Washington, DC’s hotel market combines roughly 36,187 rooms in 179 city hotels with substantial visitor and convention demand. Recent data shows a market with strong room revenue and visitor spending, while occupancy remains below the pre-2020 central-business-district level.
Contents
- Hotel supply and meeting capacity
- Historical rates and occupancy
- Recent room demand and revenue
- Visitors and lodging spending
- International visitor markets
- Meetings, conventions and room nights
Hotel supply and meeting capacity
Destination DC’s May 2026 inventory snapshot counted approximately 179 hotels in Washington, DC. Those properties contained approximately 36,187 hotel rooms. The same snapshot counted approximately 798 hotels and 117,258 rooms across the Greater Washington metropolitan area, including the District’s properties. These are inventory estimates for May 2026, not a year-end census.
| Area or facility | Hotels or rooms | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Washington, DC hotels | Approximately 179 hotels | May 2026 |
| Washington, DC rooms | Approximately 36,187 rooms | May 2026 |
| Greater Washington hotels | Approximately 798 hotels | May 2026 |
| Greater Washington rooms | Approximately 117,258 rooms | May 2026 |
| Rooms within one-half mile of the convention center | 7,792 committable rooms | May 2026 |
The Walter E. Washington Convention Center benefits from approximately 7,792 committable hotel rooms within one-half mile. Across the city, Washington, DC has approximately 198,000 square feet of meeting-room space. The inventory and capacity figures come from Research | Washington DC.
For travelers, the inventory snapshot gives two useful scales of the market. The District’s approximately 36,187 rooms represent the city lodging base, while the metropolitan total of approximately 117,258 rooms places that base within a much larger regional supply. For meeting planners, the nearby-room figure is more targeted: 7,792 committable rooms are located within one-half mile of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The meeting-room total of approximately 198,000 square feet is a citywide capacity measure, so it should be considered alongside, not substituted for, the convention-center-adjacent room count.
The geography matters when comparing these numbers. The 179-hotel and 36,187-room figures describe Washington, DC itself, while the larger totals include nearby metropolitan-area properties. “Committable” rooms near the convention center describe rooms available for meeting and convention booking within the stated radius; they are not the same as all rooms in the District.
Historical rates and occupancy
The Washington, DC central business district (CBD) hotel performance series shows how rates and occupancy changed from 2017 through 2024. The average daily rate was $234 in 2017, $221 in 2018 and $226 in 2019. CBD occupancy was 79%, 78% and 77% in those same years.
The series then recorded an average daily rate of $172 in 2020 and $171 in 2021, with occupancy at 30% and 41%, respectively. In 2022, the average daily rate reached $242 and occupancy reached 62%. The average rate rose to $255 in 2023 and $262 in 2024, while occupancy rose to 70% and 72%.
| Calendar year | CBD average daily rate | CBD occupancy |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $234 | 79% |
| 2018 | $221 | 78% |
| 2019 | $226 | 77% |
| 2020 | $172 | 30% |
| 2021 | $171 | 41% |
| 2022 | $242 | 62% |
| 2023 | $255 | 70% |
| 2024 | $262 | 72% |
This series describes the CBD rather than every hotel in the District. It is sourced to STR in Destination DC’s annual report, as identified in 2024 Annual Visitor Statistics. The figures above should therefore be read as a central-business-district trend, not as a direct substitute for the separate fiscal-year District-wide indicators below.
Recent room demand and revenue
The District CFO’s fiscal-year hospitality table reported 9.5 million hotel room-days sold in FY 2025, compared with 9.6 million in FY 2024. The FY 2025 average room rate was $263.30, versus $253 in FY 2024. Hotel room revenue totaled $2,518.7 million in FY 2025 and $2,461.4 million in FY 2024.
The FY 2025 hotel occupancy rate was 69.3%, compared with 71.9% in FY 2024. The survey covered an average of 164.9 hotels in FY 2025 and 163 hotels in FY 2024. These figures use the fiscal-year reporting frame and a survey sample, so they should not be merged mechanically with the calendar-year CBD series.
The DC Trend Report March 2026 is the source for these fiscal-year indicators. The combination of slightly fewer room-days sold, a higher average room rate and higher room revenue provides a useful snapshot of recent operating conditions, but the supplied data does not include a calculated explanation for the changes.
Visitors and lodging spending
Washington, DC received 27.2 million total visitors in calendar year 2024, up 5% from 2023. Domestic visitors accounted for 25 million, up 4%, while international visitors totaled 2.2 million, up 10%. These visitor counts represent arrivals to Washington, DC; they are not counts of hotel stays.
Visitors spent $11.4 billion in the District in 2024, up 12% from 2023. Visitor lodging spending was $4.6 billion, also up 12%, and lodging accounted for 40% of total visitor spending. Visitor-generated occupancy tax revenue was $346,000,093 in 2024.
Travel and tourism spending supported 111,500 jobs in Washington, DC in 2024, up 8% from 2023. Those jobs supported $6.3 billion in wages. Travel and tourism represented 17.6% of the District’s private workforce in 2024.
The visitor, spending, tax and employment figures are reported in 2024 Annual Visitor Statistics. Lodging spending is broader than hotel room revenue, so the $4.6 billion visitor-lodging figure should not be treated as an alternative measure of the $2,518.7 million in FY 2025 hotel room revenue. The two statistics cover different periods and reporting definitions.
International visitor markets
International arrivals supplied important market diversity in 2024. Canada was Washington, DC’s largest international visitor market, with 258,000 visitors. The United Kingdom supplied 195,000 visitors, and India supplied 191,000.
Germany supplied 136,000 international visitors, while China supplied 108,000. France supplied 98,000, South Korea supplied 93,000 and Mexico supplied 88,000.
| International market | Visitors in 2024 |
|---|---|
| Canada | 258,000 |
| United Kingdom | 195,000 |
| India | 191,000 |
| Germany | 136,000 |
| China | 108,000 |
| France | 98,000 |
| South Korea | 93,000 |
| Mexico | 88,000 |
These are international visitor arrivals for calendar year 2024, not hotel-night totals, booking counts or unique hotel guests. They come from 2024 Annual Visitor Statistics. The source also reports 2.2 million international visitors overall, so the individual markets listed here are components of the international arrival picture rather than a complete list of every origin market.
Meetings, conventions and room nights
Citywide convention business generated 341,803 hotel room nights in Washington, DC in calendar year 2025 and had a reported economic impact of $344 million. In addition, 334 non-convention-center meetings generated 280,854 hotel room nights in 2025.
For calendar year 2026, convention-center business is expected to generate 470,316 hotel room nights. Non-convention-center meetings are expected to generate 227,885 hotel room nights. These 2026 figures are forecasts, not completed room-night totals.
| Meeting segment | 2025 actual or reported | 2026 outlook |
|---|---|---|
| Convention-center or citywide convention business | 341,803 room nights | 470,316 room nights expected |
| Non-convention-center meetings | 280,854 room nights from 334 meetings | 227,885 room nights expected |
The 2025 convention and meeting figures are reported in Following record-setting visitation and economic impact, Destination DC unveils strategies for further tourism push. The 2026 outlook is from Destination DC announces sales and marketing strategies to meet the moment. The different labels are important: 2025 figures describe reported activity, while 2026 figures describe expected room-night demand.
WorldPride 2025 was expected to bring approximately 2 million overnight visitors to Washington, DC from May 23 through June 8, 2025. That event figure is a forecast tied to a specific date range, reported in Following record-setting visitation and economic impact, Destination DC unveils strategies for further tourism push. It should not be added to the annual visitor totals or convention room-night figures without a compatible methodology.