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Marriott, Hilton, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Accor accounted for over half (55%) of the global hotel pipeline at the end of 2018, a new report has found.
According to Lodging Econometrics’ (LE) Global Construction Pipeline Trend Report, which compiles the construction pipeline counts for every country and market around the world,the leading franchise companies in the global construction pipeline by project count areMarriott International with 2,544 projects/420,405 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 2,252 projects/333,209 rooms, IHG with 1,716 projects/249,379 rooms, and AccorHotels with 966 projects/177,052 rooms.
Brands leading in the pipeline for each of these companies were found to be Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 397 projects/43,089 rooms, Hampton by Hilton with 619 projects/79,591 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 731 projects/91,691 rooms, and AccorHotel’s Ibis Brands with 321 projects/48,368 rooms.
The report also found, at the close of 2018, the total global construction pipeline hit record highs with 13,573 projects/2,265,792 rooms, a 7% increase in projects and a 6% increase in rooms year-over-year.
It added the global pipeline has been ascending for eight consecutive years after reaching its cyclical low in 2010. All regional pipelines, with the exception of South America, continued their upward trend.
Additionally there are a record high 6,352 projects/1,172,591 rooms currently under construction worldwide. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 3,860 projects/572,483 rooms. Projects in the early planning stage stand at 3,361 rooms/520,718 projects, also at an all-time high.
The top countries by project count are the United States with 5,530 projects/669,456 rooms, and China with 2,761 projects/580,635 rooms whose pipeline reached a new all-time high.
The U.S. accounts for 41% of projects in the total global construction pipeline while China accounts for 20%, resulting in 61% of all global projects being focused in just these two countries. Distantly following are Indonesia with 387 projects/65,405 rooms, Germany with 283 projects/52,569 rooms, and the United Kingdom with 266 projects/38,590 rooms.
Around the world, the cities with the largest pipeline counts are New York City with 171 projects/29,457 rooms, Dubai with 168 projects/49,943 rooms, and Dallas with 163 projects/19,476 rooms. Los Angeles follows with 147 projects/23,404 rooms, and Guangzhou, China with 132 projects/28,694 rooms.
Last year saw a total of 2,675 new hotels/403,153 rooms open around the world. As a result of the current global pipeline being at an all-time high, LE forecasts that new hotel openings will continue to climb with 2,844 hotels expected to open in 2019. In 2020, new openings are forecast to accelerate further to 3,088 hotels.
