Last week, Lodging Econometrics looked at Asia Pacific construction pipeline trends, and found that the region's pipeline, excluding China, was down by two percent.
The numbers are even worse for China. The most recent China Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report found that the total pipeline is at 2,340 hotels/525,640 rooms, down 7 percent by projects year-over-year.
China has 1,671 hotels with 357,466 rooms under construction, down 11 percent by projects year-over-year. Hotels scheduled to start in the next 12 months, at 285 hotels and 66,192 rooms, are down by just one project while projects in the early planning stage, at 384 hotels and 101,982 rooms, are up 12 percent by projects—a bright spot in the report and a sign of China's long-term strength for future development.
Top Companies
Much as with the region as a whole (although in different order), the largest global franchise companies in the China Construction Pipeline by project are Marriott International with 234 hotels and 67,883 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 230 hotels and 63,088 rooms and InterContinental Hotels Group with 218 hotels and 59,784 rooms. The leading brands in the pipeline for each of these companies are Marriott Hotels with 50 hotels and 16,069 rooms, Hilton Hotels with 67 hotels and 24,058 rooms and IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 68 hotels and 15,291 rooms.
Top Markets
The markets with the largest pipelines by project count are Shanghai with 125 hotels and 23,252 rooms, Guangzhou with 100 hotels and 20,129 rooms, Suzhou with 88 hotels and 17,166 rooms and Chengdu with 82 hotels and 20,765 rooms.
Shanghai and Guangzhou have had the two largest pipelines for each of the last 11 quarters. They will also open the most hotels over the next 12 months—56 hotels and 7,551 rooms in Shanghai and 38 hotels with 5,322 rooms in Guangzhou.