In the second quarter of 2021, analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE) report that Marriott International leads the U.S. hotel construction pipeline. The top franchise companies with the largest construction pipelines are Marriott International, with 1,301 projects/170,847 rooms; Hilton Worldwide, with 1,216 projects/139,172 rooms; and IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), with 777 projects/78,929 rooms. Development projects with these three franchise companies comprise 69 percent of all projects in the total construction pipeline.
The largest brands for each of these companies are Marriott’s Fairfield Inn, with 257 projects/25,051 rooms, Hilton’s Home2 Suites by Hilton, with 379 projects/39,584 rooms, and IHG’s Holiday Inn Express, with 303 projects/29,055 rooms. These three brands make up 20 percent of the total construction pipeline rooms in the United States.
Other high-volume brands in the pipeline for each of these franchises are Marriott’s TownePlace Suites, with 198 projects/19,422 rooms, and Residence Inn, with 189 projects/23,493 rooms; Hilton’s Hampton by Hilton, with 269 projects/28,071 rooms, and Tru by Hilton, with 235 projects/22,521 rooms; and IHG’s avid hotels, with 157 projects/13,842 rooms, and Staybridge Suites with 122 projects/12,607 rooms.
In the second quarter of 2021, LE recorded 583 conversion projects/63,807 rooms. Of these conversion totals, Best Western leads with 116 conversion projects/10,289 rooms, accounting for 20 percent of the conversion pipeline by projects. Following Best Western is Choice Hotels, Marriott International, and Hilton Worldwide. Best Western and these three franchise companies combined account for 61 percent of all the rooms in the conversion pipeline across the United States.
Four hundred and seventy-two new hotels with 59,034 rooms opened across the United States during the first half of 2021. Marriott, Hilton, and IHG collectively opened 74 percent of the hotels in the United States. Marriott International leads openings with 152 hotels/20,416 rooms, followed by Hilton with 125 hotels/16,970 rooms, and IHG with 72 hotels/7,249 rooms.
