Healthy growth for the back end of the Latin America construction pipeline at year-end 2022

In the recently released Latin America Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), analysts report that at the close of Q4 2022, the total construction pipeline stands at 536 projects/87,827 rooms.
 
At the end of the fourth quarter, projects currently under construction stand at 222 projects/40,270 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are up 7% by projects and 15% by rooms, year-over-year (YOY), standing at 158 projects/23,753 rooms and those in the early planning stage stand at 156 projects/23,804 rooms, up 16% and 8%, respectively.
 
Mexico has the most projects in the pipeline at the Q4 close, with 203 projects/33,475 rooms. Brazil follows with 88 projects/14,867 rooms, and next is Peru with 27 projects/3,315 rooms. These three countries in Latin America account for 59% of the projects in the construction pipeline in the region. Following Peru is the Dominican Republic with 26 projects/5,932 rooms, and Argentina with 17 projects/1,941 rooms.
 
Cities in Latin America with the largest project counts in the pipeline include Mexico City, Mexico with 24 projects/3,168 rooms, Guadalajara, Mexico with 21 projects/2,687 rooms, and Cancun, Mexico with 19 projects/7,524 rooms. Lima follows with 14 projects/1,993 rooms and San Paulo with 11 projects/2,483 rooms.
 
The hotel franchise companies with the largest construction pipelines in Latin America at the close of the fourth quarter are Hilton Worldwide with 101 projects/13,737 rooms, Marriott International with 100 projects/16,161 rooms, and Accor with 75 projects/9,595 rooms. These three franchise companies account for 51% of the projects in the total Latin America construction pipeline.
 
The top brands in the Latin America hotel construction pipeline at the Q4 close are Accor’s Ibis brands with 49 projects/6,152 rooms, Hilton Garden Inn with 25 projects/3,196 rooms, and Hampton by Hilton with 22 projects/2,665 rooms. These are followed by IHG’s Holiday Inn Express 16 projects /2,331 rooms and Hilton’s Curio brand with 13 projects/1,237 rooms.
 
Throughout 2022, Latin America opened 88 new hotels/15,091 rooms. The LE forecast for 2023 will likely see an increase to 98 new hotel openings with 19,014 rooms and in 2024, LE analysts forecast another 97 new hotels, accounting for 13,985 rooms to open in Latin America.