Jump in Number of Non-Casino Hotel Rooms in Biloxi

The success of the year-old Margaritaville Resort and its pending expansion has captured a great deal of attention in recent months, adding to the continuing expansion of non-casino hotels in Biloxi.
In the past year, with Margaritaville and the new Hyatt Place leading the way, Biloxi has seen nearly 500 new hotel rooms come online. That’s an eight percent increase in one year.
City officials say others in the works, the La Quinta, the Hilton Garden Inn, the Watermark and Margaritaville Phase II, will add more than 700 new rooms in the future set to open in the next 18 to 24 months. That’s an 18 percent growth over a two to three year period.
Tourism leaders say this rate of growth of non-casino hotels on the Coast is the highest since the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans. MS Hotel and Lodging Association Executive Director Linda Hornsby said, “It signifies that it’s not just about gaming. Gaming is great and we are so thankful for it, but hotel development in the non-casino arena means is that there are other things for people to do when they get here, both families and just adults. That’s what everybody wants. We all want there to be a good diverse amount of attractions.”
These new additions put Biloxi at nearly 80 percent of what the hotel room inventory was before Hurricane Katrina.