New hotels in Philadelphia

We track 18 new hotels in Philadelphia, opened or announced between 2017 and an unconfirmed future date, spread across twelve neighborhoods: Old City, Fishtown, Washington Square West, Queen Village, South Philadelphia, Center City, the Navy Yard and more. None of it looks alike, which is fairly true to the city itself: a patchwork of small, fiercely distinct neighborhoods rather than one glossy downtown core. First-time visitors chasing Independence Hall do best in Old City; couples wanting an intimate, historic stay should look at Washington Square West or Fishtown; business and convention travelers get the shortest commute from Center City or the Avenue of the Arts. The most recent addition is The Bellevue Hotel, in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, which reopened in November 2024 after a renovation of the landmark 1904 Bellevue-Stratford building.

What to do

A weekend in Philadelphia

Start in Old City and Independence National Historical Park: the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and Elfreth's Alley are all within a ten-minute walk of each other, and it's the neighborhood where several of the city's newest small hotels have opened inside historic rowhomes. Spend the afternoon at Reading Terminal Market for lunch, then walk south into Washington Square West and Queen Village, both dense with restaurants, independent shops and South Street's nightlife. On day two, cross into Fishtown for coffee, record shops and a slower pace, then head back to Center City in the evening for Rittenhouse Square and the Avenue of the Arts.

A full week

With more time, add University City across the Schuylkill River for the Penn Museum and Drexel/Penn campus life, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Rocky Steps along the Ben Franklin Parkway, and a full day in South Philadelphia for the Italian Market and, if the calendar lines up, a game at the Sports Complex. Give the Navy Yard, Philadelphia's 1,200-acre former shipyard on the Delaware River, a half-day for its masterplanned campus of offices and life-science labs even before its own hotel opens. Northern Liberties, just north of Old City, rewards a slower wander for its breweries and converted-warehouse feel, even though it has no tracked new hotel of its own yet.

Neighborhoods

Old City

The city's most historically dense neighborhood, wrapped around Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, carries two of the newest small hotels on this list. The Gas Lamp Hotel, a five-suite property that opened in August 2024, occupies an 1845 rowhome overlooking Elfreth's Alley, one of the oldest continuously inhabited residential streets in the country, each suite named for a pioneer of lighting and electricity, from Edison to Tesla. Renaissance Philadelphia Downtown Hotel, a block from Independence National Historical Park, completed a two-step rebrand in June 2018: Buccini/Pollin Group bought the former Omni Hotel at Independence Park in 2015, ran it briefly under its own Franklin Hotel name during a multi-million-dollar renovation, then relaunched it as a design-forward Renaissance with pop-art portraits of notable Philadelphians throughout its 152 rooms.

Fishtown

A formerly industrial riverfront neighborhood now known for its music venues, breweries and design shops, Fishtown carries three tracked openings, more than any other neighborhood on this list. Hotel Anna & Bel opened in August 2024 as the neighborhood's first full-service boutique hotel, built inside a cluster of 18th-century buildings that once served as a women's asylum and, later, one of the city's earliest retirement homes: a grand entry staircase, exposed brick and timber ceiling beams all kept intact by the Preservation Society of Philadelphia. On the Delaware riverfront, Riversuites and Switch House Hotel both opened within Fishtown's same converted power plant, The Battery: Riversuites in December 2023, 62 apartment-style suites across four floors of the decommissioned 1921 Delaware River Generating Station, operated directly by the adjoining Rivers Casino; Switch House Hotel in November 2023, 45 residential-style suites inside the complex's former Switchgear Building, operated by events company Cescaphe Event Group alongside its own wedding venue in the same structure.

Center City & Rittenhouse Square

The commercial and dining core of downtown Philadelphia carries two brand-new hotel towers. W Philadelphia opened in August 2021 on Chestnut Street after more than six years of development, a roughly $280 million dual-branded project bringing the brand's rooftop-pool-club energy to Center City for the first time. Hyatt Centric Center City Philadelphia opened a year earlier, in October 2020, a ground-up, roughly $81 million tower just off Rittenhouse Square with over 5,000 square feet of meeting space and in-room Drybar blow-dryers as part of its exploration-minded lifestyle positioning.

Washington Square West

A walkable, restaurant-dense district just east of Center City proper, Washington Square West is home to Guild House Hotel, a twelve-suite conversion of a Victorian rowhouse that opened in September 2021. The building was the longtime home of The New Century Guild, one of the country's earliest and most prominent organizations for working women; woman-owned Philadelphia studio ROHE Creative named each suite for a historical Guild member, and Travel + Leisure named the hotel one of the World's Best New Hotels the year after it opened.

Queen Village

South of Old City along South Street, Queen Village mixes historic rowhomes with independent boutiques and galleries. YOWIE Hotel opened here in 2023, grown out of founder Shannon Maldonado's ground-floor design shop and café of the same name: the first hotel use of the building, with rooms individually decorated with local artwork and handmade objects, most of which can be purchased on the way out.

South Philadelphia & the Sports Complex

Home to the Italian Market, deep rowhome blocks and the city's sports and entertainment complex, South Philadelphia is where Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia opened in February 2021: a ground-up, 208-room AAA Four Diamond hotel tower built alongside a brand-new casino and entertainment complex next to the city's baseball, football, basketball and hockey venues, operated by The Cordish Companies.

Logan Square & the Comcast campus

At the western edge of Center City near Logan Square and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway's museum row, Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center opened in August 2019 inside Comcast's second Philadelphia tower: Norman Foster's practice designed both the tower and the hotel's interiors, lifting guests 60 floors up to views over the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers unmatched anywhere else in the city.

City Hall & the Convention Center

Two conversions anchor Philadelphia's civic and convention core. The Notary Hotel, Philadelphia, Autograph Collection occupies a 1926 building that housed the city's municipal courts for more than 70 years, directly behind City Hall; Braemar Hotels & Resorts' roughly $20 million renovation, completed in 2019, restored marble corridors and high ceilings that a long stretch as a standard Courtyard by Marriott had obscured. Aloft Philadelphia Downtown, attached directly to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, opened in August 2017 inside a vacant 1925 bank and office building, with Stonehill Taylor preserving the second-floor lobby's original coffered ceiling beneath Aloft's loft-style rooms.

Avenue of the Arts

Broad Street's theater-and-performing-arts corridor carries two tracked hotels at very different scales. Cambria Hotel Philadelphia Downtown Center City opened in March 2018, a ground-up, 15-story tower developed by Pearl Properties with Concord Hospitality and built around a music-and-arts theme referencing its Avenue of the Arts setting. The Bellevue Hotel, in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, is the more storied of the two: designed by G.W. & W.D. Hewitt and opened in 1904 as the Bellevue-Stratford, once described as among the most luxurious hotels in the country, it cycled through several identities, most recently Park Hyatt Philadelphia at The Bellevue, before a 2023-2024 renovation added a 100,000-square-foot wellness facility, The Sporting Club, ahead of its November 2024 reopening.

East Market

The East Market redevelopment, wedged between Center City and Chinatown, is built around the restored 1897 Stephen Girard Building, home to Canopy by Hilton Philadelphia Center City. This $80 million adaptive reuse, which opened in August 2020 as Hilton's first Pennsylvania Canopy hotel, preserved the original masonry facade of a historic office building that had never operated as a hotel, rebuilding the interior behind it with AvroKO's brass-and-salvage-inspired design.

University City

Across the Schuylkill River, anchored by the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, University City is home to The Study at University City, which opened in January 2017 as the neighborhood's first boutique hotel. The ten-story, ground-up building filled a gap in a market that, until then, had little beyond limited-service options for visiting faculty, conference attendees and biotech firms tied to Penn and Drexel.

The Navy Yard

Philadelphia's 1,200-acre former shipyard on the Delaware River, now a masterplanned campus of offices, life-science labs and new apartments, has one hotel in the pipeline: The Waylen, an adaptive reuse of a century-old naval barracks and receiving station into a 223-room Hyatt Unbound Collection hotel with a six-treatment-room spa and a concealed speakeasy bar. The brand and room count have been public since January 2024, but as of this writing no construction has followed, and a winter 2025-2026 industry report described the project's equity financing as not yet fully secured.

Which hotel for your trip

Couples wanting a historic, intimate stay

Guild House Hotel's twelve suites and The Gas Lamp Hotel's five rooms both trade scale for real historic character: a Victorian rowhouse tied to Philadelphia's women's-history movement, and an 1845 home steps from Elfreth's Alley, respectively. Either suits a couple who'd rather have a story than a lobby bar.

Travelers who want a full-service downtown base

Hyatt Centric Center City Philadelphia and W Philadelphia are the two ground-up towers built for exactly this: central Rittenhouse-area or Chestnut Street locations, real meeting and event space, and rooftop dining or pool scenes to come back to after a day of sightseeing.

Design-minded independent travelers

YOWIE Hotel in Queen Village and Hotel Anna & Bel in Fishtown both grew out of local creative projects rather than hotel brands (YOWIE from a design retail shop, Anna & Bel from a historic-preservation-minded development team) and reward travelers who'd rather stay somewhere specific to Philadelphia than a recognizable chain.

Longer stays & apartment-style suites

Riversuites and Switch House Hotel, both inside Fishtown's converted power-plant complex, offer full kitchens and residential-scale layouts closer to a short-term apartment than a conventional hotel room: Riversuites for guests who want casino access next door, Switch House for those drawn to its exposed-concrete, event-space setting.

Sports and entertainment visitors

Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia is built for exactly this trip: a short walk from the Sports Complex's stadiums, with AAA Four Diamond rooms and a full entertainment and dining complex attached, it's the clear pick for a game weekend.

Business travelers & academic visitors

Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center suits business travel tied to Comcast and Center City's law and finance firms, while The Study at University City is the practical choice for anyone with business at Penn, Drexel or the neighborhood's biotech firms.

Frequently asked questions

What is the newest hotel in Philadelphia?

As of this guide, The Bellevue Hotel, in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, is the most recent confirmed opening, reopening in November 2024 after a renovation of the landmark 1904 Bellevue-Stratford building on the Avenue of the Arts. Hotel Anna & Bel in Fishtown and The Gas Lamp Hotel in Old City both opened three months earlier, in August 2024.

Are any of these hotels inside historic buildings?

Most of them. Canopy by Hilton occupies the 1897 Stephen Girard Building, Guild House Hotel is inside a Victorian rowhouse once home to The New Century Guild, The Gas Lamp Hotel is set in an 1845 row home, Hotel Anna & Bel spans former 18th-century asylum and retirement-home buildings, Riversuites and Switch House Hotel both occupy a converted 1921 power plant, The Notary Hotel is a converted 1926 municipal courthouse, and The Bellevue Hotel dates to 1904. Only W Philadelphia, Hyatt Centric Center City Philadelphia, Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia, Cambria Hotel Philadelphia Downtown Center City and The Study at University City are entirely new construction.

Which Philadelphia hotel has the most rooms?

Among open hotels, The Notary Hotel is the largest tracked here, with 499 rooms, followed by W Philadelphia at 295 rooms and Hyatt Centric Center City Philadelphia at 332 rooms. The Waylen, still unconfirmed, would add 223 rooms at the Navy Yard once built.

Is there a good option near Independence Hall and the historic district?

Old City, home to both The Gas Lamp Hotel and Renaissance Philadelphia Downtown Hotel, puts you within walking distance of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and Elfreth's Alley.

What's the best choice for a stadium weekend?

Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia is purpose-built for this, sitting directly next to the South Philadelphia Sports Complex with AAA Four Diamond rooms and its own dining and entertainment complex.

Is there a new hotel planned for the Navy Yard?

Yes, though it remains unconfirmed. The Waylen would convert a century-old naval barracks into a 223-room Hyatt Unbound Collection hotel, but as of this writing the project has not broken ground and its financing had not been fully secured as of a winter 2025-2026 industry report.

Are there any new budget or economy hotels covered here?

No: this guide tracks only 3- to 5-star, boutique, lifestyle, upscale or luxury openings, and excludes economy and budget chain properties as well as renovations or rebrands of hotels that were already operating before 2017.