PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—According to the latest Europe Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), Europe’s hotel construction pipeline increased 7 percent by projects and 11 percent by rooms year-over-year (YOY) to end Q3 2020 with 1,834 projects and 291,823 rooms. Much like other regions around the world, Europe’s hotel construction pipeline is experiencing slight delays to project timelines of approximately two to four months. Even as much of Europe goes under lockdown in response to surging cases of COVID-19, forcing millions to stay home, construction remains essential and this has kept pipeline counts steady YOY.
Rooms under construction stand at an all-time high of 151,471 rooms from 921 projects and are up 11 percent by projects and 15 percent by rooms YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 478 projects/75,166 rooms, down slightly YOY. Projects in the early planning stage have 435 projects/65,186 rooms, up 13 percent and 18 percent respectively YOY. During Q3 2020, Europe opened 96 hotels/12,014 rooms, the most opened in Europe in a single quarter of 2020 so far. LE analysts also recorded a 38 percent increase in the total number of hotels that opened in Q3 2020 versus Q2 2020—a strong sign.
The United Kingdom leads the construction pipeline with 345 projects/52,065 rooms, and then Germany with 310 projects/55,930 rooms. France follows with 168 projects/20,646 rooms. Next is Portugal, at an all-time high of 124 projects/14,430 rooms, and then Poland with 91 projects/14,282 rooms.
The cities in Europe with the largest pipelines include London with 91 projects/16,331 rooms; Dusseldorf, at all-time record counts, with 60 projects/11,510 rooms; and Paris at 41 projects/6,351 rooms. Next is Moscow with 31 projects and a total room count of 6,430, followed by Hamburg with 31 projects/6,313 rooms.
Accor leads franchise companies in Europe with the largest pipeline by projects (246 projects/34,483 rooms). Accor is followed by Marriott International with 215 projects/35,817 rooms. Hilton Worldwide is next with, an all-time high of 214 projects/33,641 rooms. Hilton is followed by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 152 projects/24,438 rooms.
The leading brands for these four companies are Accor’s Ibis brands with 103 projects/13,389 rooms and then Mercure Hotels with 29 projects/3,463 rooms, a record-high room count total, and Novotel with 26 projects/4,364 rooms. An up-and-coming brand for Accor is proving to be Tribe by Accor, with a record-high 15 projects/2,467 rooms in the pipeline in Q3 2020. Marriott International’s top brands are Moxy with 68 projects/12,187 rooms, Courtyard by Marriott with 26 projects/4,589 rooms, and Autograph Collection with 22 projects/2,873 rooms. Hilton Worldwide is led by Hampton by Hilton at all-time record high totals of 87 projects/13,635 rooms, Hilton Garden Inn with 47 projects/7,811 rooms, and DoubleTree by Hilton with an all-time high of 31 projects totaling 4,011 rooms. IHG’s top brands include Holiday Inn Express with 65 projects/10,022 rooms, Holiday Inn with 28 projects/6,798 rooms, and Hotel Indigo with 16 projects/1,691 rooms.
