The total construction pipeline in Canada continued to expand at the close of the second quarter with 275 hotels and 37,359 rooms, up 5 percent by projects and rooms year over year, according to Lodging Econometrics' Canada Construction Pipeline Trend report.
Analysts at LE report that, at the Q2 close, projects presently under construction in Canada stand at 52 hotels with 7,021 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 88 hotels and 10,086 rooms. Early planning has the most substantial shift in projects year over year, showing a 30 percent increase by hotels and a 42 percent increase by rooms year over year with 135 hotels and 20,252 rooms. This sharp increase in early planning is standard late-cycle activity.
Top Markets
The top provinces in Canada with the most projects in the pipeline at the end of the quarter are dominated by Ontario at 159 projects and a record 22,027 rooms. Next is British Columbia with 52 hotels and 8,434 rooms and then Quebec with 22 hotels and 2,480 rooms. Together, these three provinces account for 85 percent of the hotels and 88 percent of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline. Distantly following are Alberta, with 18 hotels and 1,832 rooms, and Saskatchewan, with seven hotels and 674 rooms.
The top five cities in Canada with the largest pipelines, at the Q2 close, are led by Toronto with 62 hotels and 9,166 rooms, claiming 25 percent of all the rooms in the country’s total pipeline, and Vancouver with record-high project and room counts of 23 hotels and 3,634 rooms. Following are Montreal with 15 hotels and 1,805 rooms, Niagara Falls with 13 hotels and 4,712 rooms and Ottawa-Hull with 9 hotels/1,453 rooms.
Top Companies
Top hotel companies in Canada’s construction pipeline are Marriott International, leading with 75 hotels and 10,059 rooms, followed by Hilton with 66 hotels and 8,119 rooms and IHG Hotels & Resorts with 39 hotels and 4,014 rooms. These three companies make up 65 percent of the hotels and 59 percent of the rooms in the total pipeline. The largest brands in the pipeline for each of these companies are the Hampton by Hilton brands with 25 hotels and 2,910 rooms, Marriott’s TownePlace Suites with 19 hotels and 1,935 rooms and IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 17 hotels and 1,826 rooms.
Other notable brands in the Canadian pipeline are Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with record project and room totals of 19 hotels and 1,805 rooms and Home2 Suites by Hilton with 16 hotels and 1,699 rooms.
In the first half of 2023, 12 new hotels with 1,637 rooms opened in Canada with an additional 16 new hotels and 1,808 rooms scheduled to open before year-end, for a 1 percent growth rate. Next year, the country is poised to get 33 new hotels with 3,951 rooms and 2025 will have 43 new hotels with 4,537 rooms open, for a 1.1 percent and 1.2 percent growth rate, respectively.