An uptick in 2019–2022 visitors has local hoteliers hoping the trend translates into a market-wide travel recovery whose increased business they are presently preparing to meet. Emma Dooling unpacked the details in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The healthy year-over-year visitation numbers for 3Q2022 were noted in Philadelphia (+87 percent) and Montgomery County (+80 percent, per the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board).

Some of the increased revenue reflected the overall economic effects of inflation on room-rate prices. But the real upside is deeper: Many of the travelers filling those hotel rooms were leisure-based.

In response, several Montgomery County commercial real estate projects are advancing, buoyed by the economic signs of travel recovery.

October saw the opening of West & Main, a new hotel-restaurant-bar in Conshohocken.

And development of the former Elkins Estate on Ashbourne Road in Elkins Park is proceeding, with its phase-one hotel opening 37 rooms this spring.

Aside the grand openings, property renovations are also adding beds.

Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center in Blue Bell, for example, has rebuilt its Carriage House, the site of a 2021 fire. The new configuration features 12 additional rooms and is scheduled for a March relaunch.

More on signs of Montgomery County’s travel recovery is in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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This video tour shows the interior of the former Elkins Estate, which will be transitioning into an accommodation site for 2023.