At the close of the third quarter of 2020, the top five U.S. markets with the largest total hotel construction pipelines in terms of projects were Dallas with 154 hotels and 18,592 rooms, followed by Los Angeles with 150 hotels and 25,188 rooms, New York City with 144 hotels and 25,147 rooms, Atlanta with 134 hotels and 18,670 rooms and Houston with 109 hotels and 11,384 rooms, according to the latest report from Lodging Econometrics.
These top five markets account for 15 percent of the rooms in the total U.S. pipeline. Twenty of the top 50 markets in the U.S. have more than 50 projects in their hotel construction pipelines.
There are seven markets in the U.S. that have 30 or more projects under construction in their pipelines. New York City continues to have the greatest number of projects under construction with 105 hotels and 18,453 rooms underway. Atlanta follows with 44 hotels and 6,483 rooms; and then Dallas with 42 hotels and 5,086 rooms; Los Angeles with 41 hotels and 7,278 rooms; Nashville with 33 hotels and 5,532 rooms; Orlando with 31 hotels and 5,107 rooms; and Austin, Texas, with 30 hotels 5,228 rooms.
Of the top 50 markets in the U.S., there are 20 markets, including the seven listed above, that have 20 or more projects under construction in the pipeline.
Despite the impact COVID-19 has had on operating performance, development, renovation and conversion activity in the lodging industry continues. The top 50 markets in the U.S. saw 140 hotels with 17,195 rooms open in Q3 2020. The U.S. as a whole had 280 hotels with 31,271 rooms open in the quarter. Additionally, there are 1,259 hotels with 207,544 rooms under renovation or conversion at the end of the quarter. Eleven of the top 50 markets in the U.S. have 10 or more hotels undergoing renovation or conversion activity.