PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Canada’s hotel construction pipeline ended Q4 2020 with 270 projects/34,678 rooms, just 35 fewer projects than its peak of 305 projects achieved in Q4 2019, according to Lodging Econometrics’ (LE) year-end Construction Pipeline Trend Report for Canada.
The number of projects under construction stood at 83 projects totaling 9,836 rooms at the end of the year. LE recorded 87 projects/10,142 rooms projects that are scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months and 100 projects/14,700 rooms that are in the early planning stage—up 12 percent by projects and 4 percent by rooms year over year (YOY). The under-construction and scheduled-to-start-in-next-12-months stages have both seen declines YOY after reaching peaks recently. New project announcements were at their highest in Q4 than at any other quarter of 2020 with 20 projects/1,882 rooms, a promising sign, according to LE analysts.
Ontario continues to lead Canada’s construction pipeline with 147 projects/18,179 rooms and accounts for 54 percent of the projects and 52 percent of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline. British Columbia follows with 44 projects/6,126 rooms, then Alberta with 26 projects/4,153 rooms, and Quebec with 25 projects/3,267 rooms.
The top five cities with the largest construction pipelines are Toronto with 60 projects/8,498 rooms, a record-high room count for the city. Following distantly is Montreal with 15 projects/2,180 rooms, Vancouver with 12 projects/1,652 room, Niagara Falls with 11 projects/1,768 rooms, and Ottawa with 9 projects/1,456 rooms. These five cities combined account for 40 percent of the projects and 45 percent of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline.
The top franchise companies in Canada’s construction pipeline are Hilton with 68 projects, a three-quarter-consecutive-high project count, and 8,214 rooms. Hilton is followed by Marriott International with 67 projects/8,250 rooms, a record-high project count, and then InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 45 projects/4,384 rooms.
The top brands in Canada’s pipeline are Hampton by Hilton with 28 projects/3,180 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 26 projects/2,574 rooms, and Fairfield Inn by Marriott with 18 projects/1,722 rooms—an all-time high.
