Extended-stay hotels have shown some resilience during the pandemic, and so has the tier's construction pipeline, according to a new Lodging Econometrics report.
U.S. lodging companies in 2020 opened 833 projects accounting for 97,203 rooms, bringing the U.S. supply of open and operating hotels to 58,569 with 5,557,119 rooms as of Dec. 31, according to the latest Lodging Econometrics Construction Pipeline Trend Report. Of the 833 new projects, 29 percent were for extended-stay brands. The segment also accounted for nearly one in four (24 percent) of the 1,487 projects under construction during the fourth quarter. The extended-stay tier accounts for 8 percent of the total open and operating hotels in the U.S., and 9 percent of the rooms, according to Lodging Econometrics director of marketing Rebecca Evans.
The overall number of projects in construction, including plans to start within the next 12 months and those in early planning, was 5,216 with 650,222 rooms as of the fourth quarter. Those numbers are down 9 percent year over year by project and 8 percent by room number. Those in the early planning phase actually were up 1 percent year over year in number of projects and 5 percent in number of rooms.
Lodging Econometrics forecasts 929 projects with 107,407 rooms to open by the end of 2021, and anticipates a recovery in 2022 to 2019 numbers, with 1,031 projects with 116,749 rooms set to open. In 2019, 1,024 projects and 119,399 rooms opened. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months total 2,015 with 234,703 rooms.
New York City led the top 50 markets with 150 projects with 225,640 rooms in the construction pipeline as of Dec. 31, despite reporting dismal performance metrics for 2020 once the pandemic hit in March, with several hotels that remain closed. The city also had the largest number of projects under construction as of the fourth quarter with 108 with 19,439 rooms, and the highest number of construction starts during the fourth quarter, with 14 projects with 2,617 rooms.
Other cities in the top 50 markets with the most projects under construction at the end of 2020 include Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas and Austin. Miami and Orlando each announced 18 new construction projects during the quarter, followed by New York with 17 and Atlanta with 11.
There were 399 U.S. hotels with 52,581 rooms that opened in 2020 in the top 50 markets. Lodging Econometrics forecasts another 509 projects with 66,475 rooms to open in these markets in 2021, and 575 projects with 71,025 rooms in 2022.
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