Projects in the early planning stage of the global hotel construction pipeline reach record high counts

Lodging Econometrics (LE) has released its Q4 year-end Global Construction Pipeline Trend Report. At the close of 2022, LE analysts state that the total global construction pipeline stands at 14,267 projects, a 4% increase year-over-year (YOY), with 2,298,846 rooms. The global pipeline has remained relatively flat for three consecutive years, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, after reaching peak project and room counts in Q4 2019. However, three of the seven world regions tracked by LE, the United States, Canada, and Asia Pacific, continue to have pipelines trending upward, YOY. The remaining regions stayed largely unchanged by project counts YOY.
 
At the close Q422, there are 6,035 projects/1,091,929 rooms currently under construction worldwide, down 1% by projects and 4% by rooms YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 3,591 projects/510,969 rooms, up 1% by projects YOY and down 1% by rooms YOY. Worldwide at Q4, project and room counts in the early planning stage are at all-time highs and stand at 4,641 projects/695,948 rooms, up 13% by projects and 7% by rooms YOY. Also of note, conversions and renovations around the world reached peak project counts at the close of 2022. Conversion counts stand at 1,751 projects/214,880 rooms, up 21% by projects and 13% by rooms YOY, while renovations closed the quarter standing at 1,241 projects/212,219 rooms, up 64% by projects and 42% by rooms YOY.
 
The top countries for new hotel construction by project count at Q4 2022 are led by the United States with 5,465 projects/650,626 rooms, and China with 3,581 projects/675,074 rooms. These two countries account for 63% of the projects in the total global construction pipeline, with the United States claiming 38% of the projects and China accounting for 25%. Distantly following are India with 383 projects/47,539 rooms, the United Kingdom with 295 projects/43,332 rooms, and Canada with 267 projects/35,758 rooms.
 
The top five cities with the largest construction pipeline totals at the Q422 close are in the United States and China. Those include Dallas, TX with record project counts of 176 projects/20,790 rooms, Atlanta, GA with 145 projects/18,100 rooms, Chengdu, China with 132 projects/26,891 rooms, Los Angeles, CA with 122 projects/19,419 rooms, and Shanghai, China with 117 projects/22,539 rooms.
 
The leading franchise companies in the global construction pipeline by project count at the Q422 close are Marriott International, with 2,656 projects/429,007 rooms; Hilton Worldwide, with 2,661 projects/384,498 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), with 1,736 projects/257,145 rooms; Accor, with 932 projects/163,955 rooms; and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, with 722 projects/95,766 rooms. These five companies account for 61% of all projects in the global pipeline.
 
The brands with the greatest number of projects in the pipeline for each of these companies are Hilton’s upper midscale Hampton by Hilton brands, with 770 projects/100,246 rooms; IHG’s upper midscale brand, Holiday Inn Express, with 598 projects/74,729 rooms; Marriott’s upper midscale brand, Fairfield Inn, with 349 projects/42,596 rooms; Accor’s midscale and economy Ibis brands with 254 projects/31,657 rooms; and the upper midscale La Quinta brand by Wyndham with 135 projects/11,363 rooms.
 
Throughout 2022, a total of 1,842 new hotels/284,814 rooms opened worldwide. Four hundred sixty-nine of those hotels and 77,018 rooms opened in the fourth quarter of 2022. LE analysts forecast that 2,480 new hotels, accounting for 380,736 rooms, will open in 2023 and another 2,707 new hotels/416,173 rooms are forecast to open by year-end 2024.