At the close of Q3 2019, Canada’s total hotel construction pipeline “soared to an all-time high,” analysts at Lodging Econometrics said, with 289 properties and 38,453 rooms underway. Construction pipeline hotels were up 17 percent and rooms are up “a remarkable” 28 percent year over year, the latest report claimed.
The country had 85 hotels with 10,337 rooms under construction as of the end of September. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months have experienced an “extraordinary” 47 percent increase in both hotels and rooms year over year, reaching a record high of 125 hotels with 14,574 rooms. Hotels in the early planning stage are at 79 hotels with an impressive 13,542 rooms. This is an 8 percent increase in hotels and a 46 percent increase in rooms. This substantial rise in rooms has increased the average hotel size in the early planning stage from 127 rooms a year ago to a lofty 171 rooms currently.
In the third quarter, Canada had 47 new project announcements with 5,760 rooms—the largest count that LE has recorded in the country for a single quarter, and a 42 percent quarter-over-quarter increase.
Through the third quarter, Canada opened 44 new hotels and 5,330 rooms with an additional seven new hotels and 641 rooms scheduled to open before the end of the year. In 2020, Lodging Econometrics expects 59 new hotels with 6,440 rooms to open across the country, while a further 70 hotels with 7,714 rooms are slated for 2021. If all the new hotels forecast for 2021 come online, it will be the largest count of new hotel openings since Lodging Econometrics began tracking the region in 2008.
Top Markets, Top Brands
Ontario is the most active province for pipeline hotels in Canada with 147 hotels and 19,442 rooms underway—a record high. Next is British Columbia, also at a record high with 47 hotels and 6,520 rooms, and then Alberta with 31 hotels and 4,889 rooms. Together these three provinces account for 80 percent of the rooms in Canada’s Pipeline.
Toronto is the city with the most hotels underway with 49 properties and 7,525 rooms in development, a record high and claiming 20 percent of all the rooms in Canada’s total construction pipeline. Following distantly are Niagara Falls with 14 hotels and 3,125 rooms, Ottawa with a record 14 hotels and 2,226 rooms, Vancouver with 14 hotels and 1,660 rooms, and Montreal with a record 13 hotels having 1,773 rooms. These five cities alone account for 42 percent of the rooms in the total pipeline.
The top franchise companies in Canada’s construction pipeline are Hilton at an all-time high with 58 hotels and 6,848 rooms, followed closely by Marriott International with a record 55 hotels having 6,951 rooms and then IHG with 50 hotels and 4,806 rooms. These three franchise companies make up 56 percent of the hotels in the total pipeline.
The top brands in Canada’s pipeline are IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 29 hotels and 2,838 rooms. Next is Hampton by Hilton with 27 hotels and 3,130 rooms and TownePlace Suites by Marriott with 14 hotels and 1,464 rooms.
Other noteworthy brands in the Canadian pipeline are Hyatt Place with 18 hotels and 3,043 rooms, Courtyard by Marriott with 11 hotels and 1,711 rooms and Best Western Plus with nine hotels and 772 rooms.