PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — According to the latest China Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), China’s total hotel construction pipeline dipped slightly at the end of Q4 2020 to stand at 3,375 projects/639,811 rooms, down 4 percent by projects and 1 percent by rooms year-over-year (YOY). This is the second quarter off the peak reached in Q2 2020, where construction pipeline totals stood at 3,574 projects/647,704 rooms. Due to China’s robust manufacturing and export industry, GDP has remained strong throughout the pandemic, as has the construction industry, according to LE’s report.
At the end of Q4 2020, China had 2,293 projects/413,874 rooms under construction, an increase of 3 percent by projects and 2 percent by rooms over the previous quarter’s totals. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stood at 641 projects/116,884 at the end of the year. Projects in the early planning stage stood at 441 projects/109,053 rooms, down an incremental 1 percent YOY.
The country opened 910 hotels/114,502 rooms in 2020. In Q4 2020, China saw 176 new hotels accounting for 25,442 rooms open. LE is forecasting another 840 projects/131,197 rooms to open in 2021 and 994 projects/169,716 rooms to open in 2022.
Chengdu led China’s hotel construction pipeline in Q4 2020 with 133 projects/27,304 rooms, followed by Shanghai with 130 projects/25,215 rooms, Guangzhou with 125 projects/25,139 rooms, Wuhan with 103 projects/13,890 rooms, and Xi’an with 89 projects/16,006 rooms.
Five franchise companies topped China’s construction pipeline at the end of the year: Hilton with project and room record totals of 551 projects/109,254 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with all-time high project counts of 425 projects/90,630 rooms; Marriott International with record-high project and room counts of 381 projects/104,485 rooms; JinJiang Holdings with 249 projects/24,865 rooms; and Accor with 196 projects/34,263 rooms.
Hilton’s top brands in the pipeline included Hampton by Hilton with an all-time high of 327 projects/49,909 rooms and Hilton Garden Inn with an all-time high project count of 70 projects/15,228 rooms. IHG’s leading brand in China was Holiday Inn Express with 198 projects/33,255 rooms and then Holiday Inn with a record number of projects (71) and rooms (17,520 rooms). Marriott International’s top brands were Marriott Hotel & Resorts with 62 projects/18,831 rooms and Sheraton Hotel at an all-time high of 61 projects/18,633 rooms. Leading brands for JinJiang Holdings included 7 Days Inn with 106 projects/8,341 rooms followed by Vienna Hotel with 61 projects/5,962 rooms. Accor’s leading brands were the Ibis brands with 75 projects/7,942 rooms and Mercure Hotel with 54 projects/9,004 rooms.
