PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire—Lodging Econometrics (LE) has released its Q4 and year-end 2022 Global Construction Pipeline Trend Report. At the close of 2022, LE analysts stated that the total global construction pipeline stood at 14,267 projects, a 4 percent increase year-over-year (YOY), with 2,298,846 rooms. The global pipeline has remained relatively flat for three consecutive years, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic after reaching peak project and room counts in Q4 2019. However, three of the seven world regions tracked by LE—the United States, Canada, and the Asia Pacific—continue to have pipelines trending upward, YOY. The remaining regions stayed largely unchanged by project counts YOY.
At the close of Q4 2022, there were 6,035 projects/1,091,929 rooms under construction worldwide, down 1 percent by projects and 4 percent by rooms YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 3,591 projects/510,969 rooms, up 1 percent by projects YOY and down 1 percent by rooms YOY. Worldwide for Q4 2022, project and room counts in the early planning stage were at all-time highs and stood at 4,641 projects/695,948 rooms, up 13 percent by projects and 7 percent by rooms YOY. Also of note, conversions and renovations around the world reached peak project counts at the close of 2022. Conversion counts stood at 1,751 projects/214,880 rooms, up 21 percent by projects and 13 percent by rooms YOY, while renovations closed the quarter standing at 1,241 projects/212,219 rooms, up 64 percent by projects and 42 percent by rooms YOY.
The top countries for new hotel construction by project count in Q4 2022 were led by the United States with 5,465 projects/650,626 rooms and China with 3,581 projects/675,074 rooms. These two countries accounted for 63 percent of the projects in the total global construction pipeline with the United States claiming 38 percent of the projects and China accounting for 25 percent of projects. Distantly following are India with 383 projects/47,539 rooms, the United Kingdom with 295 projects/43,332 rooms, and Canada with 267 projects/35,758 rooms.
The top five cities with the largest construction pipeline totals at the Q4 2022 close were the United States and China. Those include Dallas, Texas, with record project counts of 176 projects/20,790 rooms; Atlanta, Georgia, with 145 projects/18,100 rooms; Chengdu, China, with 132 projects/26,891 rooms; Los Angeles, California, with 122 projects/19,419 rooms; and Shanghai, China, with 117 projects/22,539 rooms.
The leading franchise companies in the global construction pipeline by project count at the Q4 2022 close were Marriott International with 2,656 projects/429,007 rooms; Hilton Worldwide with 2,661 projects/384,498 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 1,736 projects/257,145 rooms; Accor with 932 projects/163,955 rooms; and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts with 722 projects/95,766 rooms. These five companies accounted for 61 percent of all projects in the global pipeline.
The brands with the most significant number of projects in the pipeline for each of these companies were Hilton’s upper-midscale Hampton by Hilton brands, with 770 projects/100,246 rooms; IHG’s upper-midscale Holiday Inn Express, with 598 projects/74,729 rooms; Marriott’s upper-midscale Fairfield Inn, with 349 projects/42,596 rooms; Accor’s midscale and economy Ibis brands with 254 projects/31,657 rooms; and the upper-midscale La Quinta by Wyndham with 135 projects/11,363 rooms.
Throughout 2022, 1,842 new hotels/284,814 rooms opened worldwide. Four hundred and sixty-nine of those hotels and 77,018 rooms opened in the fourth quarter of 2022. LE analysts forecast that 2,480 new hotels, accounting for 380,736 rooms, will open in 2023 and another 2,707 new hotels/416,173 rooms will open by year-end 2024.
