PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — At the end of 2020, the global hotel construction pipeline stood at 13,943 projects/2,312,410 rooms—down 7 percent by projects and 6 percent by rooms year over year (YOY), according to the latest Global Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE).
The number of projects under construction at year-end 2020 stood at 6,513 projects/1,169,418 rooms while 3,920 projects/573,352 rooms were scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months and an additional 3,510 projects/569,640 rooms were in the early planning stage.
Globally, 2,562 hotels totaling 357,769 rooms opened last year. Of those hotels, 636 properties accounting for 94,559 rooms opened in the fourth quarter of 2020. LE is forecasting 2,812 hotels/424,844 rooms to open globally in 2021 and another 3,255 hotels/498,631 rooms to open in 2022.
The top countries by project count at the end of the year included the United States with 5,216 projects/650,222 rooms and China with 3,375 projects/639,811 rooms; these two countries accounted for 62 percent of all global projects in the pipeline, according to LE. The United States accounted for 37 percent of projects in the total global construction pipeline while China accounted for 24 percent. Following distantly is the United Kingdom with 372 projects/55,505 rooms, Indonesia with 333 projects/54,411 rooms, and Germany with 300 projects/55,346 rooms.
Four of the leading cities with the largest construction pipeline totals were in the United States: New York with 150 projects/25,640 rooms, Los Angeles with 148 projects/24,8058 rooms, Dallas with 147 projects/17,756 rooms, and Atlanta with 140 projects/19,863 rooms. Three cities in China followed: Chengdu with 133 projects/27,304 rooms, Shanghai with 130 projects/25,215 rooms, and Guangzhou with 125 projects/25,139 rooms. Dubai followed with 121 projects/35,837 rooms.
The leading franchise companies in the global construction pipeline by project count were Marriott International with 2,584 projects/442,542 rooms, Hilton with 2,453 projects/371,315 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 1,697 projects/252,020 rooms; and Accor with 919 projects/167,974 rooms. These four companies accounted for 55 percent of all projects in the global pipeline.
Brands leading in the pipeline for each of these companies were Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 395 projects/47,620 rooms; Hampton by Hilton with 770 projects/103,086 rooms; IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 650 projects/83,367 rooms; and Accor’s Ibis Brands with 310 projects/43,467 rooms.
