Hotel Construction Pipeline Closed 2017 Up 4%

Portsmouth, NH, January 24, 2018--According to the year-end U.S. Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the hotel construction pipeline stands at 5,151 Projects/623,695 Rooms, up 4% by projects Year-Over-Year (YOY).

There are 1,544 Projects/200,632 Rooms Under Construction, up 2% by projects YOY. Projects Scheduled to Start Construction in the Next 12 Months, at 2,101 Projects/245,214 Rooms are down 12% by projects YOY.

Projects in Early Planning are at 1,506 Projects/177,849 Rooms, up 44% by projects YOY. The rapid growth of new brands announced by major franchise companies in 2017 contributed to the increase in projects in the Early Planning stage. The end of the year also tends to encourage developers and brands to finalize franchise construction agreements and review timelines on existing agreements, which both contribute to an uptick in Early Planning.

Despite the slight deceleration of the pipeline’s overall growth observed over the past several quarters, the Total Pipeline continued its upward growth trend through the end of 2017.