Hilton Baltimore's 52.3% Occupancy Marks Weakest Year on Record for City-Owned Hotel

The Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, the 757-room hotel that Baltimore owns, averaged 52.3% occupancy in 2025, the weakest result on record once inflation is factored in, according to a financial disclosure reviewed by The Baltimore Banner. The city borrowed about $300 million to build the property, which opened in 2008 as the Great Recession began.

Occupancy last year fell short of the 2013 peak of 71.7% and trailed the 55.7% average for hotels in Baltimore's central business district, CoStar data cited by the Banner shows. The average nightly rate reached a record $203.90. Revenue per available room, the standard industry measure, dropped to $106.60, the lowest figure since 2009, the hotel's first full year of operation.

City records show Baltimore has spent and refunded $143.7 million to support the hotel since it opened, first through property tax rebates, then hotel occupancy tax rebates, and later through general fund money and federal relief during the pandemic. In 2024, the city put in $15.7 million, including $7.7 million in direct appropriations. A 2006 projection had estimated the hotel would deliver $39.1 million to the city's general fund by 2024; those payments have not materialized.

The hotel's debt remains outstanding. After a 2017 refinancing, the repayment date moved to 2046. As of mid-2025, the hotel carried about $242 million in principal plus an expected $172 million in interest. A 2024 Banner analysis put a rough valuation near $145 million and a state assessment at $168 million, both roughly $100 million below the debt. The city owns the hotel through a nonprofit overseen by the Baltimore Development Corp., and Hilton operates its day-to-day business.

Kevin Seawright, BDC's executive vice president and chief operating and financial officer, called 2025 a transition year and told the Banner that 2026 revenue is running well ahead of 2025 and moving back toward pre-pandemic levels. He cited events including All Blacks rugby, Morgan Wallen, BTS and the Jack and Jill gathering, along with group bookings through Visit Baltimore. Full-year 2026 figures have not been released.

Downtown hotel inventory has contracted. Rooms in the central business district fell from 8,367 in January 2025 to 7,874, a decline of nearly 6%, after the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel closed in January 2026. The Baltimore Development Corp. reported that room-night cancellations across the city reached their highest level since COVID. MCB Real Estate plans a 212-room luxury hotel at Harborplace with an average nightly rate near $550.

A state and local task force has said the Baltimore Convention Center, which the Hilton was built to serve, needs about $1 billion in modernization work. A proposed 3% city tax on restaurant meals and prepared food to help fund the project stalled in Annapolis this year, the Banner reported, and supporters plan to bring it back in the 2027 session.

The next annual disclosure, covering 2026, will show whether the rebound Seawright describes holds up against the hotel's books.