Lodging Econometrics’ (LE’s) Q2 2025 Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report has revealed that China’s construction pipeline stands at 3,733 projects/672,224 rooms at the close of the second quarter.
China has 2,712 projects/482,138 rooms under construction. Claiming 73% of the total pipeline, the majority of the projects in China’s hotel construction pipeline at Q2 are currently in the under-construction stage. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 352 projects/62,292 rooms, while 669 projects/127,794 rooms are in the early planning stage.
Construction starts in the second quarter stood at 192 projects/30,570 rooms. Combined hotel renovations and brand conversions reached a new all-time high project total this quarter at 213 projects/38,661 rooms, up 3% by projects YOY.
The upper-midscale chain scale continues to lead China’s pipeline with 1,194 projects/182,541 rooms, representing 32% of all projects in the total pipeline. The upscale chain scale reached new all-time high project totals and new all-time high room totals this quarter, growing to 1,072 projects/225,407 rooms, up 9% by projects and 3% by rooms year-over-year (YOY). Together, the upscale and upper-midscale chain scales account for 61% of projects and 61% of rooms in China’s construction pipeline. The luxury chain scale stands at 257 projects/56,882 rooms.
At the Q2 close, Chengdu has the greatest number of projects in the country’s total hotel construction pipeline, with 143 projects/25,331 rooms. Shanghai follows with 124 projects/22,602 rooms. Next is Guangzhou with 114 projects/23,143 rooms, then Hangzhou with 100 projects/19,968 rooms, followed by Xi’an with 86 projects/15,292 rooms.
During the first half of 2025, 322 new hotels accounting for 48,794 rooms opened in China, with an additional 834 new hotels/122,068 rooms forecast to open in Q3-Q4. LE analysts forecast a total of 1,156 new hotels/170,862 rooms to open by year-end 2025. In 2026, LE analysts forecast another 769 new hotels/135,138 rooms to open, and announcing for the first time, the LE forecast for new hotel openings in 2027 predicts 656 new hotels with 125,686 rooms to open.
