SeaWorld's United Parks & Resorts confirms Orlando hotel plans

SeaWorld Orlando's parent company, United Parks & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: PRKS), confirmed the Central Florida parks will be the first to have the company's on-site hotels.

The Orlando-based marine theme park company, during its Feb. 28 fourth-quarter 2023 earnings call, said it is targeting its first hotel to be built in Orlando — and market research showed there was significant demand for theme park hotels.

United Parks & Resorts' CEO Marc Swanson said during the call the company has about 400 acres of developable land around its parks — no specifics were shared on the acreage around each park. The company said it is looking at partnering or licensing with brands as possible options, but there were no other details.

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SeaWorld Entertainment Inc.

"We are currently evaluating options with respect to who will build and manage these hotels," Swanson said. "People are fans of hotels, they recognize the potential of having hotels at our parks. Many other companies have been successful with that."

For example, Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort both have multiple hotel on-site properties. Experts previously have said hotels help theme parks capture repeat business from customers.

Still, Swanson added that the company has not decided yet to spend money on hotels, and it will not do so until it is confident it can get at least a 20% return on hotel investments.

Hints at SeaWorld adding hotels emerged in recent months when Orlando Business Journal reported plans filed for two separate hotels on SeaWorld-owned property.

In December, the company filed a development plan review application with Orange County for a project called "Starboard DP." More details with the filing show the project request is "to construct a 504-room hotel on 29.92 acres." Three parcels of land that primarily front the northwest corner of Central Florida Parkway and International Drive make up the land designated in the application.

Then in January, SeaWorld filed a development plan review request with the county for a 250-room hotel on the east side of the Discovery Cove property on land largely used for guest parking. Materials submitted for the request refer to the plans as "Project Canopy," and outline a six-story, 288,637-square-foot project on the 50-acre property.

Meanwhile, the company said it plans to spend about $225 million in capital expenditures at its parks with a majority of the spend (about $175 million) for ongoing maintenance and new rides, attractions, shows and events. The remaining $50 million will be used for expansion, such as spending $1.9 million this year to expand capacity and throughput at the Expedition Cafe, a restaurant at SeaWorld Orlando.

United Parks & Resorts reported it welcomed 21.6 million visitors to its parks in fiscal-year 2023, down 1.5% — or 300,000 fewer visitors — from fiscal-year 2022. However, the company said the 4.96 million visitors the parks welcomed in fourth-quarter 2023 was up 0.5% from 4.94 million the same time the previous year.

See more on United Parks & Resorts' financials here.

United Parks & Resorts— one of Central Florida's largest employers, with nearly 5,000 local workers — owns 12 theme parks across the U.S., including SeaWorld Orlando and Discovery Cove in Orlando, as well as Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and more. The company also owns and operates water parks such as Aquatica in Orlando, where late last year it announced it plans to add new attractions.

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