According to the most recent U.S. Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics, in the second quarter of 2023, the franchise companies with the largest pipelines in the U.S. are Marriott International with 1,511 hotels and 181,632 rooms, Hilton with record-high project and room counts of 1,470 hotels and 164,848 rooms and IHG with 811 hotels and 80,516 rooms. These three franchise companies comprise 68 percent of all projects in the total U.S. hotel construction pipeline.
The leading brands for each of these three companies are Home2 Suites by Hilton with record highs of 565 hotels and 57,970 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 306 hotels and 28,756 rooms and Marriott’s TownePlace Suites with all-time-high project and room counts of 345 hotels with 32,190 rooms.
Other prominent brands in the pipeline for these franchise companies are Marriott’s Residence Inn with a record-high 258 hotels with 31,119 rooms, Hampton by Hilton with 292 hotels and 29,796 rooms and IHG’s Avid Hotel with 132 hotels and 11,102 rooms.
In the second quarter of 2023, LE recorded a record-high 1,085 conversion projects, accounting for 106,408 rooms. Of these conversion totals, Hilton leads with 142 conversion hotels and 17,468 rooms. Following Hilton, the franchise companies with the largest number of conversion projects are G6 Hospitality, Marriott, Best Western Hotels & Resorts and IHG. These five franchise companies combined account for 47 percent of the conversion projects across the U.S. at the Q2 close.
Through Q2, 60 percent of the new hotels that opened in the U.S. were branded by Hilton, Marriott or IHG. Hilton opened 57 new hotels and 6,398 rooms, Marriott opened 56 new hotels and 7,309 rooms and IHG opened 22 new hotels and 2,304 rooms.
Top brands with the largest number of openings in the first and second quarters of 2023 are Home2 Suites by Hilton with 19 new hotels and 1,956 rooms, Hampton by Hilton with 19 new hotels and 1,977 rooms and Marriott’s SpringHill Suites with nine new hotels and 1,158 rooms.
LE's Forecast
LE analysts anticipate that Hilton will open the largest number of new hotels in 2023 with 145 new hotel projects and 17,793 rooms for a growth rate of 2.3 percent. Next, Marriott is forecast to open 144 hotels and 18,206 rooms for a growth rate of 2.0 percent, followed by IHG with 84 hotels and 9,416 rooms for a growth rate of 2.2 percent.
In 2024, LE forecasts that Marriott will lead new hotel openings with 192 new hotels and 22,898 rooms for a 2.5 percent growth rate. Also, with a growth rate of 2.5 percent in 2024, Hilton is anticipated to open 176 new hotels with 20,004 rooms and IHG with 111 new hotels and 10,924 rooms.
In 2025, LE analysts predict Marriott will open 256 new hotels and 29,572 rooms for a 3.1 percent growth rate, IHG is projected to open 202 new hotels and 19,390 rooms for a 4.4 percent growth rate and Hilton is forecast to open 139 new hotels and 14,780 rooms in 2025, for a 1.8 percent growth rate.