PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—According to Lodging Econometrics (LE), Asia Pacific’s total hotel construction pipeline, excluding China, remained steady year-over-year (YOY) to end Q3 2020 with 1,820 projects totaling 385,194 rooms—up 2 percent by projects and down 1 percent by rooms YOY.
While coronavirus cases surge again across Europe and the United States, the Asia Pacific region has been one of the few in the world to successfully control the spread of COVID-19. This has allowed for hotel construction to continue throughout the region. During the third quarter of 2020, the Asia Pacific region, excluding China, saw 97 new hotels accounting for 20,587 rooms open, a 44 percent opening increase over the Q2 total, a sign that construction has resumed in much of the region.
At the end of the third quarter, the Asia Pacific pipeline had 947 hotel projects totaling 212,361 rooms under construction—down slightly from the peak project count hit last quarter. There are 392 projects with 77,894 rooms scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months. Counts in this stage of the pipeline remain essentially unchanged YOY. Projects in the early planning stage in the Asia Pacific pipeline stand at 481 projects/94,939 rooms—up 12 percent by projects and 6 percent by rooms YOY.
Countries with the largest pipelines in the Asia Pacific region, excluding China, are Indonesia with 346 projects/56,379 rooms, India with 252 projects/34,100 rooms, Japan with 186 projects/34,192 rooms, Australia with 174 projects/32,456 rooms, and Vietnam with 165 projects/62,052 rooms.
Cities outside of China with the largest construction pipelines in the Asia Pacific region are Jakarta, Indonesia, with 78 projects/13,459 rooms; Seoul, South Korea, with 66 projects/12,990 rooms; Bangkok, Thailand, with 51 projects/12,546 rooms; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with 49 projects/13,710 rooms; and Tokyo, Japan, with 34 projects/7,467 rooms.
The top four franchise companies in the region are: Marriott International with 278 projects/60,002 rooms; Accor with 218 projects/46,309 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 159 projects/33,665 rooms; and Hilton with an all-time high project count of 99 totaling 22,636 rooms.
Top brands in Asia Pacific’s construction pipeline, excluding China, are Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 50 projects/7,299 rooms and Courtyard by Marriott with 37 projects/7,595 rooms; Accor’s Ibis brands with 46 projects/8,980 rooms and Novotel with 46 projects/11,200 rooms; IHG’s Holiday Inn with 61 projects/12,675 rooms, Holiday Inn Express with 27 projects/5,582 rooms, and InterContinental Hotels with 18 projects/4,361 rooms; and Hilton Hotel & Resort with 33 projects/9,166 rooms and DoubleTree by Hilton with 32 projects/6,473 rooms. Additionally, Hilton’s Garden Inn brand has hit a record high in Q3 2020 with 23 projects/4,670 rooms.
