🔒Two Worcester hotels plan to begin construction this year, even as demand softens

Two new hotels are coming to Worcester. Both a Hampton Inn and a Woodspring Suites are set to break ground this year in the city. Their eventual openings will be a win for the long-term civic effort to transform Worcester into a premier destination, particularly for large-scale events requiring hundreds of hotel rooms. Yet, the hotels’ construction comes as demand is softening slightly and existing hotels need more of the steady day-to-day business that makes them profitable.

“We always have some ebbs and flows,” said Jeffrey Karam, co-CEO of Fall River-based First Bristol Corp. “We plan to be pretty stable this year versus last year. There’s always new businesses and new opportunities coming in.” First Bristol opened the Homewood Suites by Hilton Worcester in 2017 in Washington Square and now is hoping to commence construction across the street in September on its long-awaited 105-room Hampton Inn. Simultaneously, Maryland-based Park Silver Development is set to begin construction at a 122-room extended-stay Woodspring Suites hotel near Route 146 sometime this summer. “Hampton Inn is probably one of the strongest limited service brands in the world,” Karam said. “Bringing it downtown, the location, all those factors with a great product will make it one of the leaders in the market.” The two hotels will add to Worcester’s 1,019 hotel rooms across eight sites, compared to Providence’s 3,031 rooms and Springfield’s 1,442, according to real estate data firm CoStar. Worcester’s relatively low number of hotel rooms is often cited as a roadblock to hosting major college sporting tournaments and other high-profile events. But the framing of the need for more hotels in Worcester around a handful of large-scale events ignores the realities of the hotel business, said Mary Simone, general manager of the AC Hotel by Marriott Worcester. “It’s become a narrative, and I just keep on going, ‘Okay, that’s what we’re going to go with?” she said. Looking at the state of the market, Simone is skeptical of Worcester’s need for more hotel rooms. The AC’s status as one of Worcester’s newest hotels in a prime Downtown location has allowed it to do well, but business-driven travel has been down as of late, she said.

Lagging weekday traffic

Occupancy rates in the Worcester hospitality submarket, an area consisting of roughly the southern half of Worcester County, recovered above pre-COVID levels in 2024, reaching a 10-year high in May 2024 of 67.5%. Rates declined in 2025 into this year, hitting 60% in April, right around where the rate was in the months before the pandemic, according to CoStar. This compares to a national occupancy rate of 62.3%, which fell 0.5 percentage points since 2025 but has been stable over the past three years, boosted by growth in supply to meet increased demand, according to data from real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield. As Worcester hotel occupancy rates have climbed since the pandemic, so has revenue. The average daily rate in the city has grown 27% from $113.51 in February 2020 to $144.49 in February 2026, according to CoStar. “Worcester hotels would like to host more visitors coming into the region, especially around major events, meetings, and sports activity,” Monique Messier-Joseph, president of tourism marketing agency Discover Central Massachusetts, wrote in an email to WBJ. “Discover Central MA supports that effort in a number of ways, including targeted marketing campaigns, event and sports promotion, partnerships with planners and venues, and most recently, a robust Expedia campaign designed to encourage visitors to stay in Worcester and the region.” The effort to bring more visitors to the city often centers around the 14,500-seat arena DCU Center. Yet, those types of events only sell out hotel rooms about seven times per year, Simone said. “You can’t build a hotel because of the DCU Center,” she said. Simone, who is board chair of Discover Central Massachusetts, said she hopes to see the region’s tourism grow and welcomes competition in the local market, even though demand is lower. Simone said weekend traffic is still strong, with Worcester’s central location bringing in travelers and the city’s Downtown area attracting events like weddings and other family gatherings. She has seen a significant drop off in guests relating to business development projects in the region, a key aspect of filling rooms during weekdays. Projects driving major demand to hotels, such as Amazon’s construction of a $300-million robotics fulfillment center in Charlton, have been tough to come by as of late, she said. Even something as simple as JetBlue changing the flight patterns of its Worcester routes can have a big impact on flight crews looking for rooms, Simone said. “We lost a lot of money once they changed, because I had to put out another sales person just to go and replace that business,” she said. Even NCAA events aren’t guaranteed income, as a team’s early exit from the competition can lead to empty rooms that hotels then have to scramble to fill, Simone said.

$25M new hotel construction

Local colleges offer a steady source for guests, said Simone and Karam. At Homewood Suites, business travel has been a bit soft as of late too, Karam said, but the property has met expectations since opening in 2017. Traveling nurses were attracted to the extended-stay hotel during the pandemic, helping it weather that time period. First Bristol’s new Hampton Inn hotel in Washington Square will cost around $25 million to build and be complete about 12 to 18 months after construction begins, he said. “The location is superb, right at the intersection of Shrewsbury Street, with all the restaurants and nightlife, and then downtown and being connected to the DCU Center,” Karam said. “It’s got easy visibility from the highway and good access. I think all those factors with a great product will make it one of the leaders in the market.” Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.