Press release from Luxury Link:
After the pandemic triggered a sharp decline in travel, the industry has steadily regained momentum, with consumer spending on accommodations reaching record highs in 2023 and 2024. Amid this surge in demand, new hotel development has accelerated nationwide—but this growth hasn’t been evenly distributed.
A new analysis from Luxury Link identifies the cities and states that have added the most new hotels since 2019, highlighting where the sector has expanded most significantly. For travelers, these locations may offer some of the best opportunities to find newly built or recently opened places to stay. For the full report click here.
Key Takeaways, With Data for Asheville, NC
- Hotel Growth Remains Steady: From 2001 to 2024, the total number of hotel properties grew by more than 33% nationwide, rising from approximately 51,000 to over 68,000 with only a brief slowdown in 2020. And since 2019, the country has seen its hotels increase by 7.3%.
- Employment Recovery Lags Behind: After reaching a high of over 2 million workers in mid-2019, hotel employment fell by more than 50% the following year. As of Q3 2024, the sector employs roughly 1.87 million workers—about 8% below its 2019 peak.
- Michigan & Idaho Lead Nation: Michigan and Idaho led all states in hotel growth since 2019, while New England was the only region with a net decline: Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine posted losses, and the remaining New England states posted below-average growth. However, Washington and New Mexico saw the steepest declines.
- 24 New Hotels in the Asheville metro: Between 2019 and 2023 (the most recent year with complete data), the total number of hotels in the Asheville metro climbed to 225. This 11.9% increase is higher than the national increase of 7.3%. At the same time, hotel employment climbed 6.8%—a gain of about 280 workers.
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