During the first quarter of 2021, the U.S. hotel industry
opened 229 hotels with 27,528 rooms, according to the latest U.S. Construction
Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics. Branded hotels from Marriott
International, Hilton Worldwide and IHG Hotels & Resorts accounted for 73
percent of these totals, with 167 new hotels with 20,164 rooms.
Looking at the total U.S. hotel construction pipeline as of
March 31, Marriott has the most rooms in development at 178,290, followed by
Hilton with 145,256 and IHG with 81,702, according to the report. These three
companies account for 65 percent of the total rooms in the U.S. pipeline.
The brands with the largest U.S. pipelines currently are
Hilton's Home2 Suites with 39,243 rooms, followed by IHG's Holiday Inn Express
with 30,085 rooms, and Hampton Inn by Hilton with 29,193 rooms.
The total U.S. construction pipeline at the end of the first
quarter was 4,967 projects with 622,218 rooms. Though this is a "slight
dip" in the pipeline year over year, "it's not unexpected given the
lockdown and travel restrictions over the past year," according to Lodging
Econometrics. Still, as delayed fourth-quarter 2020 openings are coming online,
the company is forecasting a 2 percent increase in new hotel supply by the end
of 2021.
Of the 1,866 projects scheduled to begin in the next 12
months, 26.8 percent belong to extended-stay brands, "a segment of the
industry that developers have become increasingly interested in over the last
few years," according to Lodging Econometrics.
By city, New York held its lead for the most projects in the
U.S. construction pipeline with 145 projects for 24,762 rooms. Los Angeles
followed with 23,994 rooms, then Dallas with 16,260 rooms, Atlanta with 18,264
rooms and Orlando with 17,536 rooms.
The top 50 U.S. markets announced a total of 74 new
projects, accounting for 10,219 rooms during the first quarter, according to
the report. Further, not surprisingly, there has been an increase in renovation
and brand conversion activity throughout the top 50 markets, according to Lodging
Econometrics. During Q1 2021, 1,198 projects with 190,475 rooms were in the
renovation and conversion pipeline. There are more than 10 U.S. markets with
more than 15 substantial renovation and conversion projects underway, led by
Houston with 27 projects, and Los Angeles and New York with 22 projects each.
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