Dive Brief:
- Sports Illustrated Resorts is set to open a sports-themed lifestyle hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, near the Louisiana State University campus, the hospitality brand announced this week.
- The Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center hotel will convert to a Sports Illustrated Resorts property after Northshore Development and its investment partners, including the economic development arm of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, acquired the existing hotel. The project has also attracted investment from notable businesspeople such as former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal, who is an LSU graduate.
- The Baton Rouge property “advances the goal of Sports Illustrated Resorts to expand its national presence,” per a release, after Travel + Leisure Co. acquired the rights to bring the brand to college towns across the U.S. in 2023. The brand expansion comes as hospitality players look to capitalize on both sports tourism and growing demand in college-town markets.
Dive Insight:
Following a renovation, the Sports Illustrated Resorts property will feature a combination of vacation ownership, hotel and whole ownership units, according to the brand. The existing Hilton hotel will operate as such throughout 2026, with renovations slated to start early next year and be completed in late 2027.
The Baton Rouge location marks Sports Illustrated Resorts’ entry into a new premier sports market, joining others in the brand pipeline, including Tuscaloosa, Alabama, near the University of Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; and Chicago.
Geoff Richards, chief operating officer of vacation ownership at Travel + Leisure Co., told Hotel Dive the company looks to expand Sports Illustrated Resorts to “strong sports-driven markets where there’s real demand for experiences, not just places to stay.”
While additional opportunities are currently being explored, the focus is on expanding the brand in a thoughtful way, “making sure each location feels authentic to the community it’s part of,” he added.
As for Baton Rouge, Richards said the market offers “nationally recognized facilities, a rich college sports culture anchored by LSU, and a proven track record of hosting youth, amateur, and mega sporting events,” making it “a sports tourism engine.”
When Travel + Leisure Co. first announced plans to expand Sports Illustrated Resorts to major college markets, Richards said the vision was “to provide members a unique opportunity to totally immerse themselves in gameday life with a piece of their favorite college town.”
The hospitality brand is among others targeting college-town markets for their attractive, stable demand fundamentals. Hilton, for example, is reportedly preparing to launch Undergraduate by Hilton, intended to serve as a complement to its Graduate Hotels brand. Last month, Hilton filed a trademark application for the new brand with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Sports Illustrated Resorts also taps into the surging sports tourism market, which “is one of the strongest and most consistent areas of growth in travel right now, especially in college towns where there’s activity year-round,” Richards said.
