Hotel Fire Safety Compliance: FEMA's National Master List by State, 2026

Hotel-Motel National Master List by state and territory, October 27, 2026

Checked quarterly. Last checked 2026-10-27. Entries are neutral records of public data; each links to its source record.

What a hotel fire safety listing certifies under the 1990 Act

A listing records that a state approver accepted the property as meeting two federal guidelines: smoke detectors in every guest room and, above 3 stories, sprinklers.

The Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990, Public Law 101-391, was signed on September 25, 1990. Its guidelines, codified at 15 U.S.C. 2225, require hard-wired, single-station smoke detectors in each guest room under NFPA 74 or its successor, and an automatic sprinkler system under NFPA 13 or 13R in each place of public accommodation except those that are 3 stories or lower.

Under 15 U.S.C. 2224, each state, acting through its Governor or the Governor's designee, submits the properties that meet the guidelines, and FEMA compiles the national master list. The USFA program page says listing is voluntary, carries no fee, and that the FEMA ID does not expire once assigned.

National Master List (NML): The U.S. Fire Administration's list of hotels, motels and similar places of public accommodation that a state approver has accepted as meeting the Act's smoke detector and sprinkler guidelines.

FEMA ID: The six-character identifier USFA assigns on approval: a two-letter state code followed by a number.

Who is on the list: 57,813 properties by type, height and sprinkler flag

Nearly all listings are hotels and motels, about two in five sit in buildings of 4 or more stories, and the self-reported sprinkler flag is present on 99.6% of those taller buildings.

The USFA export downloaded on October 27, 2026 has 57,814 rows and 57,813 distinct FEMA IDs; one ID appears twice. 55,419 listings (95.9%) are typed Hotel/Motel.

22,431 listings (38.8%) report 4 or more stories. Of these, 22,347 carry the field value 'Sprinkler System Present' and 84 leave it blank. A blank field is a gap in the record, not evidence that a building lacks sprinklers.

Among listings of 1 to 3 stories, 16,764 of 35,375 (47.4%) report sprinklers even though the Act does not require them at that height. Local codes may require them; see our fire code adoption by state report.

Listed hotels per 100 hotel establishments, state by state

The national ratio is 98.8 listings per 100 establishments, but the state spread is wide: from 45.3 in Maine to 153.3 in Washington, DC.

The denominator is Census County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 721110 (hotels and motels, except casino hotels), which counts 55,895 establishments with paid employees in the 50 states and DC. The numerator is the 55,241 listings typed Hotel/Motel in the same area.

25 of 51 jurisdictions are at or above 100 listings per 100 establishments. A ratio above 100 does not mean every hotel is listed: the list counts buildings registered by applicants, CBP counts payroll establishments, and listings for closed or rebranded properties can stay on the list until a state or USFA removes them.

Low ratios in Maine (45.3), Wyoming (58.0) and New Jersey (63.5) point to many hotel establishments that have not applied. Listing is voluntary and mainly matters to properties that want federal travelers or federally funded meetings.

How the list changed, 2015 to 2026

Archived copies show the list growing about a fifth from December 2016 to February 2025, then losing 2,286 IDs in 2025, mostly in Florida.

USFA's export has no date-added field. To measure change, this report compared the live export with copies of the same export captured by the Internet Archive between 2015 and 2025 and counted FEMA IDs that appear or disappear between captures.

From the February 2025 capture to October 2026, 49 jurisdictions gained listings on net and 7 lost listings. Florida's net change was -2,321 and California's -314; Texas gained 95.

The Florida drop has a clear profile. Of 2,350 Florida IDs removed between February and December 2025, 1.1% were in buildings of 4 or more stories (versus 51.6% of Florida listings that stayed), 92.9% matched no brand (versus 39.0%), and the median ID number was about 2,150 (versus 5,645). The export does not say why; the pattern fits a cleanup of older low-rise records rather than a loss of large hotels. The Florida Division of State Fire Marshal handles Florida approvals.

Brand names on the hotel fire safety list

Two in three listings carry one of 66 brand names; the largest ten account for 31.7% of the list.

Brands were matched only where the property name contains the exact brand string (for example 'Holiday Inn Express' or 'Courtyard by Marriott'). 38,753 listings (67.0%) matched; 19,060 remain independent or unclassified, which includes branded hotels whose listed name omits the brand. Brands are shown as names, not grouped into parent companies.

Cities with the most listed hotels

The list is spread thin: 7,972 city names appear, and the top 20 cities hold 10.1% of listings.

City counts follow the city field in the export. Suburbs and airport areas listed under their own municipality are counted there, so metro totals are larger than these city counts.

Federal travel rules that drive listings

The list matters commercially because federal travel and federally funded meetings are tied to it.

5 U.S.C. 5707a requires each agency to ensure that not less than 90 percent of employees' commercial-lodging room nights in a fiscal year are booked in approved places of public accommodation, and bars GSA lodging directories from listing properties that are not approved.

The Federal Travel Regulation, 41 CFR 301-11.6, tells employees they should always stay in a fire safe facility that meets the Act. 15 U.S.C. 2225a bars federal funds for meetings, conventions, conferences or training seminars held in non-compliant places, unless the agency head grants a public-interest waiver.

In its Federal Register notice of March 27, 2025, FEMA estimated 2,021 respondents and 2,630 responses a year for the declaration form properties use to apply, with a total respondent cost of $40,178 and a federal cost of $104,267. Those responses equal about 4.5% of the current list, though they include updates as well as new applications.

The hotel fire record behind the guidelines

Hotel fires are far less common than in 1980, and the data USFA publishes still links losses to missing suppression.

The USFA topical report on hotel and motel fires estimates 3,900 hotel and motel fires a year from 2014 to 2016, causing 15 deaths, 100 injuries and $100 million in property loss annually. The same report cites an NFPA estimate of 12,200 hotel and motel fires in 1980.

Cooking caused 55 percent of hotel and motel fires. In nonconfined fires in occupied hotels and motels, smoke alarms were not present in 10 percent and automatic extinguishing systems were not present in 45 percent (2014 to 2016).

The 2014 to 2016 report is the latest USFA topical report on hotels found for this research; newer national hotel fire estimates were not located.

What the National Master List cannot tell you

The list is a registration record, not an inspection result, and its fields are largely self-reported.

• Approval rests with each state's designated official; the 2012 USFA FAQ said this is usually the state fire marshal. Verification practice varies by state.
• The export has no approval date, inspection date or removal reason, so change can only be measured between dated copies.
• Stories and sprinkler fields come from the application. A 2006 newspaper investigation summarized by IRE described a listed seven-story hotel found without guest-room sprinklers after a fatal fire, which shows the limits of self-reported data.
• Being unlisted says nothing about a building's compliance with state and local fire codes; many properties simply never apply.
• For your own building's obligations under the code your state adopted, use the requirement finder.

Counts and distributions

Download the calculations (CSV)

Key findings

1. The Hotel-Motel National Master List contained 57,813 distinct properties on October 27, 2026 (U.S. and territories).^[1]
2. 55,419 listed properties (95.9%) are typed Hotel/Motel; the rest include 1,771 Apartment/Condo, 307 Bed & Breakfast and 263 Short Term Rental listings (October 2026).^[1]
3. In the 50 states and DC, 55,241 listed hotels and motels compare with 55,895 hotel and motel establishments in 2023, or 98.8 per 100.^[1][9]
4. Maine has the lowest ratio, 45.3 listed hotels and motels per 100 establishments; Wyoming (58.0) and New Jersey (63.5) follow (October 2026 list, 2023 establishments).^[1][9]
5. Washington, DC (153.3), West Virginia (149.0) and Kentucky (147.6) have the highest ratios, which exceed 100 because the list and Census count different units.^[1][9]
6. Texas leads with 5,642 listings in October 2026, up 39.2% from 4,053 in December 2016.^[1][4]
7. Distinct listings rose +10,065 (21.1%) from December 2016 to October 2026.^[1][4]
8. Between February 20, 2025 and October 27, 2026, 2,465 FEMA IDs were added and 4,345 removed nationwide.^[1][7]
9. Florida listings fell from 6,499 in February 2025 to 4,178 in October 2026, a -35.7% change.^[1][7]
10. Of 2,350 Florida IDs removed in 2025, 1.1% were in buildings of 4+ stories, against 51.6% of Florida listings that stayed.^[7][8]
11. 22,347 of 22,431 listings in buildings of 4+ stories (99.6%) carry the sprinkler flag (October 2026).^[1]
12. 16,764 of 35,375 listings of 1 to 3 stories (47.4%) also report sprinklers, though the Act does not require them below 4 stories.^[1][12]
13. Houston (572), New York (468) and San Antonio (429) have the most listings of 7,972 city names (October 2026).^[1]
14. Holiday Inn Express (2,757), Best Western (2,722) and Hampton Inn (2,681) are the most-listed brand names; 19,060 listings match no brand string.^[1]
15. Federal agencies must book at least 90 percent of commercial-lodging room nights in approved places of public accommodation under 5 U.S.C. 5707a.^[14]

Executive summary

• FEMA's Hotel-Motel National Master List held 57,813 distinct properties on October 27, 2026; 55,419 (95.9%) were typed Hotel/Motel and 1,771 Apartment/Condo.
• Across the 50 states and DC there were 98.8 listed hotels and motels for every 100 hotel and motel establishments in Census County Business Patterns 2023.
• The state ratio runs from 45.3 per 100 in Maine to 153.3 in Washington, DC; 25 of 51 jurisdictions are at or above 100.
• Texas has the most listings (5,642), followed by California (4,848) and Florida (4,178).
• The list grew from 47,748 properties in December 2016 to 59,693 in February 2025, then fell to 57,407 by December 2025.
• Florida accounts for 70.5% of the IDs removed in 2025: 2,350 of 3,331. Most were low-rise, unbranded and carried older ID numbers.
• Exact brand-name matching assigns 67.0% of listings to 66 brand names; Holiday Inn Express, Best Western and Hampton Inn each exceed 2,600 listings.
• Of 22,431 listings in buildings of 4 or more stories, 22,347 (99.6%) report a sprinkler system, the Act's threshold for sprinklers.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides, services and research

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• Requirement Finder: fire inspection checklist by building and system
• Lithium-Ion Battery Fires Statistics
• Most Common Fire Code Violations
• Nursing Home Fire Safety Deficiencies
• Workplace Fire Deaths in the U.S.

Methodology

Primary data: the complete USFA Hotel-Motel National Master List export ('Download all listings', https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/hotel/api/properties/searchExport) downloaded on 2026-10-27, 57,814 rows. One FEMA ID (TX7604) appears on two rows for the same address; the second row was dropped, so all counts (types, states, cities, brands, stories, sprinkler shares and ratios) are of distinct FEMA IDs. Archived captures were deduplicated the same way. OpenFEMA was checked and does not host the list (44 datasets in the catalog, none on lodging).

History: the export has no date-added or removal field. The Internet Archive holds dated captures of the same export (older path /hotel/main/exportNationalList, newer /hotel/api/properties/searchExport). Ten captures from 2015-02-11 to 2025-12-19 were downloaded unmodified to raw/wayback and compared with the live file by FEMA ID. Rows with a blank ID in the 2015 capture were dropped. IDs that differ only by zero padding were kept as distinct because both forms coexist in the current file.

Denominator: Census County Business Patterns 2023 state file, NAICS 721110, legal form of organization 'all'; this is the latest release (the 2024 state file was not posted on 2026-10-27; the 2023 datasets page was last revised 2025-06-16). The ratio uses Hotel/Motel listings in the 50 states and DC. The Census API now requires a key, so the bulk file was used.

Brands: a listing is assigned to a brand only when its name contains an exact brand string, checked in a fixed order (more specific strings first). Names that begin with 'Courtyard' but omit 'Marriott' stay unclassified. Brand counts are floors, and brands are not grouped into parent companies.

Registry: the registry block lists one row per state or territory (entity = jurisdiction, action = listed properties and ratio, evidence = agency record). Every row is governed by the same federal statute, 15 U.S.C. 2224 (Public Law 101-391, enacted 1990-09-25); state approval procedures were not compiled. No individual property is singled out; unlisted properties are not named.

Limits: listing is voluntary and driven by federal travel; stories and sprinkler fields are self-reported; a blank sprinkler field is not proof of absence; CBP counts payroll establishments while the list counts registered buildings, so ratios above 100 are expected in places with stale or multi-building listings. Archive captures are point-in-time and may miss short-lived changes.

This report is not legal advice. Federal travel and fire code obligations depend on the specific facts and on the codes your state and locality have adopted.

Last updated 2026-10-27. The registry is rechecked quarterly.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, engineering, financial or investment advice. Requirements depend on the code edition your state and local fire marshal have adopted; confirm with your authority having jurisdiction.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (24)

• [1] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA). Hotel-Motel National Master List, full export (properties_data.csv). Snapshot pulled 2026-10-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [2] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA). About the Hotel-Motel National Master List. Current page, checked 2026-10-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [3] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA), via Internet Archive. Hotel-Motel National Master List export, Internet Archive capture of 2015-02-11. 2015-02-11. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [4] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA), via Internet Archive. Hotel-Motel National Master List export, Internet Archive capture of 2016-12-12. 2016-12-12. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [5] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA), via Internet Archive. Hotel-Motel National Master List export, Internet Archive captures of 2017-09-28, 2019-01-10 and 2020-10-18. 2017 to 2020. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [6] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA), via Internet Archive. Hotel-Motel National Master List export, Internet Archive captures of 2021-12-03, 2022-06-20 and 2023-06-05. 2021 to 2023. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [7] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA), via Internet Archive. Hotel-Motel National Master List export, Internet Archive capture of 2025-02-20. 2025-02-20. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [8] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA), via Internet Archive. Hotel-Motel National Master List export, Internet Archive capture of 2025-12-19. 2025-12-19. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [9] U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns 2023, state file (cbp23st.zip), NAICS 721110. Reference year 2023. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [10] U.S. Census Bureau. 2023 County Business Patterns datasets page. Page last revised 2025-06-16. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [11] Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (U.S. Code text). 15 U.S. Code 2224: National master list of places of public accommodation. Current code. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [12] Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (U.S. Code text). 15 U.S. Code 2225: Fire prevention and control guidelines for places of public accommodation. Current code. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [13] Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (U.S. Code text). 15 U.S. Code 2225a: Prohibiting Federal funding of conferences held at non-certified places. Current code. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [14] Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (U.S. Code text). 5 U.S. Code 5707a: Approved accommodations percentage. Current code. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [15] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register and GSA. Federal Travel Regulation, 41 CFR 301-11.6 (Part 301-11). Current through 2026-10. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [16] U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo). Public Law 101-391, Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (104 Stat. 747). Enacted 1990-09-25. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [17] Federal Register (FEMA notice). Agency Information Collection Activities: Federal Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Declaration Form (FR Doc. 2025-05196). Published 2025-03-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [18] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA). Hotel and Motel Fires (2014-2016), Topical Fire Report Series Vol. 19, Issue 4. 2014 to 2016 (published July 2018). Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [19] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA). Hotel and Vacation Rental Fire Safety. Page last reviewed 2023-04-01. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [20] Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of State Fire Marshal. FEMA ID Information. Current page. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [21] FEMA. OpenFEMA DataSets catalog (API). Checked 2026-10-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [22] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA), via Internet Archive. Hotel-Motel National Master List page, Internet Archive capture of 2012-01-05. 2012-01-05. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [23] National Fire Protection Association. NFPA 13R Standard Development page. Current. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [24] National Fire Protection Association. NFPA 72 Code Development page. Current. Accessed 2026-10-27.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (1)

• [25] Investigative Reporters and Editors. Federal list of safe structures flawed (summary of Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting). 2006-01-24. Accessed 2026-10-27.