Hersha Hotels and Resorts has snapped up The Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa, the 403-room riverfront hotel perched across the Savannah River from the city’s historic district. The deal shifts the property from Brookfield Properties to Hersha, part of KSL’s hospitality platform, and drops a major group-friendly resort into Hersha’s portfolio just as Savannah’s convention and leisure business is heating up again.
JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group represented the seller and formally announced the transaction, describing the Westin as “downtown Savannah’s only urban resort” on a 299-acre Hutchinson Island site. Senior managing director Andrew Dickey said, “Savannah continues to demonstrate exceptional momentum as both a leisure destination and thriving corporate market.” The deal and Dickey’s comments were released by JLL.
The property’s size and perks did a lot of the talking in this sale. The resort includes 403 guestrooms, more than 51,800 square feet of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting space, and five food-and-beverage outlets. Guests also get an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Robert Cupp and Sam Snead, a 17-treatment-room Heavenly Spa by Westin, a river-view pool, plus tennis and pickleball facilities. These on-site amenities set the Westin apart from typical downtown hotels, as reported by Hotel Management.
Convention Center Expansion Puts Westin In The Spotlight
The Westin sits right next door to the newly expanded Savannah Convention Center, which wrapped a roughly $276 million expansion in 2025 that added major exhibit and ballroom capacity aimed at bigger trade shows and tournaments. The project effectively doubled the center’s footprint and delivered a 40,000-square-foot ballroom, a combination that has been steering more multi-day group business toward Hutchinson Island properties. Details of the expansion are outlined by the Savannah Convention Center.
Brookfield Properties, the seller in the latest transaction, previously put about $8 million into a resort revamp in 2023, according to ConnectCRE. JLL has also flagged that this is the third time the asset has changed hands in the past decade, a sign that investor interest in Savannah’s hotel market remains strong, as noted by JLL.
Hersha’s Playbook
Hersha, taken private by KSL Capital Partners in 2023, is adding a large convention-ready resort that lines up with its focus on branded urban gateway and regional resort hotels, a strategy outlined by KSL Capital Partners. Industry reporting puts Hersha at roughly 17 hotels and around 3,100 rooms, a portfolio KSL has been expanding since the acquisition, according to Hotel Management. Whether Hersha keeps the Westin flag or eventually rebrands the property is one of the big questions local operators and brokers will be watching.
Local brokers say the deal is a vote of confidence in Savannah’s meetings and tourism pipeline, where rising cargo volumes at the Port of Savannah and major industrial projects have tightened hotel demand. The Georgia Ports Authority has reported year-over-year container volume gains and labeled Savannah the fastest-growing port on the U.S. East Coast, as noted by the Georgia Ports Authority. Meanwhile, Hyundai’s nearby Metaplant grand opening and a wave of industrial investment have further boosted regional travel, a trend buyers are baking into their underwriting, as reported by Global Atlanta.
