The number of projects in the U.S. hotel development
pipeline in the first quarter increased 9 percent year over year to a bit more
than 6,000, and the number of guest rooms in the pipeline increased 7 percent
to nearly 703,000, according to a new report from Lodging Econometrics. Each
count represents an all-time high, according to the company.
As has become the norm, Dallas was the U.S. city with the
most projects and rooms in the pipeline in the first quarter, according to
Lodging Econometrics. The Texas city has had the most projects in the pipeline
in each quarter since the
second quarter of 2021, when New York led.
More than 1,100 hotels with more than 141,000 rooms were
under construction in the United States in the first quarter, up 9 percent and
1 percent year over year, respectively. Nearly 2,300 projects (up 10 percent
year over year) with 261,000 rooms (up 8 percent) are set to begin construction
within the next 12 months.
"A little over half" of all
projects in the pipeline reside in upscale, upper-midscale and midscale chain
scales, according to Lodging Econometrics, with the luxury, upper-midscale and
midscale tiers each reaching record-high project counts.
About 37 percent of the projects under construction are for
extended-stay brands, "a segment that developers have increasingly favored
in recent years," according to Lodging Econometrics.
Dallas' first-quarter pipeline totaled 185 projects with
nearly 22,000 rooms, ahead of Atlanta (153 projects with 18,000 rooms) and
Nashville (127 projects with 16,200 rooms).
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