Baltimore’s city-owned convention center hotel had its worst year ever

The Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, the city-owned convention center hotel, had its worst-performing year in 2025, a new financial disclosure shows.

Rooms sat empty for almost half the year. Nightly room rates have never been higher, but those rooms are generating less revenue than at any point since 2009, the hotel’s first full year of operation. And that’s before accounting for inflation.

The hotel’s overall occupancy rate was 52.3%, down from a peak of 71.7% in 2013. It’s the lowest occupancy rate of any year outside 2020 through 2023, years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hotel is overseen by the Baltimore Development Corp., the city’s quasi-governmental economic arm. Kevin Seawright, the BDC’s executive vice president and chief operating and financial officer, called 2025 a “transition year.”

Hotels across the city struggled, he told The Banner in a statement, “with room-night cancellations at their highest level since COVID.”

Hotels across Baltimore’s central business district had a down year in 2025, according to data from the real estate analytics firm CoStar. The overall occupancy rate was 55.7%.

“In 2026, the Hilton is performing far better: revenue is up substantially over 2025 and moving back toward pre-COVID levels,” Seawright said. “Major events like All Blacks Rugby, Morgan Wallen, BTS and Jack and Jill, along with stronger group business through Visit Baltimore, are driving that growth.”

According to CoStar, hotels in the central business district have also been doing relatively well, partly because the total number of hotel rooms has been declining, meaning less competition. Since January 2025, the total number of hotel rooms in the central business district has declined nearly 6%, dropping from 8,367 to 7,874.

That includes the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, which unexpectedly shuttered at the beginning of this year.

With 757 rooms, the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor is the largest hotel in the Baltimore region, according to the Baltimore Business Journal. Last week’s financial disclosure is the latest insight into its finances.

More hotel rooms could be coming. MCB Real Estate is currently planning to build a 212-room luxury hotel as part of its redevelopment of Harborplace, with an average nightly rate of $550.

That hotel would be a few blocks from the city-owned convention center hotel, which is operated by Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Baltimore borrowed about $300 million in bonds to build the hotel, most of which has yet to be repaid.

The Hilton was supposed to be a revenue generator for the city. But it opened during the Great Recession and has never achieved its revenue or occupancy projections. The city has spent and refunded $143.7 million to keep the hotel afloat.

A night at the Hilton cost $203.90 on average in 2025, the highest rate ever. But because fewer people are staying there, the hotel is actually making less money per room.

Revenue per available room, or RevPAR, is the most commonly used measure of a hotel’s success. Prior to the hotel’s opening, a consultant projected its RevPAR would exceed $184 in 2017 and keep climbing.

The RevPAR last year was $106.60, the lowest it’s been since 2009. Accounting for inflation, 2025 was the worst year on record.