STR: U.S. leads Q1 hotel openings

The U.S. led the world in new hotel and room openings during Q1 2021, according to global pipeline data from STR’s AM:PM platform. At the same time, the country’s construction activity continued to decline in comparison with pre         pandemic levels.

Over the three-month period, the U.S. opened 220 properties accounting for 26,057 rooms. Four additional countries opened more than 2,000 rooms during the same period. 

  1. U.S. (26,057 rooms)
  2. China (12,418 rooms) 
  3. Japan (2,499 rooms) 
  4. Australia (2,382 rooms)
  5. United Kingdom (2,214 rooms)

The Pipeline

The number of rooms currently in construction in the U.S. is down almost 34,000 from the country’s all-time construction peak (220,207 rooms in April 2020). In total, the country has 186,269 rooms under construction, with 237,703 rooms in the planning stages and 214,287 rooms in the final planning stage. 
 

Among key U.S. markets, New York (21,055) and Las Vegas (8,579) lead in room construction. Two other markets have 5,000 rooms in that final phase of the pipeline: Los Angeles has 6,395 rooms underway while Atlanta has 5,407 rooms.