PORTSMOUTH, NH—Analysts at Lodging Econometrics report that the total number of hotel construction projects in the Middle East is up 13 percent year over year (YOY), and currently at 561 projects/154,627 rooms. The number of rooms under construction is up 20 percent by projects YOY to 339 projects/98,653 rooms, those scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are up 21 percent YOY at 125 projects/32,116 rooms, and projects in early planning are down 12 percent YOY at 97 projects/23,858 rooms.
The top hotel companies in the Middle East’s construction pipeline are Marriott International with 94 projects/22,641 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 81 projects/22,456 rooms, and AccorHotels with 79 projects/24,491 rooms. The largest brand in the pipeline for each of the these companies is Courtyard by Marriott with 15 projects/3,112 rooms, Hilton’s full-service hotel with 26 projects/9,215 rooms, and Accor’s Adagio City Aparthotel with 13 projects/2,529 rooms.
The countries with the most hotel construction in the Middle East are Saudi Arabia with 202 projects/60,392 rooms, United Arab Emirates with 186 projects/53,717 rooms, and Qatar with 56 projects/14,307 rooms. Cities in the Middle East with the largest pipelines are Dubai, UAE, with 141 projects/40,266 rooms, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with 58 projects/11,364 rooms, and Doha, Qatar, with 52 projects/12,680 rooms.