Official: Hotel increase an indicator of city growth

Even with the new hotel room supply, the hotel occupancy rate has remained steady, and the average daily rate is up. According to data generated by Smith Travel Report, a company that tracks supply and demand trends for the hotel industry, the average daily rate for a hotel room in Frisco in June was $132.92, up from $131.35 in June 2014.

“Overall [hotel] revenue is still pretty strong, and so when [hotel developers] start looking at that, the market’s good and they want to get in early,” Roe said.

With the increase of new hotels, established hotels have to keep a close watch for market saturation when considering building new hotels.

Bill Duncan serves as the global head of brand management for Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton, which both have hotels in Frisco. Duncan said with Frisco named the second-fastest-growing city in America by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2014 he is not surprised there is a boom in hospitality development.

“I cannot speak to other brands. But before we move forward with the development of new Homewood Suites or Home2 Suites properties [in Frisco], the local market is thoroughly vetted with a careful eye towards the opportunity for long-term economic growth,” Duncan said.

FC Dallas President Dan Hunt said the increase in hotels is especially important for his organization.

“Hotels are very important as we go out to bid for youth and professional tournaments [at Toyota Stadium],” Hunt said. “It’s been an unbelievable growth of hotels. When we first started 10 years ago there were no hotels in the area.”

Hunt said hotels are definitely a factor when event planners consider Toyota Stadium.

“We’re definitely at capacity,” he said. “We’re full, so we welcome having as many hotels as possible.”

Roe said when people visit they spend more money if they are staying overnight than just for the day.

Visitors who spend the night tend to eat out at more restaurants and shop more, Roe said.

“You’re doing things you would do in your hometown, but you’re spending it in somebody else’s community. So we do track economic impact for our conventions, meetings and sports groups,” she said.

Roe said a tourism study showed 8 percent of visitors to Frisco stay in hotels and account for 17 percent of visitor spending.

Roe also said hotels are primarily located near SH 121, close to development. As the city continues to grow she said she expects hotels to spread out.

Purefoy said Frisco becoming a destination city has been a goal of the City Council for a number of years.

“One of the reasons for that [goal] is because [visitors] help bring in income into the area from the outside, so that’s additional monetary input to this area than you would normally get from visitors,” he said.