Eight new hotel projects are planned or underway that will add more than 800 new guest rooms in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene market. 

In the past six months, the Journal has reported on seven new hotels that are being considered, are under construction, or have recently opened in the Inland Northwest. Those hotels, combined with a new Home2 Suites by Hilton planned in Spokane Valley, add over 800 new rooms to the region.

“I think the focus on expanding and improving our hospitality offerings will solidify Spokane’s position as a premier destination,” says Ashley Blake, CEO of Spokane Sports, which brings in tens of thousands of visitors to the Spokane area each year through dozens of events.

Construction of the Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel is expected to begin in July at 13515 E. Carlisle, in Spokane Valley. Spokane-based Baker Construction & Development Inc. and Honolulu, Hawaii-based FSC Architects are the project’s contractor and architect, respectively.

With an estimated construction cost of $21 million, the four-story, 109-room hotel is expected to be completed next year, according to Grant Guinn, who owns the proposed hotel with his wife, Lisa, through their company GL8 Mirabeau Point LLC.

The Guinns also own the Tru by Hilton Spokane Valley hotel about a block away, at 13509 E. Mansfield.

In Coeur d’Alene, work is already underway at the site of the Marriott-branded AC Hotel Coeur d’Alene, at 602 E. Sherman. The 126-room hotel is expected to be completed in 2027.

About a half-mile to the west, construction is expected to begin this year on Hagadone Hospitality’s proposed Sherman Tower expansion of The Coeur d’Alene Resort. The envisioned 139-room, 15-story tower, located on the north side of Sherman Avenue between First and Second streets, also is expected to be completed in 2027.

Elsewhere in North Idaho, construction is already underway on the Hyatt Place hotel, at the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and Seltice Way, in the Millworx development in Post Falls. The 151-room hotel is expected to be completed and operational by December.

In downtown Spokane, the Symons Block Hotel, a nine-room micro hotel, opened earlier this year at 7 S. Howard.

Also downtown, a 22-room hotel, tentatively dubbed Two Main Suites, is among the options being considered at 2 E. Main, the three-story downtown Spokane building that currently houses the Pure Northwest restaurant and previously was home to Red Lion Pub.

In Airway Heights, a dual-branded Home2 Suites by Hilton and Tru by Hilton hotel has been proposed at the southeast corner of Sunset Highway and Russell Street. The timeline for the proposed 168-room hotel is tentatively set, with groundwork expected to begin this spring and completion of the project slated for 2026.

Also on the West Plains, the 91-room Cambria Hotel Spokane Airport opened in September at 4611 S. Dowdy Road.

Though not new hotels, the Journal has also recently reported on multiple hotel renovation projects, including the Hampton by Hilton Spokane Airport and Hilton Garden Inn Spokane Airport hotels. A combined 250 rooms and common areas underwent updates that wrapped up last year.

Additionally, the Davenport Lusso underwent a recent multimillion-dollar renovation project. The 48-room hotel at 808 W. Sprague was rebranded to The Louie, a Davenport Hotel.

The demand is there for more hotels, Blake contends, particularly during the first quarter of each year when multiple large sporting events take place.

She mentions the Middle School Basketball Championships, which had 760 teams this past year, and the USA Volleyball Pacific Northwest Qualifier tournament, which had nearly 800 teams.

“We’re actually capped by our ability to house those traveling teams and by court space,” Blake says.

Blake adds that Spokane recently hosted the USA Wrestling Women’s National Championships, which had over 1,800 athletes registered to compete—a new participation record for the tournament.

The Lilac City has also become a regular host of both the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament games.

Blake told the Journal in December that Spokane Sports was supporting almost 60 events in Spokane County this year, which were anticipated to bring in 156,000 attendees to the market, with an average length of stay of 2.8 nights.

Those figures don’t include large annual staple events, such as the Bloomsday 12K road race each May or the Hoopfest three-on-three basketball tournament each June.

In addition to the sporting events, conventions also bring in tens of thousands of visitors to the area.

As of late last year, 75 groups with a total of nearly 42,000 contracted convention attendees were scheduled to visit the region in 2025, and over 68,000 definite room nights were on the books, Visit Spokane President and CEO Rose Noble told the Journal.

“I think it’s important to have a diverse mix of accommodations, including some of those national brands and some of the small boutique hotels that are coming online, to meet the needs of our visitors,” Blake says.

Guinn, whose Tru by Hilton and proposed Home2 Suites by Hilton hotels are both situated just across the street from the CenterPlace Regional Event Center, says business travel has picked back up since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What the industry is really seeing now is an uptick in the meetings and events side,” he says. “That’s where having a hotel like (Home2 Suites by Hilton) across the street from CenterPlace will be positioned really well to help support that facility.”

He says there likely is demand for the other new hotels planned or opened in the region, particularly in the summertime.

“I would assume that each of these other hotels have done market studies,” Guinn says. “We’ve done a market study, so we know the audience that we’re trying to attract and the type of potential there is for business.”

North Idaho has also experienced notable tourism growth in recent years, suggesting demand likely exists for the planned Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls hotels.

In December, Mark Robitaille, executive director at Visit Coeur d’Alene, told the Journal that in 2020, North Idaho lodging tax collections increased by about 31%, and then in 2021, it rose another 26%.

Since that massive increase during the pandemic, lodging tax collections have leveled off, increasing by about 1% each year.