Hotel Pipeline Hits New All-Time High, With Strength Expected Through 2026

Portsmouth, NH, July 30, 2024–According to the Q2 2024 U.S. Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), there are 6,095 projects with 713,151 rooms in the pipeline--a new all-time high and a 9% year-over-year increase in projects and an 8% year-over-year increase in rooms.

Projects slated to start construction in the next 12 months total 2,350 projects with 268,378 rooms, reflecting a 5% increase in projects and a 3% increase in rooms year over year. LE expects that as interest rates begin to decline, projects scheduled to start in the next 12 months will move to under construction rather quickly.

Projects and room counts in the early planning stage increased by 13% and 15% year over year, respectively, ending the quarter at 2,574 projects and 297,162 rooms. 

Overall, the upper midscale chain scale has the largest project count of all chain scales in the total construction pipeline, standing at 2,262 projects/219,547 rooms. The second largest is the upscale chain scale, which has 1,417 projects/175,343 rooms. Together, the upscale and upper midscale chain scales comprise 60% of all projects in the total pipeline and are forecasted to have the highest growth rates through 2026.

LE forecasts the opening of another 400 projects with 44,451 rooms by year's end, totaling 650 new hotels with 74,228 rooms this year, a 35% increase over the total number of hotel openings in 2023. Those totals are expected to grow again in 2025 and 2026.