LE: Hotel construction pipeline drops year over year

According to the latest "Global Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report" from Lodging Econometrics, the global hotel construction pipeline stands at 13,943 hotels and 2,312,410 rooms. Year over year, the total global pipeline decreased 7 percent by projects and 6 percent by rooms.
 
Projects under construction at year-end 2020 stood at 6,513 hotels and 1,169,418 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months were at 3,920 hotels and 573,352 rooms and there were an additional 3,510 hotels and569,640 rooms in the early planning stage to round out the total pipeline.
 
Globally during 2020, 2,562 hotels opened, accounting for 357,769 rooms. Of those openings, 636 hotels with 94,559 rooms opened in the fourth quarter of 2020.

LE expects 2,812 hotels with 424,844 rooms to open in 2021 and another 3,255 hotels with 498,631 rooms to open in 2022.

Top Countries, Top Cities

The top countries by project count are the United States with 5,216 hotels and 650,222 rooms and China with 3,375 hotels and 639,811 rooms. Sixty-two percent of all global projects in the pipeline are found within these two countries. The U.S. accounts for 37 percent of projects in the total global construction pipeline while China accounts for 24 percent. Following distantly is the United Kingdom with 372 hotels and 55,505 rooms, Indonesia with 333 hotels and 54,411 rooms and Germany with 300 hotels and 55,346 rooms.
 
Four of the leading cities with the largest construction pipeline totals are in the U.S. Those include New York City with 150 hotels and 25,640 rooms, Los Angeles with 148 hotels and 24,8058 rooms, Dallas with 147 hotels and 17,756 rooms and Atlanta with 140 hotels and 19,863 rooms. Following are three cities in China: Chengdu with 133 hotels and 27,304 rooms, Shanghai with 130 hotels and 25,215 rooms and Guangzhou with 125 hotels and 25,139 rooms. Dubai then follows with 121 hotels and 35,837 rooms.

Top Companies, Top Brands

The leading franchise companies in the global construction pipeline by project count are Marriott International with 2,584 hotels and 442,542 rooms, Hilton with 2,453 hotels and 371,315 rooms; IHG Hotels & Resorts with 1,697 hotels and 252,020 rooms; and Accor with 919 hotels and 167,974 rooms. These four companies account for 55 percent of all projects in the global pipeline.
 

Brands leading in the pipeline for each of these companies are Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 395 hotels and 47,620 rooms, Hampton by Hilton with 770 hotels and 103,086 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 650 hotels and 83,367 rooms and Accor’s Ibis Brands with 310 hotels and 43,467 rooms.