For the Baton Rouge hotel industry, 2015 was a busy year, with several properties changing hands, several new projects being announced and some 300 new rooms adding inventory to the market.
For existing hotels, all that activity translated into increased competition and, in some cases, investments in upgrading older properties.
“Competition is up, for sure,” says Gary Jupiter, manager of the Doubletree Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Lodging Association’s vice president of development. “But it has caused a lot of owners to refresh their hotels and renovate them to keep people coming to the market.”
The year was marked by the sale of several major hotels. In April, a New York-based investment company and a Natchitoches hotel management firm purchased the iconic Baton Rouge Marriott off Interstate 10 for $21.8 million.
Not long after, a New York investment firm paid $38.4 million for four Baton Rouge hotels as part of a larger acquisition of 10 properties. Among the local hotels to change hands in the deal were the DoubleTree on Constitution Avenue, the Fairfield Inn and Suites and Springhill Suites, both on Essen Lane, and the TownePlace Suites on Summa Avenue.
Several new hotel projects were either announced or began construction this year, including the Watermark and the Courtyard Marriott, both downtown, as well as the Home 2 Suites on Siegen Lane and the Candlewood Suites on Bankers Avenue. All will open in 2016, except the Courtyard Marriott, which is scheduled for completion in 2017.
Also in 2015, at least two new hotels opened for business, most notably the Holiday Inn Express downtown. Together, they added some 300 rooms to the market, increasing inventory about 2% to 11,600.
Can the market absorb it all?
“That remains to be seen,” Jupiter says. “We’re all watching very closely.
Still, Jupiter says the industry is strong and he shares an optimism of many in the industry that sufficient demand exists for the new supply that is or soon will be coming to the market.
“I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to absorb it all,” he says. “The new rooms will give us the ability to market the city in new ways to more convention groups.”
Year-end occupancy and average daily room rates were not available prior to Daily Report’s deadline.
—Stephanie Riegel
