Skift Take
The Canadians have won this battle hands-down with nicer hotels and meetings and conventions facilities. Niagara Falls, New York, will have to swim upstream with resolve to catch up with the other side.
Finding an upscale hotel experience on the American side of Niagara Falls has been a challenge for many years, but it will soon be getting a little easier.
With seven hotel projects either planned or already under way, downtown will see about 950 new or renovated rooms, all of those providing higher-end accommodations, in the coming years.
And upscale is exactly what downtown needs, according to local and state officials.
For the last decade, the hotel market in Niagara Falls has been trending upward, with occupancy rates and room rates on the rise. But, the market share for upper-end accommodations still falls far below that of the Canadian side, said Chris Schoepflin, president of the state-run USA Niagara Development Corp.
"We're trending in the right direction, even as we're working to get more rooms online," Schoepflin said.
A study performed in 2011 by HVS Consulting and Valuation Services, a consulting firm specializing in the hospitality industry, found that Niagara Falls, N.Y, had a lack of high-end hotel rooms, which puts it at a competitive disadvantage to its Canadian counterpart.
There are 3,000 hotel rooms on the American side and roughly 66 percent of those are economy lodging or independent properties, according to the study.
Compare that to the 16,000 hotel rooms on the Canadian side. While Canadian tourism officials said they were not certain what percentage are above economy rooms, they said a significantly larger percentage -- more than 50 percent -- of their rooms were considered high-end.
Added incentives
The state has tried to sweeten the pot for developers looking to close the market gap for upscale accommodations on the American side. The seven hotel projects on their way represent $100 million in in
