Nearly 2.3 million hotel rooms were sold in Kent County in 2024 - the highest in the region’s history and surpassing record-setting 2023 levels by 5%.
Experience Grand Rapids Vice President of Marketing Kate Lieto says the area is clearly on the right trajectory, recovering significantly from the hit tourism took in the pandemic with numbers more than 10% higher.
“So it’s really in the rearview of comparing ourselves to that pre- pandemic level in the tourism realm for Grand Rapids. That's not the case for every destination, but we did see a full recovery so we we're filling that we're past that in the tourism area barrier and happy to say that.”
The record numbers brought in nearly $275 million in revenue in 2024, an almost 6% increase over 2023 as tracked by the Kent County Treasurers Office.
Additionally, group room sales were the highest in the destination’s history with more than 169,000 sold, an important metric for measuring the impact of group sales and convention business.
Experience Grand Rapids also credited partners at the West Michigan Sports Commission for playing a strong role in the record-breaking year and as key players in the expected growth for 2025.
