An exceptionally busy spring weekend and an ensuing unfortunate incident have some asking: Is there a shortage of hotel rooms in Spokane County? 

Despite some mixed opinions from those involved in the hospitality industry here, the consensus appears to be that while the need may not be urgent, it is expected to grow.

In late March, the University of Utah women’s basketball team was visiting the Inland Northwest for its second-round NCAA tournament matchup against Gonzaga University. Due to a lack of available hotel rooms in Spokane, the Utah team stayed in Coeur d’Alene, where it was met with racial slurs and other intimidating gestures while walking between its hotel and a downtown restaurant.

This incident, combined with new Spokane event venues and a growing tourism sector, has prompted discussions over whether Spokane County needs more hotels.

“Spokane is definitely growing,” says Jessica Deri, director of sales for Spokane Public Facilities District. “We used to really just have the Convention Center as the big driver of room nights, and now we have added The Podium, which drives a lot of sports room nights.”

ONE Spokane Stadium has also added to the number of sporting events after opening last year.

Sporting events, unlike conventions, often require double-bedded rooms, because teams can save money by having two people share a room, Deri says.

“Sometimes, even if we have the inventory of the hotel rooms, we don’t have enough inventory of double-bedded rooms for sports, which can cause a challenge.”

When the Utah basketball team stayed in Coeur d’Alene, it was due to a lack of double-bedded rooms, Deri says.

During that time, both men’s and women’s NCAA tournament games were being hosted in Spokane, as well as the first weekend of the Pacific Northwest Qualifier volleyball tournament, which is held annually in the Lilac City and is perennially one of the biggest draws to the region. Additionally, the Spokane Velocity men's soccer team had a match at ONE Spokane Stadium that weekend.

Grant Guinn, a hotelier who co-owns Tru by Hilton Spokane Valley with his wife, Elisabeth, says it's unusual to have that much happening in one weekend.

“I think that was definitely an anomaly, where that team had to stay over in Coeur d’Alene,” Guinn says. “It was kind of the perfect storm.”

In general, Guinn says, downtown Spokane is better off trying to fill up its current hotels, rather than seeking to add to the inventory.

“You wouldn’t want to build and introduce a lot more hotel inventory just for one additional weekend that happened one time in the last few years,” he says. “You still have to fill that hotel the other 363 days of the year.”

Rose Noble, president and CEO of Visit Spokane, says there would be benefits to new hotels opening in Spokane, but she doesn’t go as far as saying there’s an immediate need.

“There’s definitely a few times a year where we’re at capacity, where we have multiple venues booked up,” Noble says. She adds, however, “Any hotelier's going to want concrete data that’s going to show occupancy and (revenue per available room) at a level that they’re willing to invest.”

Occupancy report data provided to the Journal by Visit Spokane shows a slight decrease in occupancy rates in 2023 compared with the year prior.

For downtown Spokane hotels, occupancy rates were at 58.3% in 2023, compared to 59.1% in 2022.

In Spokane Valley, occupancy rates reached 63% in 2023, compared to 63.4% in 2022.

Countywide, rates were at 62.6% in 2023, down from 63.7% in 2022.

So far in 2024, however, there has been an uptick in occupancy rates compared with the first four months of 2023.

Through April 30, year-to-date occupancy rates for downtown Spokane hotels are at 54.1%, up from 50.8% for the year-earlier period. 

In the Valley, through the end of April, occupancy rates are at 55.5%, compared to 55.1% last year, and countywide rates are at 57.1%, up from 56.2% last year.

While the need may not be immediate at the moment, Noble expects demand will grow over time as the county’s visitor numbers continue to climb.

In 2023, Spokane County had about 9.8 million visitors, which is back up to pre-pandemic levels, according to Tourism Economics data provided to the Journal by Visit Spokane.

Visitor spending was at $1.5 billion in 2023, up from about $1.42 billion in 2022, and $1.39 billion before the pandemic, in 2019.

Noble says she expects the visitor totals to continue to grow.

“We want to make sure people are staying, at the very least, in the county,” Noble says. “In those situations where we have no rooms, it would be great to have another option to put people in.”

She notes, however, that adding new hotels would need to be done in a sustainable way, keeping in mind factors like infrastructure restraints and the number of experience-based businesses in the area.

“In terms of growth, we’re always excited about the potential of new business to come, especially if it’s a hotel that has a points system,” Noble says. “Anytime we could have multiple systems where people might be booking is excellent for us to have.”

Deri says it would be good for Spokane to bring in another national hotel brand.

“We have a Hilton presence, and we have a very strong Marriott presence, but we don’t have a Hyatt. We don’t have an Omni. We don’t have a Loews,” she says. “There’s opportunity to have other big national brands come in with points systems that people will follow.”

Even though there isn’t a room shortage year-round, Deri says there’s still a need for additional hotel rooms. 

“There are conventions and things that we can’t bid on, because we don’t have enough (room) inventory,” Deri says.

There has also been an increase in the number of large concerts.

“In the last three years, we’ve about doubled the amount of large shows that we’ve ever had,” she says.

A large concert is one that grosses over $1 million in ticket sales. Before the pandemic, Spokane held about 1.4 large concerts per year. There were three in 2022, six in 2023, and there have been two so far in 2024, with two more “on the cusp,” Deri says.

“When we have those large shows, it really pulls a lot of out-of-town visitors, which obviously would need more hotel rooms,” she says.

ONE Spokane Stadium, which opened last fall, also is expected to add to the demand for hotel rooms. The Great Outdoors Comedy Festival, which will be Aug. 23-25 at the stadium, future outdoor concerts, and potentially a music festival at some point will draw people from out of town, she says.

For a concert, the stadium will hold up to 15,000 people, and Deri estimates between a quarter and a third of attendees will come from out of town. 

Downtown Spokane and the attached North Bank neighborhood would be the ideal landing spot for a new hotel, given the proximity to various venues, Deri contends.

“It’s so rare to have your five largest entertainment venues within a mile’s walk of each other, right in the core of your downtown,” she says. “I would hope it will entice some investors to see there’s potential here.”

Beyond downtown

Guinn, however, says he sees the West Plains as the ideal area for more hotel growth.

“It seems like the airport market and that West Plains market is the area that seems to be really ripe for additional hotel growth,” Guinn says.

In Spokane Valley, Guinn says there isn’t a need for more traditional hotels, but there is a need for more upscale extended-stay lodging.

Extended-stay hotels are for people staying somewhere for more than a week, or even more than a month, Guinn explains. For example, if someone is relocated to the area for work and is waiting on their house to be built, they may need an extended-stay option.

Guinn and his wife are expecting to break ground on a Homewood Suites by Hilton this summer, at 13515 E. Carlisle. The proposed five-story, 132-suite facility is considered an extended-stay hotel, he says.

Regarding more traditional hotels, Guinn says there are times when conventions or other large events in Spokane push people into the Valley market, and times during the summer when Coeur d’Alene visitors overflow into his hotel’s market.

“Spokane Valley is a market that does well, but it’s not a market that you can add too many hotels to too quick, because then it just dilutes the business that’s out there,” Guinn says.