The Hotel Construction Pipeline in the Asia Pacific Region, excluding China, remains Steady at Q1 2023

As seen in Lodging Econometrics’ (LE’s) most recent Asia Pacific Construction Pipeline Trend Report, excluding China, analysts state that the region ended the first quarter of 2023 with 1,885 projects/394,235 rooms in the total pipeline.
 
The region currently has 943 projects under construction, with 213,900 rooms, and 300 projects with 59,170 rooms scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months. Project counts in the early planning stage hit record highs of 642 projects/121,165 rooms, up 12% by projects and 5% by rooms year-over-year (YOY). The Asia Pacific, excluding China, region also saw 171 new hotel construction projects announced during the first quarter, which would add an additional 27,724 rooms to the region’s supply, if all come to fruition.
 
Countries in the Asia Pacific region, excluding China, with the largest pipelines by project count are led by India with 427 projects/51,530 rooms, rising 35% by projects and 26% by rooms YOY compared to Q1 2022. Vietnam follows with 239 projects/84,035 rooms, then Indonesia with 202 projects/33,804 rooms. These three countries, combined, account for 46% of the projects in the Asia Pacific, excluding China, total pipeline.
 
The top three cities within the region with the largest pipelines at the close of the first quarter are Bangkok, Thailand with 64 projects/16,386 rooms, Jakarta, Indonesia with 46 projects/8,964 rooms, and Melbourne, Australia with 44 projects/8,642 rooms. Following closely are Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with 43 projects/12,515 rooms, and Phuket, Thailand with 33 projects/8,557 rooms.
 
At the Q1 close, the top global hotel franchise companies in the Asia Pacific Construction Pipeline, excluding China, are Marriott International with 279 projects/60,525 rooms, Accor with 206 projects/46,132 rooms, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 155 projects/32,808 rooms. Next are Wyndham Hotels & Resorts with 129 projects/30,950 rooms and Hilton Worldwide with 93 projects/21,578 rooms. These five franchise companies account for 46% of the projects and 49% of the rooms in the region’s total pipeline.
 
The largest brand in the Pipeline for each of these companies are Marriott’s Courtyard by Marriott with record projects and room counts of 42 projects/9,161 rooms, Accor’s Novotel with 51 projects/10,452 rooms, and IHG’s Holiday Inn brand with 43 projects/9,680 rooms. Wyndham’s top brand at the close of Q1 is Ramada Inn with 53 projects/7,566 rooms and Hilton’s Hotel & Resort brand closed with 31 projects/8,613 rooms.
 
Brand conversions in the region reached peak counts of 136 projects/24,310 rooms, increasing 33% YOY by projects and 21% YOY by rooms. These top five franchises account for 69% of conversion projects and 79% of the rooms in the region at Q1 2023.
 
Seventy-one new hotels, accounting for 12,637 rooms, opened in the Asia Pacific region, excluding China, in the first quarter of 2023. LE is expecting to see hotel openings uptick in the second half of 2023 into 2024. LE analysts forecast a total of 379 new hotel projects/72,556 rooms to open by year-end 2023 and estimate 396 new hotel projects/79,272 rooms to open in 2024.