Indianapolis Hospitality Market Report

Landmark events continue to draw visitors amid rising inventory. Attendance at the Indy 500 has been on the ascent for the better part of a decade, notwithstanding a temporary COVID-era disruption. The race drew a 330,000-person strong crowd in 2023, the highest attendance noted since the event’s centennial in 2016. While the 2024 race, along with other events, should prove a major draw for tourism, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is in the midst of an $89 million renovation — the first to this portion of the facility in 40 years — that puts the museum out of commission until 2025. The interruption to some leisure demand drivers is ill-timed with an active construction pipeline of 2,700 rooms, representing a nationally-high 7.5 percent expansion to inventory. New construction will put particular pressure on downtown, where three hotel towers are slated for completion around Monument Circle before the end of 2024. A weighty pipeline will be the main contributory factor to an occupancy decline this year, the first time this metric has fallen on an annual basis since 2021.