In the recent report by Lodging Econometrics’ (LE), Europe’s total construction pipeline, which is in a three-year surge, stands at 1,449 projects/228,588 rooms.
Pipeline
There are 749 projects/120,689 rooms currently under construction, 395 projects/61,707 rooms planning to start construction in the next 12 months, and 305 projects/46,192 rooms in the early planning stage. The total pipeline increased a robust 18 per cent by projects and 21 per cent by rooms year-over-year (YOY). In addition, each of the three project stages is at or near the highest project and room counts since LE began recording in the region in 2008.
Accordingly, the LE forecast for new hotel openings anticipates a concomitant increase in new hotels coming on line as new supply over the next several years. 289 new hotels/38,124 rooms have opened year-to-date, and 88 projects/11,954 rooms are expected to open in the fourth quarter, for a total of 377 new hotel openings/50,078 rooms for 2018, the highest number of new hotel openings ever recorded by LE. In the years following, 2019 is forecast to have 390 new hotels open/58,364 rooms, and 390 hotels/58,599 rooms to come online in 2020.
Leading brands
Europe’s top hotel companies in the construction pipeline are AccorHotels, at an all-time high, with 225 projects/29,613 rooms, Marriott International with 186 projects/31,192 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 170 projects/26,988 rooms, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 139 projects/23,540 rooms. These four companies make-up 50 per cent of the total hotel construction pipeline in Europe. That percentage is expected to rise as some 21 per cent of the projects in the pipeline have yet to choose a brand.
The leading brands for each of these top companies are AccorHotel’s Ibis brands with 118 projects/14,635 rooms, Mercure Hotel with 25 projects/2,346 rooms, and Adagio City Aparthotel with 22 projects/2,976 rooms; Marriott International’s Moxy with 58 projects/10,227 rooms, Courtyard by Marriott with 33 projects/5,943 rooms, and the Autograph Collection with 15 projects/2,031 rooms. In addition, Hilton Worldwide has Hampton Inn with 67 projects/ 10,447 rooms, Hilton Garden Inn with 46 projects/7,316 rooms, DoubleTree by Hilton with 22 projects/3,132 rooms; and IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 65 projects/9,813 rooms, Holiday Inn with 36 projects/7,981 rooms, and Hotel Indigo with 14 projects/1,733 rooms. AccorHotels and Hilton’s pipelines are at new highs while Marriott and IHG are very close to their cyclical highs.
Leading countries
Europe’s leading countries in the construction pipeline are Germany with 265 projects/49,640 rooms, the United Kingdom with 256 projects/39,008 rooms, France with 144 projects/17,003 rooms, Portugal with 87 projects/9,012 rooms, and Poland with 86 projects/13,134 rooms. With the exception of the United Kingdom, these markets all have construction pipelines at cyclical highs.
The European cities with the largest pipelines are London with 82 projects/14,663 rooms, Paris with 45 projects/6,947 rooms, Dusseldorf with 40 projects/8,353 rooms, and Frankfurt with 30 projects/6,228 rooms. Followed by Lisbon with 30 projects/2,800 rooms, Istanbul with 29 projects/5,386 rooms, and Moscow with 29 projects/6,512 rooms.
