According to the third-quarter report by analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE), the franchise companies leading the U.S. construction pipeline with the greatest number of new construction projects are Marriott International with 1,286 projects/166,174 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 1,223 projects/139,742 rooms, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 769 projects/77,558 rooms. The construction pipelines for these three franchise companies comprise an impressive 68% of the total construction pipeline projects.
The leading brands by project count in the construction pipeline for each of these three companies are Hilton’s Home2 Suites by Hilton with 402 projects/41,846 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 301 projects/28,852 rooms, and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 246 projects/23,653 rooms. These three mid-market brands alone account for 20% of the projects in the total construction pipeline.
Other significant brands in the pipeline for these franchises include Hilton’s Hampton by Hilton, reaching a cyclical peak, with 271 projects/28,311 rooms and Tru by Hilton with 224 projects/21,518 rooms; Marriott’s TownePlace Suites with 204 projects/19,5693 rooms and Residence Inn with 203 projects/25,132 rooms; IHG’s Avid Hotel with 152 projects/13,255 rooms and Staybridge Suites with 122 projects/12,564 rooms.
In the third quarter alone, Marriott opened 60 new hotels/7,882 rooms accounting for 30% of all new hotel rooms that opened in the U.S. Hilton opened 45 new hotels/4,923 rooms accounting for 19% of newly opened rooms and IHG opened 25 new hotels in Q3/2,459 rooms accounting for 9% of rooms. Year-to-date, through the end of the third quarter in 2021, Marriott has opened 212 new hotels/28,298 rooms accounting for 32% of new hotels and 33% of new rooms; Hilton has opened 169 new hotels/21,786 rooms, accounting for 25% of new hotels and 26% of newly opened rooms, and IHG opened 98 new hotels/9,828 rooms, accounting for 15% of new hotels and 12% of rooms opened in the U.S.
The LE forecast for new hotel openings in 2021 anticipates that Marriott will open 243 projects/32,944 rooms by year-end. Hilton is expected to open a total of 207 projects/26,056 rooms in 2021, and IHG is on track to open 145 projects/14,451 rooms. In 2022, LE forecasts Marriott will open 245 new hotels/31,470 rooms, IHG will open 204 new hotels/20,737 rooms, and Hilton is expected to open 192 new hotels/22,090 rooms.
