Courtesy/News Source: lodgingmagazine.com

Portsmouth, N.H.—Marriott International is currently dominating the U.S. hotel construction pipeline with 1,484 projects totaling 196,023 rooms, up 8 percent by projects and rooms year-over-year (YOY), according to the most recent report from Lodging Econometrics (LE). Hilton Worldwide has the second-largest U.S. hotel construction pipeline at 1,373 projects totaling 153,408 rooms and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) follows with 960 projects totaling 98,139 rooms. Both Marriott and Hilton’s total pipelines are near all-time highs, as are the number of hotels under construction, with Marriott setting a record high.

The leading brands in the construction pipeline for each of the above three companies are Home2 Suites by Hilton with 415 projects/43,239 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 399 projects/37,974 rooms, and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 296 projects/28,662 rooms.

Other prominent brands in the pipeline for these franchise companies are Hampton by Hilton with 306 projects/31,739 rooms and Tru by Hilton with 303 projects/29,423 rooms; Marriott’s TownePlace Suites with 214 projects/21,908 rooms and Residence Inn with 203 projects/24,746 rooms; and IHG’s avid hotel brand with 182 projects/16,627 rooms and Staybridge Suites with 162 projects/16,915 rooms. These brands combined comprise 44 percent of projects in the total pipeline.

Through the end of the third quarter, Marriott opened 193 new hotels totaling 24,208 rooms, accounting for 30 percent of all new hotel rooms that opened in the United States. Hilton opened 198 new hotels totaling 22,450 rooms, accounting for 28 percent of newly opened rooms. IHG opened 104 new hotels totaling 10,866 rooms, accounting for 13 percent of rooms.

The LE forecast for new hotel openings in 2020 anticipates that Marriott will open 271 projects/33,945 rooms. Next is Hilton with 279 projects/30,010 rooms, followed by IHG with 176 projects/16,974 rooms.

In 2021, LE forecasts that Marriott will open 291 new hotels/37,873 rooms, Hilton is expected to open 263 new hotels/28,231 rooms, and IHG will open 225 new hotels/22,564 rooms.