Indianapolis Hospitality Market Report

Mainstays continue to drive national visitation to the metro. Established attractions will maintain all-time high room demand in Indianapolis this year, with the Indy 500, Big Ten Conference athletic events and pop culture conventions like Gen Con. New bookings, however, will take a step down without 2024’s confluence of headline events, which included the final U.S. shows of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. Hotels also benefited from a higher level of consumer sentiment than in today’s market. Without those unique draws, and with consumers watching their budgets more closely, demand in the select- and full-service categories may grow slower than in 2024. In contrast, the limited-service segment is on a path back toward growth, as room demand has been receding by less and less each year since 2022. While overall room-night supply picks up, hotels finishing this year — a slate consisting entirely of flagged establishments at midscale or above — fan out mostly north and west from the CBD. Meeting a marginally higher level of demand, these completions will contribute to occupancy falling in what were recently the best performing chain scales.