Three franchise companies account for 66% of the projects in the U.S. construction pipeline

According to the quarterly United States Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the franchise companies with the largest construction pipelines at the end of Q3 2022 are led by Marriott International with 1,385 projects/168,725 rooms. Following Marriott is Hilton Worldwide with 1,351 projects/152,383 rooms and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 787 projects/79,382 rooms. Combined, these three companies account for 66% of the projects and 64% of the rooms in the total pipeline. Each company has seen growth year-over-year.
 
These three franchise companies also have the most projects and rooms in each stage of the construction pipeline. Marriott leads with the greatest number of projects in the under-construction stage with 259 projects/35,946 rooms, then Hilton with 248 projects/31,698 rooms, and IHG with 135 projects/15,688 rooms currently under construction.
 
At the close of the third quarter, Marriott also leads with the most projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months with 739 projects/87,626 rooms, followed by IHG with 484 projects/46,957 rooms, and Hilton with 333 projects/38,043 rooms.
 
Hilton set record-high project and room counts in the early planning stage at the Q3 close, totaling 770 projects/82,642 rooms. Marriott currently has 387 projects/45,153 rooms in early planning and IHG closed the quarter with 168 projects/16,737 rooms in the early planning stage.
The brands of each of these companies with the largest number of projects in the pipeline in Q3 are Hilton’s Home2 Suites with 494 projects/50,809 rooms; IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 297 projects/28,323; and Marriott’s TownePlace Suites with 291 projects/27,329 rooms. Other prominent brands in the pipeline for these franchise companies are the Hampton by Hilton brands with 281 projects/28,543 rooms; Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 238 projects/21,988 rooms; and IHG’s Avid Hotel brand with 135 projects/11,445 rooms.
 
Through the end of the third quarter, Marriott opened 102 new hotels/with 12,908 rooms. Hilton opened 90 new hotels/with 10,834 rooms, and IHG opened 40 projects/4,120 rooms.
 
LE analysts forecast Marriott will open the newest hotels in 2023 with 168 hotels/20,952 rooms. Next is Hilton with 136 new hotels/17,049 rooms, followed by IHG with 89 new hotels/9,588 rooms. In 2024, LE forecasts that Marriott will open 192 new hotels/with 22,815 rooms. Hilton is expected to open 154 new hotels/with 16,967 rooms and IHG is expected to open 142 new hotels/with 14,596 rooms.