Lodging Econometrics (LE) has released its year-end Global Construction Pipeline Trend Report, which compiles construction pipeline counts for every country, and city around the world. At the close of 2019, LE analysts state that the total global construction pipeline hit record highs with 15,000 projects/2,454,954 rooms, a 11% increase in projects and an 8% increase in rooms year-over-year (YOY).
The global pipeline has been ascending for nine consecutive years after reaching its cyclical low, by rooms, in 2010. Four of the seven regions of the world continue to have pipelines trending upward, YOY. The exceptions being Latin America, Africa and, with counts essentially even, the Middle East.
There are 6,859 projects/1,217,662 rooms currently under construction worldwide. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months and projects in the early planning stage are at all-time highs and stand at 4,533 projects/654,474 rooms and 3,608 projects/582,818 rooms, respectively.
The top countries by project count are the United States with 5,748 projects/708,898 rooms, slightly short of its all-time high of 5,883 projects/785,547 rooms set in the second quarter of 2008, and China reaching a new all-time high with 3,526 projects/643,435 rooms. The U.S. accounts for 38% of projects in the total global construction pipeline while China accounts for 24%, resulting in 62% of all global projects in just these two countries. Distantly following are Indonesia with 367 projects/60,354 rooms, United Kingdom with 346 projects/49,651 rooms, and Germany the with 339 projects/61,836 rooms.
Around the world, the cities with the largest pipeline counts are Los Angeles, CA with 168 projects/28,501 rooms; Dallas, TX with 160 projects/19,787 rooms; and New York, NY with 158 projects/25,825 rooms. Dubai follows with 152 projects/46,941 rooms, and then Chengdu, China with 134 projects/27,864 rooms.
The leading franchise companies in the global construction pipeline by project count are Marriott International with 2,799 projects/471,843 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 2,414 projects/354,515 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 1,777 projects/263,710 rooms; and AccorHotels with 912 projects/161,868 rooms. These four companies account for 53% of all projects in the global pipeline.
Brands leading in the pipeline for each of these companies are Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 431 projects/49,917 rooms; Hampton by Hilton with 744 projects/98,206 rooms; IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 712 projects/90,254 rooms; and AccorHotel’s Ibis Brands with 338 projects/47,477 rooms.
Throughout 2019, the world opened a total of 3,159 new hotels/446,911 rooms. As a result of the current global pipeline being at an all-time high, LE forecasts that new hotel openings will continue to climb with 3,298 hotels expected to open in 2020. In 2021, new openings are forecast to accelerate further to 3,415 hotels.
*Please keep in mind that the COVID-19 (coronavirus) did not have an impact on fourth-quarter 2019 totals reported by LE. New confirmed cases continue to be added around the world and it is still too early to predict the full impact of the outbreak on the hospitality and lodging industry. We will have more information to report in the coming months.
