opened.

There will now be no dearth of cheap hotels as six new hotels are set to be operational over the next two years. In June this year, a modern 480-bed hostel was launched providing opportunity for hotel deals at affordable rates. A 210-room Courtyard is also scheduled to be opened near TD Garden in 2014.

Apart from these two properties, there are 17 other proposed hotel projects slated to come up in the city. Moving forward at a frenetic pace, Boston is all set to add above 4,000 hotel rooms in a couple of years. By adding such a large number of hotel rooms, there will be ample scope for Discount Hotels as well because ever-increasing room rates are likely to see a sharp fall.

Presently the shortfall of hotels has led to a steep increase in room rates. Travel experts say it’s pretty difficult to find hotel rooms during the months of May, September and October because the city hotels are completely filled up during these three months.

According to the latest data, there are presently about two dozen hotel projects in the pipeline. Some of these hotel projects are already under the construction phase, while a few of these are waiting for a review by Boston Redevelopment Authority. There are all kind of hotels coming up in the city – from Luxury Hotels to extended stay properties to micro-hotels with small and more affordable rooms. More than half of these properties would be coming up at the South Boston Waterfront. Apart from Washington, New York and San Francisco, the only other city in the United States is Boston where hotels are coming up again at a fast pace after the recession.

Boston is among one of the top five markets in the United States in terms of room rates and occupancy levels. Property developers consider Boston as an attractive market as there are fewer hotel rooms here than other cities of its size. According to a hotel industry expert, hotel room rates in Greater Boston averaged $172 per night, which is the third highest rate in the U.S. The national average presently is $106 per night. In South Boston Waterfront, the demands for hotels are quite high, where at least 2,300 additional hotel rooms are required.