New hotels in Richmond

Richmond's hotel scene has spent the 2020s catching up to its neighborhoods — a Fan district with no hotel of its own until 2025, a downtown office tower left vacant for years before becoming a hotel, and a landmark novelist's house now being reimagined as a 12-room inn. None of it is large-scale: this is a city adding character one historic building at a time, not a skyline of new towers. Here's what's actually opened, and what's still on the way.

What to do

A weekend in Richmond

Base yourself downtown or in the Fan and start at the James River — walk or bike the Buttermilk Trail, then cross to Belle Isle for river views back at the skyline. Spend an afternoon on Monument Avenue and in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, both an easy walk or short ride from the Fan. In the evening, work through Carytown's restaurants and shops, or stay closer to downtown for dinner and a nightcap near your hotel's own bar.

A full week

With more time, add a full day in Church Hill for St. John's Church and the historic residential streets around it, an afternoon in Shockoe Bottom and Shockoe Slip tracing Richmond's role in the domestic slave trade at the Devil's Half Acre and Reconciliation Statue sites, and an evening in Scott's Addition, the city's former industrial district turned brewery and distillery row. Round it out with a day trip to the falls of the James for whitewater and hiking inside city limits, something few American downtowns can offer.

Neighborhoods

Downtown / Monroe Ward

Richmond's civic and business core, and the neighborhood with the most hotel activity we're tracking: Moxy Richmond Downtown occupies a revived 1916 office building at 5th and Franklin, and a few blocks away, the landmark Ellen Glasgow House at 1 W. Main Street is being converted into the 12-room Dear John, targeted for 2026.

The Fan

A dense, walkable grid of Victorian and Edwardian rowhouses next to VCU, long considered Richmond's most charming residential district — and, until 2025, one without a single hotel. Shenandoah Mansions changed that, turning a six-story former apartment building into the neighborhood's first hotel.

Shockoe Bottom & Shockoe Slip

Richmond's oldest commercial district, packed with 19th-century warehouses turned bars, restaurants and lofts along the river. No tracked new hotel openings here yet — it remains a dining and history destination rather than a lodging one for now.

Scott's Addition

A former light-industrial district a mile or so north of downtown, now the city's densest cluster of breweries, cideries and distilleries in reused warehouse buildings. We are not currently tracking a qualifying new hotel opening here.

Church Hill

Richmond's oldest neighborhood, anchored by St. John's Church and lined with 18th- and 19th-century houses on a hill overlooking downtown and the river. No tracked hotel openings in this guide are located here.

Museum District / VCU area

Home to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Virginia Historical Society, just west of the Fan. We have no qualifying new hotel openings to report in this area for the period covered by this guide.

Which hotel for your trip

First-time visitors who want a walkable base

Shenandoah Mansions puts you inside the Fan, arguably Richmond's most photogenic neighborhood, an easy walk from Monument Avenue, the VMFA and Carytown, with its own café and cocktail bar if you don't feel like going out.

Business and downtown travelers

Moxy Richmond Downtown sits right at 5th and Franklin, close to the Capitol, convention facilities and downtown offices, with Bar Moxy doubling as a low-key evening option without leaving the building.

Design and history-minded travelers

Both Shenandoah Mansions and, once it opens, Dear John reward guests who care about the building's backstory — a former apartment house reworked around American folk art, and a National Historic Landmark once inhabited by a Pulitzer-winning novelist.

Travelers on a tighter budget who still want personality

Moxy Richmond Downtown is the most accessibly priced of the three, built around Marriott's compact-room, bar-forward lifestyle format rather than a full-service luxury program.

Anyone planning around Dear John specifically

Hold off on booking until an official opening date is confirmed — as of this guide, the project has already shifted its target from late 2025 to 2026, and no firm date has been set.

Frequently asked questions

What are the newest hotels to open in Richmond, Virginia?

The two newest qualifying openings are Shenandoah Mansions in the Fan district (February 2025) and Moxy Richmond Downtown at 5th and Franklin (November 2022). A third project, the 12-room Dear John inside the historic Ellen Glasgow House downtown, is announced for 2026 but not yet open.

Is Shenandoah Mansions the Fan district's first hotel?

Yes. Before it opened in February 2025, the Fan — one of Richmond's largest and most walkable historic neighborhoods — had no hotel of its own.

Where is Moxy Richmond Downtown located, and what was the building before?

It's at the corner of 5th and Franklin Streets in downtown Richmond, inside a 1916 building that spent its most recent decades as the Advantech Building, a city-backed small-business incubator, before sitting vacant from 2016 until construction on the hotel resumed in 2020.

When will Dear John open?

No firm date has been set. The owners originally targeted the 2025 holiday season; as of this guide, the project is aiming for 2026.

Are there any large new luxury hotel towers opening in Richmond?

Not among the openings we track for this period. Richmond's 2020s hotel activity has run toward smaller-scale conversions of historic buildings — a former apartment house, a former office building, a former novelist's residence — rather than new-build luxury towers.

Which Richmond neighborhoods still don't have a tracked new hotel?

As of this guide, Shockoe Bottom/Shockoe Slip, Scott's Addition, Church Hill and the Museum District/VCU area have no qualifying new hotel openings; all three properties we track are in the Fan or downtown/Monroe Ward.