Carolinas Hotel Development, Construction & Transactions

Hotel development activity across North Carolina and South Carolina reflects a pipeline weighted toward upscale and upper midscale projects, with several high-profile upper upscale developments adding significant room counts to the region. Lodging Development currently tracks 111 projects totaling 14,302 rooms in the Carolinas, alongside 48 recent hotel openings and 58 transactions recorded over the past 18 months. The combination of resort destinations, growing metro areas, and expanding convention infrastructure continues to attract developer interest across both states.

Among the projects currently tracked by Lodging Development in the Carolinas, the 600-room Omni Hotel Raleigh Convention Center stands as the largest, now in construction and being developed by Omni Hotels & Resorts. In South Carolina, Strategic Property Partners is advancing the 139-room Four Seasons Charleston Hotel & Residences through final planning, one of just two luxury-scale projects in the pipeline. Drury Hotels Company has a 400-room Drury Plaza Hotel planned for Myrtle Beach, while Daly Seven is constructing a 249-room dual-branded Courtyard and Residence Inn in Cary.

Upscale projects lead the pipeline with 39 developments totaling 4,721 rooms, followed by 25 upper midscale projects accounting for 3,405 rooms. The 20 upper upscale projects in the pipeline contribute 3,790 rooms, underscoring continued investment at higher price points across both North Carolina and South Carolina.

Over the past 24 months, 48 hotels totaling 6,101 rooms have opened across the Carolinas. Among the most notable recent openings, The Cooper Hotel, an unaffiliated upper upscale property, debuted in late March 2026 with 191 rooms. The Balladeer Hotel, a Tribute Portfolio property, opened in early May 2026 with 70 rooms. Several Marriott-branded properties have also come online, including a Courtyard in Banner Elk with 118 rooms that opened in late April 2026 and a 124-room Residence Inn in Cary that opened in mid-May 2026. Marriott's StudioRes brand has seen a particularly active rollout, with openings in Leland, Columbia, and Fayetteville.

Lodging Development has tracked 58 hotel transactions of $10 million and above across North Carolina and South Carolina over the 18-month period ending in February 2026. Among the 31 transactions with confirmed sale prices, aggregate volume totaled approximately $938.6 million. Notable recent activity includes the sale of the 94-room SpringHill Suites Raleigh Apex in December 2025 for $18.7 million, acquired by The Focus Properties. The Courtyard Salisbury traded for $7.9 million to Paragon Hotel Company that same month, while Milan Hotel Group purchased the Courtyard Asheville for $5.9 million in November 2025. An additional 24 transactions lacked disclosed pricing but recorded loan data, and three transactions had no pricing or loan information available, suggesting that total market activity during the period was materially higher than confirmed figures alone reflect.