The city-owned Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor just posted its worst inflation-adjusted year on record, with occupancy sinking to 52.3% in 2025 even as the hotel charged guests more per night than ever before. The 757-room hotel, the largest in the Baltimore region, brought in an average nightly rate of $203.90 last year — a record high — but still couldn't fill enough rooms to avoid its weakest performance outside the pandemic years.
That combination of higher prices and fewer guests dragged the hotel's revenue per available room, or RevPAR, down to $106.60 in 2025, its lowest mark since 2009, according to The Baltimore Banner. It was the hotel's lowest occupancy rate of any year outside the 2020-through-2023 stretch disrupted by COVID-19, and once inflation is factored in, 2025 stands as the worst year on record for the property.
A Debt-Laden Hotel That Has Never Paid the City Back
Baltimore borrowed roughly $300 million in bonds to build the Hilton, and most of that debt remains unpaid. The hotel has not made a single distribution payment to the city's general fund since it opened during the Great Recession in 2008, and it has never hit its original revenue or occupancy projections, per the same account.
The financial strain runs both ways. The city has spent and refunded $143.7 million to keep the hotel afloat, and the Hilton still owes about $242 million in principal plus an expected $172 million in interest, the outlet reports. Baltimore contributed $15.7 million to the hotel in the year covered by the financial disclosure, including $7.7 million in direct appropriations.
City Officials Point to a 2026 Rebound
Kevin Seawright, the Baltimore Development Corp.'s executive vice president and chief operating and financial officer, described 2025 as a transition year and said Baltimore hotels saw their highest room-night cancellations since the pandemic. The Baltimore Development Corp., the city's quasi-governmental economic arm, oversees the Hilton, which is operated by Hilton Hotels & Resorts.
Seawright said that in 2026, the hotel's revenue is up substantially over 2025 and moving back toward pre-COVID levels, though no specific 2026 revenue or occupancy figures were disclosed. He attributed the turnaround to stronger group business supported by Visit Baltimore and a run of major events, including concerts from Morgan Wallen and BTS, an All Blacks rugby match, and the Jack and Jill organization's gathering.
A Shrinking Downtown Hotel Market
The Hilton's struggles reflect broader pressure on downtown Baltimore's hotel inventory. Hotels in the central business district posted an overall occupancy rate of 55.7% in 2025, still better than the Hilton's figure. Since January 2025, the total number of hotel rooms in the central business district has fallen nearly 6%, dropping from 8,367 to 7,874, according to CoStar data cited by the paper.
Part of that decline traces to the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, which unexpectedly closed at the beginning of 2026. The 338-room hotel sat adjacent to the Baltimore Convention Center before it shut down, as Baltimore Business Journal reported.
Even amid the Hilton's struggles, new competition is on the way. MCB Real Estate is planning a 212-room luxury hotel as part of its redevelopment of Harborplace, with an average nightly rate of $550 — more than double what the Hilton charged in its record-setting 2025.
