Appleton, WI hotel market report, Q1 2026

Appleton's hotels are earning record rates with almost no new competition on the way. Over the twelve months to April 2026 the market ran 57.37% occupancy, a $116.59 ADR and $66.88 RevPAR, every measure up on the year, and not one hotel is under construction.

Executive summary

Appleton is the economic and healthcare hub of the Fox Cities. Over the trailing twelve months, occupancy was +0.91%, ADR +2.19% and RevPAR +3.11%: more demand and modest rate growth against flat supply.

CoStar tracks 34 hotels in the market (30 open) with about 2,657 inventory rooms. Its performance pool is 2,789 analytic rooms, the hotels that report data to CoStar. Nothing is under construction, and the only planned project, a 90-room Residence Inn, is not expected before 2028. Existing hotels can keep absorbing demand without new competition.

Demand is spread across medical travel, corporate transient, group and convention, and a growing leisure segment, anchored by ThedaCare, Thrivent Financial and Kimberly-Clark. Two brand conversions are due in 2026: the Cambria becomes a SpringHill Suites by Marriott (July 2026) and the Microtel becomes a Spark by Hilton (May 2026).

The market

Appleton is the largest city in Outagamie County and the principal city of the Fox Cities metro, which spans Outagamie and Calumet counties and has about 249,000 people. It sits on the Fox River in east-central Wisconsin, about 30 miles south of Green Bay and 100 miles north of Milwaukee. That makes it a regional center with its own corporate demand, not an overflow market for bigger cities.

The economy rests on healthcare, financial services, specialty paper manufacturing and education. ThedaCare's regional medical complex is the dominant employer and the main source of healthcare hotel demand. Thrivent Financial and the firms around it generate a lot of corporate transient travel, while Kimberly-Clark, Appvion and Pierce Manufacturing (an Oshkosh Corp subsidiary) bring industrial, contractor and extended-stay stays. Lawrence University and Fox Valley Technical College add education demand.

Downtown keeps drawing investment. The Fox Commons redevelopment of the former City Center Plaza adds housing, a food hall and retail on College Avenue. The Fox Cities Exhibition Center, opened in 2018 next to the Hilton Paper Valley, is a real source of group demand, but its management changed when the Hilton Paper Valley's contract ended in late 2025, which adds near-term uncertainty. The Fox Cities Marathon, Avenue of Flags events and college athletics bring periodic demand peaks.

New supply

Appleton's pipeline is about as small as it gets. CoStar's April 2026 data shows no hotels under construction and no rooms delivered in the last twelve months. One hotel is in final planning, and neither CoStar nor local research shows any other proposed project. That is good news for existing hotels over the next two to three years.

The Residence Inn has not broken ground. At 90 rooms it would add 3.4% to today's 2,657-room inventory, an amount the market can absorb if demand keeps growing.

Two hotels change flags in 2026. Neither adds rooms, but both change the competitive set:

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Demand drivers

Appleton's demand comes from healthcare, corporate transient, manufacturing, leisure, events and education. That spread protects it from a downturn in any one sector and helped the market recover from COVID faster than the state average.

Healthcare and medical

ThedaCare's regional medical complex, including ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton, is the largest single demand driver. It brings patient families, visiting physicians and traveling clinical staff in every season. ThedaCare employs about 7,500 people in the Fox Cities and keeps investing, including an ICU expansion. Medical travel is less sensitive to rate and less seasonal than leisure, so it gives Appleton hotels a stable floor.

Corporate and business transient

The Fox Cities corporate corridor fills weekdays: Thrivent Financial (~4,000 employees), Kimberly-Clark (~2,500), Appvion (~1,200) and hundreds of smaller regional firms. Pierce Manufacturing has invested more than $150 million in Appleton facility expansions through 2026, bringing contractor, vendor and recruiting stays. Advisors, auditors and technology consultants working with Thrivent add recurring room nights.

Leisure and tourism

Appleton has built its leisure draw around downtown College Avenue, with restaurants, bars, shops, the Appleton Art Center and the History Museum at the Castle. The Fox River waterfront at Jones Park draws summer visitors. Weekend travelers from Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay fill rooms the weekday corporate guests leave. The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center hosts touring shows all year, and Lawrence University brings guest artists and events.

Events and conventions

The Fox Cities Exhibition Center (38,000 square feet inside plus a 17,000-square-foot outdoor plaza) has generated steady group demand since 2018. Next door, the 388-room Hilton Paper Valley is its natural headquarters hotel, though the end of the Hilton's management contract in late 2025 brings uncertainty about event continuity and marketing. The Fox Cities Marathon in the fall, Avenue of Flags events and youth sports tournaments add demand peaks.

University and education

Lawrence University (about 1,500 students) and Fox Valley Technical College (10,000+ students, with enrollment growth of 6% to 10% in 2025) bring prospective students, visiting faculty, speakers and alumni. Lawrence is expanding into donated space at City Center East, which could add event visits over time. FVTC's growth supports stays tied to regional workforce training and corporate education.

Performance

All performance figures are from CoStar's April 2026 report for the Appleton market. CoStar measures performance on a pool of 2,789 analytic rooms, the hotels that report, against a total inventory of about 2,657 rooms in 34 tracked hotels.

Against the last ten years, rate has broken out. Occupancy is inside its usual range and above average; ADR and RevPAR are above their ranges, both at ten-year highs.

Seasonality

Appleton has a classic northern Wisconsin summer peak. Occupancy builds from May through August and tops out in July at about 71%, then falls through fall and winter. January and February are the trough, at about 42% to 47%, with cold weather, less leisure travel and fewer conventions. ADR follows the same arc, peaking at about $150 to $155 in summer and easing to about $100 in January and February. The 2026 year-to-date figures cover only those two trough months, so they should not be read as the full-year trend.

Appleton vs. Oshkosh and Green Bay

Appleton leads its peers on occupancy, at 57.37% against Oshkosh's 50.6% and Green Bay's 54.7%: more demand for the rooms it has. But its $116.59 ADR trails both Oshkosh ($124.88) and Green Bay ($137.01), which says Appleton is underpricing its rooms for the demand it has. RevPAR of $66.88 is below Green Bay's $74.91 and above Oshkosh's $63.17. The main lever for Appleton operators is rate, through mix and pricing discipline, not more occupancy.

Brands and white space

This section uses CoStar's full property list for the market (34 tracked hotels), checked against web research to confirm each open hotel's brand and segment. It differs from the CoStar performance pool, which counts only reporting hotels. The 2026 conversions are noted.

Wyndham is the largest franchise parent by hotel count, with nine hotels across AmericInn, La Quinta, Super 8, Baymont, Microtel (converting), Howard Johnson, Travelodge and Wyndham Garden, from economy to upper midscale. Hilton is strong at the top, anchored by the 388-room Hilton Paper Valley plus a DoubleTree, a Hampton Inn and the incoming Spark by Hilton. Marriott has a Courtyard, a Fairfield and a Four Points by Sheraton, with the SpringHill Suites conversion coming, which makes it the parent growing fastest here. IHG has a Holiday Inn and a Candlewood Suites; Choice Hotels and Best Western have modest footprints.

Risks and headwinds

The Exhibition Center's management change

The Hilton Paper Valley stopped managing the Fox Cities Exhibition Center in December 2025. That leaves near-term uncertainty about group and convention bookings. The center is a material demand generator for the whole market and especially for the Hilton Paper Valley itself, and a long search or transition could soften group room nights in 2026. The city's planned upgrades help long term but add uncertainty for now.

Rate lags the peers despite leading on occupancy

Appleton leads its peers on occupancy (57.37% against Oshkosh's 50.6% and Green Bay's 54.7%) but trails both on ADR ($116.59 against $124.88 and $137.01). In effect the market underprices its rooms for its demand. Closing that gap is the biggest RevPAR lever, through rate discipline, better mix and repricing group and corporate contracts.

Interest rates and capital markets

High borrowing costs keep weighing on hotel sales and new-build financing nationally. That holds back new supply, but it also limits renovation and PIP capital, which can widen the gap between well-capitalized and thinly capitalized owners. Appleton's 10.2% cap rate reflects this and may limit institutional buyers' appetite.

Conversion disruption

The Cambria-to-SpringHill and Microtel-to-Spark conversions will bring temporary disruption: rooms out of service during renovation, guest confusion and lost loyalty points. Both should strengthen the competitive set long term, while in the short run they may lift occupancy at competing hotels.

Concentrated corporate demand

Corporate demand rests on a small number of anchor employers. A significant cut at ThedaCare, Thrivent, Kimberly-Clark or Pierce Manufacturing, whether through automation, consolidation or relocation, could hit hotel demand hard. Appleton does not have the depth of a top-25 metro that can absorb one employer's cuts without a RevPAR impact.

Outlook and opportunities

2026 and 2027

The near-term outlook is modestly positive. Nothing is under construction, healthcare and financial-services demand continues, and two midscale hotels are moving up toward upper-midscale standards, which supports stable occupancy and gradual rate growth. In the base case, RevPAR growth of +3% to +5% is achievable. The main near-term risk is the Exhibition Center transition, which could soften group demand through mid-2026 if a new manager is not found quickly.

2028 to 2030

The 90-room Residence Inn (around 2028) would be the market's first new Marriott extended-stay hotel in the modern era and fill a known brand gap. At 3.4% of inventory it is manageable, though it will press harder on the extended-stay competitors: Extended Stay America, Candlewood and MainStay. Continued healthcare employment growth, ThedaCare's expansion and downtown revitalization support demand growing faster than supply over the period.

Opportunities

• Selective acquisitions. A 10.2% cap rate and $51,500 a room open value-add acquisitions for investors willing to underwrite near-term renovation. Economy hotels with conversion potential (Holiday Inn Express, Home2 Suites or Staybridge Suites franchises) offer the best risk-adjusted returns.
• The extended-stay gap. Hilton's Home2 Suites and Marriott's TownePlace Suites are both absent despite clear extended-stay demand from healthcare, manufacturing and contractors. New construction or conversion to these brands has a compelling demand case.
• Group and convention positioning. The Exhibition Center transition gives a well-capitalized operator a chance to build a stronger hotel and exhibition-center partnership and capture group room nights displaced during the change.
• A Holiday Inn Express. IHG has no Holiday Inn Express in Appleton, though it is one of the strongest limited-service brands nationally. Entry through development or conversion at the right quality level is a low-risk, high-recognition opportunity.

Key takeaways

1. No new supply is a near-term tailwind. With nothing under construction and the one planned hotel not due until 2028, existing hotels face no meaningful new competition through at least 2027.
2. ADR has broken above its ten-year range. The $116.59 trailing ADR is above CoStar's ten-year typical ceiling of $111.19. Further growth depends on pricing discipline, mix and whether the Exhibition Center's group demand recovers. With Oshkosh reaching $124.88 on lower occupancy, there is a clear comp-set case for higher rates in Appleton.
3. Appleton leads its peers on occupancy and lags on rate. It fills more of its rooms than Oshkosh or Green Bay but charges less. Group repricing, channel management and brand upgrades are the main RevPAR levers.
4. The conversions show a maturing market. The Cambria-to-SpringHill and Microtel-to-Spark changes in 2026 move product toward upper midscale, in line with national traveler preferences, and raise the quality floor of the competitive set.
5. Brand gaps are an investment opportunity. Home2 Suites, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, TownePlace Suites and Hyatt Place are all missing from a market with proven corporate and healthcare demand. A 10.2% cap rate and $51,500 a room give an entry point with upside from better operations or a new flag.

Own a hotel in Appleton or the Fox Cities? Request a hotel valuation to see what it would sell for, ask for a market report on your own market, or download the underwriting model.

Sources and method. Occupancy, ADR, RevPAR and inventory are from CoStar market analytics, April 2026. Hotel inventory and pipeline are from the CoStar property database and export. Employer and economic data come from regional economic development sources, company filings and market research. Demand-segment estimates are analyst judgment based on CoStar data, regional reporting and primary research. Values in the trend and monthly charts are read from the report's charts, as noted under each. Prepared by Reed Gizinski, Hotel Data Tracking, Marcus & Millichap.

This report is for information only. It is not an appraisal or a valuation and is not investment advice. All figures should be independently verified before any investment decision.