Fort Worth Business Press: Downtown Wants More Hotels

The Fort Worth Business Press reports on the current boom in downtown Fort Worth hotel development, noting that more than a thousand new rooms will be available in then coming years. These are the first new hotels in downtown Forth Worth since the Omni Fort Worth Hotel opened in 2009.

The Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau conducted a study noting how the area is undersupplied:

A 2014 study commissioned by the city and the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau labeled downtown as an underserved market for hotels. Yet the popularity of downtown with both business and leisure travelers has boosted the supply-demand balance to an average 70.4 percent occupancy with $114.23 revenue per available room in 2016.

Leveraging data from Source Strategies, Inc. allowed the Business Press to quantify these needs:

Source Strategies data of the Fort Worth-Arlington area (which includes all of Tarrant County) shows room nights sold rose 2.9 percent in the first quarter this year and room rates rose 3.1 percent. Revenue increased 6.2 percent to $108 million.

“Fort Worth and the D-FW metro area are doing very well compared with the rest of the state,” said Paul Vaughn, senior vice president of Source Strategies.

Vaughn said room supply has risen in the Fort Worth-Arlington area and across all of D-FW, which indicates “a good balance between supply and demand.”

Quoting Andy Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth Inc., the article goes on to point out the appeal of the downtown Fort Worth area for visitors:

“Downtown is very appealing to Fort Worth visitors because it is clean, safe, friendly, walkable and has lots of restaurants and shops,” Taft said. “Our hotel inventory is very good and the quality is strong and that makes downtown a great place to stay.”

Read the full article “Room for More Rooms: Downtown Fort Worth wants to book more hotels” at the Fort Worth Business Press website.