Feb. 04–Dayton is in the middle of its biggest hotel-building binge since the late 1990s, as developers rush to accommodate an expected burst of business travelers, tourists, and conventioneers in and around the area.

Four hotel projects are now in the planning stage or under construction in Montgomery County that would bump up the number of rooms by 409, or nearly a 7 percent increase from the current inventory of 6,289 rooms among 69 hotel properties, according to the Dayton Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The new hotels include a planned Holiday Inn Express at Edwin C. Moses Boulevard near the I-75 exit in Dayton; Springhill Suites by Marriott being built in the Miller Lane retail area in Butler Twp.; a planned Staybridge Inn & Suites at the Austin Landing entertainment and retail complex in Miami Twp.; and a Fairfield Inn and Suites at the Water Street development in downtown Dayton.

In addition, hotels including the Crowne Plaza in downtown Dayton, and the Marriott and Courtyard Marriott hotels near the University of Dayton, have either been built new or renovated recently.

Supporters say the increase in rooms is needed to sustain the city's growing medical and tech industries and ongoing activity at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, the location of USAF Medical Center, the Air Force Institute of Technology, and the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

"We've had demand for these rooms for awhile, now the supply is coming," said Chris Kershner, vice president of public policy and economic development for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. "With our corporate interests here as well as Wright-Patt, we have a lot of travel that requires overnight stays, and these hotels are going to benefit from that travel."

Dayton is also seeing more activity that has raised its profile as a regional and national travel destination, which is driving demand for more hotel accommodations, Kershner said.

"Just this week, we had the Ohio Craft Brewers Conference here, and this (hotel building boom) will help us as we look to attract and support other conventions and events in the Dayton area," he said.

Jacquelyn Powell, president the local visitors and convention bureau, said recent trends in hotel occupancy rates in the local area indicate the construction boom is unlikely to the Dayton area with a glut of rooms, as some may fear.

"The numbers will tell you we had a very good year last year," Powell said.

According to Powell, the hotel occupancy rate in Montgomery County grew from 58.8 percent through the first 11 months of 2014 to 62.8 percent for the same period last year — a 6.7 percent increase.

By comparison, hotel occupancy rates through November last year grew an average of 1.1 percent statewide, Powell said.