According to the bi-annual Global Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the total global construction pipeline at the end of the second quarter stands at 14,117 projects/2,293,131 rooms, up 5% by projects and 2% by rooms year-over-year (YOY).
There are 6,074 projects/1,110,174 rooms currently under construction at the Q2 close. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, at 3,664 projects/525,096 rooms, are up 1% by projects YOY and unchanged by rooms, while projects in early planning reached record-high project and room counts of 4,379 projects/657,861 rooms, up 22% by projects and 13% by rooms YOY. Conversions in the global hotel construction pipeline reached new highs with 1,672 projects/206,355 rooms.
At the end of the second quarter, the top countries by project count are the U.S. with 5,220 projects/621,268 rooms and China with a current pipeline of 3,693 projects/701,974 rooms. The U.S. accounts for 37% of projects in the total global construction pipeline, while China has 26%, resulting in 63% of all global projects being concentrated in these two countries. Distantly following are India with 339 projects/42,548 rooms, the U.K. with 309 projects/46,296 rooms and Indonesia with 284 projects/45,359 rooms.
Across the globe, the markets with the largest pipelines by project counts are Dallas with 173 projects/20,707 rooms, Chengdu, China, with 141 projects/28,573 rooms and Atlanta with 140 projects/18,131 rooms. Shanghai, China, follows with 128 projects/25,200 rooms and then Los Angeles with 124 projects/20,365 rooms.
The leading franchise company in the global construction pipeline is Hilton with 2,596 projects/379,818 rooms. Marriott International follows closely with 2,533 projects/421,613 rooms. Next is IHG Hotels & Resorts with 1,687 projects/247,310 rooms and Accor with 894 projects/155,577 rooms. These four franchise companies account for 55% of all projects in the pipeline. Brands leading the pipeline for each of these companies are Hampton by Hilton with 768 projects/100,732 rooms, Fairfield Inn with 343 projects/42,113 rooms, Holiday Inn Express with 610 projects/76,991 rooms and Ibis by Accor with 250 projects/32,362 rooms.
The first half of 2022 saw a total of 803 new hotels/121,029 rooms open around the world with an additional 1,653 hotels/244,956 rooms scheduled to open by year-end. In 2023, 2,658 new hotel openings/416,640 rooms are expected to open. For 2024, LE is forecasting 2,786 new hotels, accounting for 435,870 rooms, to open around the world.
