Trio accounts for 67% of Q1 U.S. construction pipeline projects

According to the recently released Q1 2022 U.S. Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the franchise companies with the largest U.S. construction pipelines at the end of 2022’s first quarter are Marriott International, with 1,359 projects/171,820 rooms, followed by Hilton, with 1,287 projects/146,579 rooms, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), with 785 projects/79,095 rooms. These three companies combined account for 67% of the projects and 66% of the rooms in the total U.S. construction pipeline.

At the end of the quarter, the franchise company with the most projects in the under-construction stage of the pipeline is Marriott, accounting for 257 projects/37,496 rooms, for a total of 27% of the stage. Marriott is also the franchise company with the most pipeline projects in the scheduled to start within the next 12 months stage at Q1, with 661 projects/81,905 rooms. Hilton has the most projects in the early planning stage of the pipeline and is also hitting a record high for the company in this stage, with 710 projects/79,173 rooms. Hilton’s projects in the early planning phase make up 32% of this stage’s projects.

The brands with the largest U.S. pipelines currently are Home2 Suites by Hilton, with record-high counts of 443 projects/45,740 rooms at Q1, and Holiday Inn Express by IHG with 298 projects/28,441 rooms. Hilton’s Hampton by Hilton brand follows, with 279 projects/28,675 rooms. Marriott’s TownePlace Suites is next, with project and room highs of 253 projects/23,881 rooms.

During the first quarter of 2022, 113 hotels with 12,464 rooms opened across the U.S. Of these openings, Marriott, Hilton and IHG branded hotels accounted for 73% with 82 new hotel openings and 9,602 rooms. LE is expecting these top franchise companies to open another 395 hotels with 48,522 rooms by the end of this year.

LE analysts’ forecast for new hotel openings in 2022 anticipates that Marriott will open 196 projects/25,469 rooms, for a U.S. growth rate of 2.9%. Next is Hilton with 169 projects/20,076 rooms, for a growth rate of 2.7%; followed by IHG with 112 projects/12,579 rooms forecast to open for a growth rate of 3.0%. In 2023, Marriott is expected to open another 221 new projects/26,076 rooms. LE forecasts Hilton will open 172 new projects/20,387 rooms in 2023, and LE expects IHG to open 172 new hotel projects, accounting for 17,165 rooms in 2023.