BOSTON, MA (June 14, 2016): The first months of 2016 have seen extraordinary growth in Boston's hospitality industry; In the first quarter of 2016, Boston added 904 new rooms to its hotel inventory, with properties opening in the Seaport District, Downtown Crossing, and at Station Landing in Medford.    

On D Street in the Seaport District, adjacent to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC), Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. has opened the Element Boston Seaport and Aloft Boston Seaport. The sister properties occupy a 5.2 acre parcel located just off the Lawn on D and increase the Seaport District hotel inventory by 510 rooms.

“We are excited to welcome the Element and Aloft brands to Boston,” said Pat Moscaritolo, President & CEO of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau (GBCVB). “These properties will help us better serve our city wide convention groups as well as serve the dramatic growth in international visitors and families looking for hotel availability in our Seaport district.”

The hotel boom is not just limited to the Seaport District, however. Downtown Boston continues its robust revitalization with the opening of the 242-room Godfrey Hotel Boston. The Godfrey brand opened their first hotel in Chicago in 2013 and quickly eyed a second location in Boston. Oxford Capital Group purchased the Amory and Blake Buildings at 59 Temple Street and unveiled the new hotel on February 3 with an opening ceremony that included remarks from Bureau CEO Pat Moscaritolo as well as Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Downtown Boston BID President & CEO Rosemarie Sansone. The Godfrey Hotel Boston will open a restaurant and George Howell Coffee House later this year.

Boston will also see the arrival of three Marriott AC Hotels, a flag that's essentially brand new in the United States. The first is the 152-room AC Hotel Boston North in Medford, which opened March 1 and is within easy walking distance to Assembly Row and Wellington Station. Later this summer, a 150-room AC Hotel will open at Cambridge Discovery Park, and a third AC Hotel is slated to open in 2017 at the Ink Block Project in Boston's South End. 

Also in the Seaport District, the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) is soliciting bids for a hotel across from the BCEC, which was part of the BCEC expansion plan. The BCEC expansion was put on hold however by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and the original 1,500 room proposed BCEC hotel was then reduced to 250 to 500 rooms. GBCVB President & CEO Patrick B. Moscaritolo has urged Massport to build the original 1,500 hotel room property and told USAE that he expected the BCEC expansion to eventually get a green light. “"Governor Baker has installed at the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority a new Board chair, a majority of the Board members and chosen as the new CEO David Gibbons, who has a proven track record as an innovator and Boston hotel industry leader. With these dramatic changes I think Governor Baker, in his second or third term as our Governor, could resurface the BCEC expansion as part of a broad economic development initiative. When that happens, we will need a 1,500 room headquarter hotel as well as additional hotel rooms to support the expansion,” Moscaritolo said.

For more information on the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, go to www.BostonUSA.com.