Canada’s hotel pipeline expands year over year

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — According to analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE), Canada’s hotel construction pipeline continued to expand at the close of Q2 2020 with 296 projects/ or 39,645 rooms. The construction pipeline is up 8 per cent by projects and 11 per cent by rooms, year-over-year.

All stages of the pipeline have experienced increases, YOY. Projects under construction stand at 98 projects/12,255 rooms, up 7 per cent by projects and 10 per cent by rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months includes 107 projects/12,530 rooms, both up 13 per cent, and projects in the early planning stage stand at 91 projects/14,860 rooms, up 6 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.

Ontario continues to lead Canada’s construction pipeline with a record-high 154 projects/20,526 rooms and accounts for 52 per cent of the projects in Canada’s total pipeline. British Columbia follows with 47 projects/6,530 rooms and then Alberta with 30 projects/4,682 rooms and Quebec with 26 projects/3,387 rooms. Collectively, these four provinces account for 89 per cent of the rooms in Canada’s pipeline.

The top five cities are led by Toronto with 59 projects/8,303 rooms, and claiming 20 per cent of all the projects in Canada’s total construction pipeline. Following distantly is Montreal at record counts with 19 projects/2,484 rooms, Niagara Falls with 14 projects/3,748 rooms, Vancouver with 12 projects/1,609 rooms, and Ottawa with 10 projects/1,783 rooms. These five cities combined account for 45 per cent of the rooms in the total pipeline.

The top franchise companies in Canada’s construction pipeline are Hilton Worldwide at an all-time high with 68 projects/8,202 rooms, and Marriott International with 64 projects/7,918 rooms. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) follows with 55 projects/5,263 rooms. Combined, these three franchise companies claim 63 per cent of the projects in the total pipeline.

The top brands in Canada’s pipeline are IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 33 projects/3,263 rooms, and Hampton by Hilton, at a record high with 30 projects/3,379 rooms. Fairfield Inn by Marriott follows with 16 projects/1,530 rooms, also at an all-time high.

Other notable brands in Canada’s pipeline are Hyatt Place with 14 projects/2,197 rooms, Marriott’s TownePlace Suites with 14 projects/1,546 rooms, and Courtyard by Marriott with 12 projects/1,866 rooms, and then Home2 Suites by Hilton with 12 projects/1,270 rooms, also at an all-time high.

*COVID-19 (coronavirus) has had an unprecedented impact on the world and the hospitality industry. LE’s market intelligence department has and will continue to gather global hotel intelligence on the supply side of the lodging industry and make that information available to our subscribers. It is still early to predict the full impact the pandemic will have on the lodging industry. We will have more information to report in the coming months.