The total global hotel construction pipeline stands at 13,420 hotel projects and 2,253,499 rooms, according to Lodging Econometrics' "Global Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report" for the second quarter of 2021. Year over year, the pipeline decreased 9 percent by projects and 7 percent by rooms. However, the construction pipeline is up 94 percent by projects over the cyclical low established in 2011 when global counts were at 6,907 hotels and 1,257,296 rooms.
There are 6,197 hotels and 1,142,207 rooms currently under construction worldwide, dropping 10 percent by projects and 7 percent by rooms year over year. Hotels scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are down 21 percent by projects and 19 percent by rooms to end the second quarter with 3,623 hotels and 527,392 rooms. Projects in the early planning stage stand at 3,600, just eight projects short of the record high established in the fourth quarter of 2019, while rooms hit an all-time high count of 583,900 this quarter.
Global Development
The top countries by project count are the U.S. with 4,787 hotels and 598,111 rooms and China with 3,454 projects and a record high of 661,043 rooms. The U.S. accounts for 36 percent of projects in the total global hotel construction pipeline while China accounts for 26 percent, resulting in more than 60 percent of all global pipeline projects being concentrated in these two countries. Distantly following are the United Kingdom with 345 hotels and 52,925 rooms, Indonesia with 318 hotels and 51,197 rooms and India with 282 hotels and 37,617 rooms.
Around the world, the markets with the largest pipeline counts are New York City with 146 hotels and 25,232 rooms; Chengdu, China, with 138 hotels and 28,009 rooms; and Los Angeles with 135 hotels and 22,586 rooms. Dallas follows with 132 hotels and 16,183 rooms, then Atlanta with 129 hotels and 71,845 rooms. Of the top 10 markets having more than 100 projects in the pipeline, five are in the U.S., four are in China and one is in the Middle East region.
Top Companies
The top five franchise companies leading the global construction pipeline by project count are Marriott International with 2,471 hotels and 425,351 rooms, Hilton with 2,450 hotels and 370,619 rooms, IHG Hotels & Resorts with 1,669 hotels and 246,575 rooms, Accor with 913 hotels and 168,562 rooms and Hyatt Hotels Corp. with 371 hotels and 73,767 rooms. These five companies account for 59 percent of all projects in the global pipeline.
Throughout the first half of 2021, 1,100 hotels opened worldwide, accounting for 161,734 rooms. LE research analysts forecast a total of 2,802 new hotels with 414,696 rooms to open by year-end. In 2022, 3,122 new hotel openings with 476,185 rooms are expected to open, with 1,008 of these openings located in the U.S. For 2023, LE is forecasting 2,890 new hotels, accounting for 468,645 rooms, opening around the world.