Ottawa’s hotel occupancy rates are projected to hold steady over the next 12 months, a new report says, with an uptick in meetings and convention traffic expected to help fill hundreds of new rooms that are slated to be added to the city’s inventory. CBRE’s latest hotel industry outlook released last week calls for lodgings […]
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Ottawa’s hotel occupancy rates are projected to hold steady over the next 12 months, a new report says, with an uptick in meetings and convention traffic expected to help fill hundreds of new rooms that are slated to be added to the city’s inventory.
CBRE’s latest hotel industry outlook released last week calls for lodgings in the nation’s capital to be about 70 per cent full in 2026, which would fall right between last year’s overall occupancy level of 69 per cent and CBRE’s forecast rate of 71 per cent for all of 2025.
That’s above the real estate firm’s projection of 66 per cent occupancy for hotels across Canada for 2026.
But CBRE says average revenues per available room in the nation’s capital will likely remain flat at about $147 next year as a slight bump in average daily rates, which are projected to rise from $207 this year to $212 in 2026, will be offset by an increase in the overall number of suites available for rent in the city.
Ottawa is one of just four major Canadian markets – along with Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary – that are not expected to see growth in average revenue per room in 2026, according to CBRE’s projections.
Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association president Steve Ball explained that several new properties are scheduled to open in the National Capital Region next year, including the new Alt Hotel at the Ottawa Airport and the Moxy hotel on York Street in the ByWard Market.
That translates into hundreds of new rooms that will need to be filled. But Ball said he’s confident Ottawa hotels will carry the momentum from what’s been a “really strong” fall for the hospitality sector into the new year.
“If we can maintain roughly our occupancy with more inventory in the marketplace and actually still gradually work the room rates up a little bit – which is all about supply and demand – that’s a positive to your business environment,” he said.
With the trade war between Canada and the U.S. dominating headlines in 2025, CBRE said markets close to the border “are feeling the impact of the trade tensions and business investment decisions.”
But Ball said hoteliers in Ottawa “saw quite a bit of business” from travellers originating from south of the border this year and expect more of the same in 2026 providing “the political environment doesn’t change dramatically down there.”
He said the local tourism sector is also hoping for a boost from what’s projected to be a “really strong” 2026 for meetings and conventions in the nation’s capital.
“What’s great about that segment is this is business that’s already on the books, so it’s easy to predict,” Ball noted. “It’s much harder to predict leisure travel. But when you’ve got a number of large groups coming (for meetings and conventions), it’s a lot less pressure on hotel managers to be able to forecast.”
Meanwhile, Ball said hoteliers have their “fingers crossed” for another lengthy season of skating on the Rideau Canal, “which generally creates a lot of uptick in travel” during the slower winter tourism season.
In addition, he’s hoping recently announced efforts to promote Ottawa as a national defence technology hub will pay dividends in the form of more room bookings from defence industry leaders looking to sign deals with the Department of National Defence and other federal clients.
“I think there’s opportunity … in the defence area,” Ball said. “That will drive more corporate business to us. We’ll see how that evolves. That’s a new window of opportunity for us.”
