According to the Q4 2024 Global Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics, the global hotel construction pipeline is continuing its upward trajectory, reaching a new all-time high project count with 15,820 hotels/2,438,189 rooms, a 4 percent increase in hotels and a 3 percent increase in rooms year over year.
There are 6,231 hotels/1,098,620 rooms currently under construction worldwide at the fourth quarter 2024, up 1 percent by hotels year over year. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 3,872 hotels/539,054 rooms, also up 1 percent by hotels year over year. Projects in the early planning stage have reached record highs, standing at 5,717 hotels/800,515 rooms, showing significant growth with a 10 percent increase in hotels and a 9 percent increase in rooms year over year.
Top Markets
The top countries by project count continue to be led by the United States, which reached a new all-time high hotels count of 6,378 hotels/746,986 rooms, up 7 percent and 8 percent respectively year over year. China follows with 3,779 hotels/681,915 rooms. The United States represents 40 percent of the hotels in the total global pipeline, while China accounts for 24 percent, resulting in 64 percent of all global hotels in these two countries.
Notable growth is seen in India, which reached record highs with 693 hotels/87,512 rooms, showing remarkable increases of 35 percent in hotels and 43 percent in rooms year over year. Canada follows with record highs of 333 hotels/43,413 rooms, and Saudi Arabia with 316 hotels/83,275 rooms.
The U.S. markets with the greatest number of projects in the hotel construction pipeline have also achieved new milestones. Dallas leads with record highs of 204 hotels/23,669 rooms. Atlanta follows with an all-time high of 168 hotels/19,431 rooms. Next are the international cities of Chengdu which ranks third with 141 hotels/25,180 rooms, followed by Shanghai with 133 hotels/24,529 rooms, and the Nashville market reached new highs with 130 hotels/17,029 rooms.
During 2024, 2,226 new hotels opened worldwide, accounting for 317,608 rooms, representing a 7 percent increase in new hotel openings YOY. In the fourth quarter, 486 hotels with 74,048 rooms opened. LE analysts forecast 2,815 new hotels/429,639 rooms to open in 2025, followed by 2,820 new hotels/419,151 rooms in 2026.