U.S. and China account for 64% of worldwide hotel pipeline at Q2 2024

Worldwide, at the close of the second quarter, there are 6,265 projects/1,115,989 rooms under construction, up 2 per cent by projects and 1 per cent by rooms YOY. Projects and rooms scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months grew 8 per cent YOY to close the quarter at 3,972 projects/545,764 rooms.

Projects in the early planning stage continue to grow, with a 10 per cent increase in projects and a 6 per cent increase in rooms, YOY, standing at 5,216 projects/733,973 rooms.

Upper midscale, upscale, and the midscale chain scales dominate the pipeline at Q2, accounting for 65 per cent of the projects in the total pipeline. Of that 65 per cent, upper midscale hotel projects comprise 29 per cent of the projects in the total global pipeline with a record 4,540 projects and 585,688 rooms. Upscale projects and rooms also achieved record-highs at Q2, with 3,688 projects/634,050 rooms, while midscale hotel projects increased 5 per cent YOY to close the quarter at 1,868 projects/186,592 rooms. Luxury projects and room counts also reached record-high counts at Q2; a 13 per cent YOY increase in projects and a 14 per cent YOY increase in rooms, to stand at 1,066 projects/214,270 rooms.

At Q2, the top countries by project count are the United States, closing the quarter at a record 6,095 projects with 713,151 rooms, and China, also reaching record-high project counts of 3,815 projects with 699,786 rooms. The U.S. accounts for 39 per cent of the projects in the global pipeline while China accounts for 25 per cent, resulting in 64 per cent of the global pipeline being concentrated within just two countries. Distantly following is India standing at a record-high 610 projects with 75,280 rooms, Canada with record-highs of 322 projects and 40,297 rooms, and Saudi Arabia, also reaching record-highs at Q2, with 320 projects and 79,756 rooms.

Around the world, the cities with the largest pipelines by project counts are Dallas, TX with 189 projects and a record-high 22,392 rooms, Atlanta, GA with a record-high of 159 projects with 18,522 rooms, and Chengdu, China with 147 projects/26,951 rooms. Shanghai, China, follows with 126 projects/24,340 rooms, and then California’s Inland Empire, setting a new record with 124 projects and 12,569 rooms.

The first half of 2024 saw 948 new hotels/135,579 rooms open around the world with an additional 1,586 new hotels/237,107 rooms scheduled to open by year-end. LE analysts forecast a total of 2,534 new hotels with 372,686 rooms to open in 2024. With the global pipeline projects at an all-time high, LE forecasts that new hotel openings will continue to climb with 2,756 new hotels/429,120 rooms expected to open in 2025. For 2026, LE analysts forecast 2,812 new hotels/430,355 rooms to open worldwide.