According to the third quarter report by analysts at Lodging Econometrics, the franchise companies leading the U.S. construction pipeline with the greatest number of new construction projects are Marriott International with 1,286 hotels and 166,174 rooms, Hilton with 1,223 hotels and 139,742 rooms, and IHG Hotels & Resorts with 769 hotels and 77,558 rooms. The construction pipelines for these three franchise companies comprise 68 percent of the total construction pipeline projects.
The leading brands by project count in the construction pipeline for each of these three companies are Hilton’s Home2 Suites by Hilton with 402 hotels and 41,846 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 301 hotels and 28,852 rooms, and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 246 hotels and 23,653 rooms. These three midmarket brands account for 20 percent of the projects in the total construction pipeline.
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Other significant brands in the pipeline for these franchises include Hilton’s Hampton by Hilton, reaching a cyclical peak with 271 hotels and 28,311 rooms and Tru by Hilton with 224 hotels and 21,518 rooms; Marriott’s TownePlace Suites with 204 hotels and 19,5693 rooms and Residence Inn with 203 hotels and 25,132 rooms; IHG’s Avid Hotel with 152 hotels and 13,255 rooms and Staybridge Suites with 122 hotels and 12,564 rooms.
Q3 Openings
In the third quarter, Marriott opened 60 new hotels and 7,882 rooms, accounting for 30 percent of all new hotel rooms that opened in the U.S. Hilton opened 45 new hotels with 4,923 rooms, accounting for 19 percent of newly opened rooms, and IHG opened 25 new hotels in Q3 with 2,459 rooms, accounting for 9 percent of rooms.
Year-to-date, through the end of the third quarter in 2021, Marriott has opened 212 new hotels with 28,298 rooms, accounting for 32 percent of new hotels and 33 percent of new rooms; Hilton has opened 169 new hotels with 21,786 rooms, accounting for 25 percent of new hotels and 26 percent of newly opened rooms, and IHG opened 98 new hotels with 9,828 rooms, accounting for 15 percent of new hotels and 12 percent of rooms opened in the U.S.
The LE forecast for new hotel openings in 2021 anticipates that Marriott will open 243 hotels and 32,944 rooms by year-end. Hilton is expected to open a total of 207 hotels and 26,056 rooms in 2021, and IHG is on track to open 145 hotels and 14,451 rooms. In 2022, LE forecasts Marriott will open 245 new hotels with 31,470 rooms, IHG will open 204 new hotels with 20,737 rooms, and Hilton is expected to open 192 new hotels with 22,090 rooms.