Despite challenges from a weakening economy, and the lingering lifestyle impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, new hotel construction projects as well as renovations are very much on the upside.
That’s according to a new report issued by industry number-cruncher Lodging Econometrics, showing that nearing mid-summer there were up to 430 new hotel construction projects underway nationally, representing a total of just over 47,000 rooms.
That number is significantly up from the same point in time in 2021, when new hotel projects stood at 202, for a total of 25,600 rooms.
The Lodging Econometrics survey also shows a decided increase in hotel projects that are in the planning stage, up significantly with 2,246 projects representing just under 258,200 rooms, compared to around 1,700 by mid-summer in 2021.
Hilton Worldwide leads the global construction pipeline with just under 2,600 projects and nearly 380,000 rooms; followed by Marriott International at 2,533 projects and around 421,6700 rooms. Next up is IHG Hotels & Resorts, with 1,687 projects and just over 247,300 rooms.
The Lodging Econometrics report dovetails another industry survey, this one conducted by the CoStar Group, a commercial real estate analytics company, revealing particularly strong construction pipeline activity is what are described as “smaller hotel markets.”
This report, done with data benchmarking company STR, shows strong development numbers in such Western cities as Phoenix and Salt Lake City.
At the same time, the South is turning in a particularly robust performance, with large projects noted in Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee. According to a CoStar press release, this “activity in the South shows that developers want to take advantage of the rapid performance recovery during 2021 in the Sun Belt, which will likely fuel further development.”
By Garry Boulard
