Syracuse hotel closures expected to leave visitors with few options

Syracuse University has 22,000 students – both undergraduate and post-graduate – currently enrolled. With this large number comes a demand for accommodation for special events, but SU is encountering a roadblock. There seems to be a rapidly declining number of hotels in the Syracuse area to accommodate visitors. So if your parents haven’t booked a hotel room for commencement weekend yet, they may be out of luck. 

Following the 2024 commencement, Syracuse University began converting the former hotel known as the Sheraton into an undergraduate resident hall. In October, the Crowne Plaza and Mayflower Hotel began the process of converting into apartments. It seems there’s a new trend happening in Syracuse in which long-standing hotels turn into apartments.

The Sheraton conversion into the newly named Orange Hall was to address Syracuse University’s need for more student housing, particularly for sophomore students. The new residence hall will house nearly 400 sophomores in open doubles.

The Crowne Plaza closed abruptly last October without warning due to market and economic conditions. The Mayflower closed and began its transition to apartments to provide more affordable housing for Syracuse city residents. Despite each hotel’s conversion into apartments being a solution for the ongoing Syracuse housing crisis, a new problem has emerged: a lack of hotels in Syracuse. 

After the closure of the three hotels, nearly 600 rooms were vacated. Christian Cross, Buffalo-based director of HVS, thinks the vacated rooms will limit options for visitors and affect big events in Syracuse. This includes Syracuse city-based events like the New York State Fair and Syracuse University events like family weekend, sports games, move-in, and graduation.

“Now Syracuse does not have enough rooms to be able to accommodate some of the larger functions and conferences they use to compete for,” Cross said.

One of the big events that the lack of hotels could affect is commencement weekend, taking place each May. With commencement being one of the busiest days, Cross said hotels close to Syracuse University expected to sell out even when the three former hotels were opened.

Cross thinks Syracuse’s lack of hotels will inconvenience visitors, forcing them to change their travel plans to adjust.  

“The only option now is that people are going to have to travel further away from the city just to find a room, especially if they are staying out of town or out of state,” said Cross. 

Cross expects in-state residents who live in surrounding areas such as Buffalo or Albany to drive from home rather than getting hotels to save money, as staying at a far-away hotel may not be worth it.

Distance is not the only expected increase for Syracuse visitors. Prices are expected to go up as well. Visit Syracuse president Danny Liedka said that prices of hotels during big events will limit who can attend.

“It is problematic because the prices go up because it creates compression, the rates go up and we become less affordable,” Liedka said. 

Despite the closures signaling that hotels are struggling, the market in Syracuse tells a different story. Cross has not seen many closures around the hotel industry since the pandemic, leading him to believe the closures are more individual-driven than market-driven. 

“Metrics in the market are pretty strong," said Cross. “Occupancy has been rising, demand levels are stable and likely growing with the big Micron project.”

Big events and projects like the Micron will lead to the demand for more hotels in Syracuse in the future. Developers and investors have already started to work towards bringing in new hotels. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon announced that he would be adding two hotels in Salina and Dewitt as a part of the Onondaga County Hotel Initiative to address the room shortage in the area. Onondaga will be gaining 200 rooms with the two hotels. Syracuse University also announced its plan to build a new full-service hotel. The University plans to build 200 rooms in their hotel.

The process of building is expected to take a lengthy amount of time. It will not be until at least 2026 that we see new hotels being built. 

“Depending on the hotel, if it is a limited service and a relatively simple build, two to four stories, like a Hampton or Tru, it will typically be done in about 10 to 12 months," Cross said. “That is really pushing the timeline, usually it is 12 to 18 months for development from breaking ground.” 

Cross also mentioned the site development process, issued approvals and building preparation before the 12 to 18-month process begins. 

Syracuse University itself is aiming to help the hotel crisis. On Dec. 10, (2024) the university announced is plan to develop a 200-room hotel on University Avenue. SU does not anticipate its new hotel to open until 2027. 

While Liedka thinks Syracuse hotels will eventually recover he thinks the city will struggle in the short term. 

“I can imagine 2026 to 2027 are going to be tough years and then on the other side of that we come out of it in pretty good shape,” said Liedka.

Even with new hotels on the way in 2026 and 2027, that does little to help friends and family members of this year’s graduating class. Syracuse parents may be better off checking Airbnb.com for their arrangement as Syracuse's hotel scene works to recover to where it used to be.