According to Lodging Econometrics' latest Latin America Construction Pipeline Trend report, the region's total construction pipeline stands at 579 hotels and 95,144 rooms at the close of Q3 2023. The region’s pipeline project counts are up slightly, at 6 percent year over year by projects and 5 percent year over year by rooms. At the Q3 close, there were 93 new project announcements accounting for 415,416 rooms, marking the largest number of new project and room announcements in Latin America since Q2 2017. Similarly, construction starts are the highest they’ve been since Q3 2019, standing at 54 hotels and 9,433 rooms.
Projects currently under construction are up 3 percent year over year to stand at 245 hotels and 43,004 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 171 hotels and 27,737 rooms, for a 4 percent year-over-year increase by projects and a 13 percent year-over-year increase by rooms. Projects in the early planning stage stand at 163 hotels and 24,403 rooms at the close of the quarter, up 14 percent and 16 percent year over year respectively.
Notably, the luxury and upper upscale chain scales hit record-high project and room counts at Q3, reaching the highest levels ever recorded by LE. The luxury chain scale closed the quarter at 100 hotels and 19,389 rooms, while the upper upscale chain scale closed Q3 at 108 hotels and 22,598 rooms.
Top Markets
Mexico continues to have the most projects in the Latin America hotel construction pipeline at the Q3 close, accounting for 39 percent of projects and 37 percent of rooms in the region’s total pipeline, with 226 hotels and 35,572 rooms. Brazil follows with 85 hotels and 14,304 rooms. The Dominican Republic’s pipeline grew substantially compared to Q3 2022, to close the quarter with a record 42 hotels and 10,060 rooms. Following the Dominican Republic is Peru with 25 hotels and 3,141 rooms, and then Argentina with 18 hotels and 1,945 rooms. These five countries combined account for 68 percent of all the projects and rooms in Latin America’s construction pipeline.
Cities in Latin America with the largest pipelines at the close of the third quarter include Mexico City with 23 hotels and 2,582 rooms; Riviera Maya, Mexico, with 15 hotels and 2,016 rooms; Lima, Peru, with 13 hotels and 1,875 rooms; Georgetown, Guyana, with 12 hotels and 1,558 rooms; and Sao Paulo with 11 hotels and 2,687 rooms.
Through the close of the third quarter, 43 new hotels with 7,366 rooms have opened in Latin America. The LE forecast for the remainder of the year expects another 29 new hotels with 5,650 rooms to open. If all of the forecasted new hotel openings occur in 2023, this will mark a new record-high for hotel openings in the region. LE analysts forecast new hotel openings in Latin America to rise to 107 hotels with 16,273 rooms in 2024 and increase again in 2025 to 117 new hotels with 18,990 rooms.