PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — According to Lodging Econometrics’ (LE) recent Asia Pacific Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report, which excludes China, the region’s total construction pipeline grew to 1,906 projects totaling 404,520 rooms at the end of Q2 2020, up 6 percent and 3 percent, respectively, year-over-year (YOY).
Excluding China, Asia Pacific currently has 996 hotel projects—a cyclical peak—and 225,734 rooms under construction. There are 415 projects with 82,122 rooms scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, and 495 projects/96,664 rooms in the early planning stage—up 19 percent by projects and 12 percent by rooms YOY. Additionally, during the second quarter of 2020, the Asia Pacific region, excluding China, saw 39 new hotels open, introducing 8,863 new rooms.
The countries with the largest pipelines in the Asia Pacific region, excluding China, as of the end of Q2 2020 are Indonesia, with 345 projects/56,373 rooms, India with 263 projects/35,839 rooms, and Japan with 243 projects/46,852 rooms. These three countries account for 45 percent of the projects in the total Asia Pacific pipeline, excluding China. Australia follows with 179 projects/33,672 rooms, and then Vietnam with 157 projects/62,085 rooms.
The Asia Pacific cities with the largest construction pipelines (excluding those in China) are Jakarta, Indonesia with 78 projects/13,508 rooms, Seoul, South Korea with 67 projects/13,233 rooms, and Tokyo, Japan with 59 projects/14,216 rooms. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia follows with 50 projects/13,325 rooms and then Bangkok, Thailand with 50 projects/12,711 rooms.
The top four franchise companies in the region are Marriott International with an all-time high of 294 projects/63,558 rooms; Accor with 214 projects/45,407 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 160 projects/33,721 rooms; and Hilton with an all-time high of 99 projects/22,797 rooms.
Top brands in Asia Pacific’s construction pipeline, excluding China, are Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 51 projects/7,495 rooms and Courtyard with 40 projects/8,295 rooms—both at record highs by project count. Accor’s Ibis brands have 46 projects/9,080 rooms and Novotel has 41 projects/9,973 rooms. IHG’s top brands are Holiday Inn with 58 projects/12,100 rooms and Holiday Inn Express with 30 projects/6,063 rooms followed closely by InterContinental Hotels, which has record-high counts of 21 projects/4,986 rooms. Hilton’s top brands include Hilton Hotel & Resort at a record high of 34 projects/9,464 rooms and DoubleTree with 32 projects/6,446 rooms. Additionally, Hilton Garden Inn has hit a record high this quarter with 22 projects/4,560 rooms.
Asia Pacific was one of the first regions of the world to successfully control the spread of COVID-19. This allowed for hotel construction to gradually restart at the end of April, causing only slight delays to project timelines. While the region has begun to see a resurgence of COVID-19 in some areas, it has not had a significant impact on hotel development and most developers are optimistic that projects will continue as planned, according to Lodging Econometrics.
