Carolinas Hotel Development, Construction & Transactions

Hotel development activity across North Carolina and South Carolina reflects a region with steady investment across a range of property types. Lodging Development currently tracks 111 projects totaling 14,481 rooms in the Carolinas pipeline, alongside 49 recent openings and 58 transactions recorded over the past 18 months. The data points to a market where upscale and upper midscale projects account for the largest share of new construction, while upper upscale properties contribute meaningful room counts and high-profile openings continue to diversify the region's lodging supply.

Among the projects currently tracked by Lodging Development in the Carolinas, the 600-room Omni Hotel Raleigh Convention Center stands out as the largest. Developed by Omni Hotels & Resorts, the upper upscale property is in construction and will significantly expand Raleigh's convention-adjacent inventory. In Myrtle Beach, Drury Hotels Company is planning a 400-room Drury Plaza Hotel, while Daly Seven has a 249-room dual-branded Courtyard and Residence Inn under construction in Cary. The City Gateway Hotel & Parking Facility, a 264-room unaffiliated project in final planning from Capital City Urban Development, also ranks among the region's larger developments.

The pipeline across North Carolina and South Carolina is led by upscale projects, which account for 41 of the 111 tracked developments and 5,087 rooms. Upper midscale properties represent another 26 projects and 3,495 rooms, while 18 upper upscale projects contribute 3,440 rooms. Two luxury projects totaling 239 rooms round out the upper end of the scale spectrum.

Over the past 24 months, Lodging Development has recorded 49 hotel openings across North Carolina and South Carolina, adding 6,209 rooms to the regional supply. Among the most recent, a 160-room dual-branded Hampton Inn and Home2 Suites opened in Aiken in late June 2026, followed closely by a 124-room StudioRes by Marriott in Columbia Harbison in early June. Upper upscale openings have included The Cooper Hotel, a 191-room independent property that opened in late March 2026, and The Balladeer Hotel under Marriott's Tribute Portfolio, which debuted in early May with 70 rooms. A 124-room Residence Inn opened in Cary in mid-May, while a Courtyard by Marriott brought 118 rooms to the Banner Elk area in late April.

In recent transaction activity, Lodging Development has tracked 58 hotel sales of $10 million and above across the Carolinas over the 18-month period ending in January 2026. Of those, 30 transactions carried documented sale prices totaling approximately $926.2 million. Among the notable individual sales, The Focus Properties acquired the 94-room SpringHill Suites Raleigh Apex in December 2025 for $18.7 million. Also in December 2025, Paragon Hotel Company purchased the 94-room Courtyard Salisbury for approximately $7.9 million, while Milan Hotel Group acquired the 78-room Courtyard Asheville in November 2025 for roughly $5.9 million.

The breadth of deal flow across both North Carolina and South Carolina reflects sustained investor interest in the region's hotel assets, with transaction data spanning a wide range of property types and locations throughout the two states.