According to the Q3 2024 U.S. Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the total U.S. pipeline stood at 6,211 projects/722,821 rooms, up 9 percent by projects and 7 percent by rooms year over year (YOY). This marks a new all-time high for projects in the United States, surpassing previous pipeline records.
At the close of the third quarter, there were 1,185 projects/148,716 rooms under construction, marking an 11 percent increase in projects and a 6 percent increase in rooms YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months total 2,209 projects/251,797 rooms. Projects and rooms in early planning reached new all-time highs, at 2,817 projects/322,308 rooms, up 17 percent by both projects and rooms YOY.
LE analysts reported that the upper midscale chain scale continued to have the largest project count in the U.S. pipeline, reaching a new all-time high of 2,315 projects/224,703 rooms. Following was the upscale chain scale with 1,407 projects/174,127 rooms. Together, these two chain scales comprise 60 percent of all projects in the total pipeline. The midscale segment also showed growth, reaching an all-time high with 928 projects/77,600 rooms, up 19 percent by projects and 16 percent by rooms YOY.
Construction starts grew to the highest level in 2024 to end the quarter, with 181 projects/20,840 rooms, up 18 percent by projects and 25 percent by rooms YOY. In Q3, brand conversion activity also reached an all-time-high project count with 1,247 projects/120,912 rooms. Combined with renovation activity of 722 projects/141,136 rooms, the total renovation and brand conversion pipeline in the United States stood at 1,969 projects/262,048 rooms.
Through the third quarter, 408 new hotels with 48,258 rooms opened in the United States, with another 223 projects/23,902 rooms anticipated to open by year-end 2024. LE projects 2024 to finish at 631 new hotels with 72,160 rooms, a 1.3 percent supply increase. Looking ahead, LE analysts forecast 759 new hotels/86,264 rooms to open in calendar year 2025, representing a 1.5 percent supply increase. For 2026, LE forecasts 938 new hotels/101,017 rooms to open, amounting to a supply increase of 1.8 percent.
