After a surge of hotel development in Nashville, the number of new rooms here is finally outpacing the increase in new visitors, WPLN reports. Nashville hotel occupancy from January to August edged down compared to the same period in 2016, according to STR data.
More rooms are in the works as well. About 3,500 new rooms will come online in Nashville between now and the end of 2018, STR's Bobby Bowers said.
"You’ve had a lot of supply that’s been added to the market over the last few years, and still a pretty good bit out there that’s still yet to be added that’s under construction," Bowers told WPLN.
Even so, Bowers said the occupancy contraction is typical in growing markets. As long as demand for rooms continues to grow, Nashville hotels will do well.
Existing Nashville hotels are doing just fine when it comes to revenue per available room, an important metric of a hotel's financial health.
Average RevPAR in Nashville gained 7% to $111.29 in Q3, compared with a year earlier, according to STR. That makes Nashville one of the top five markets in the country for RevPAR growth in the third quarter.
