U.S. hotel construction pipeline full, fueled by upscale property segment

STR’s April 2016 Pipeline Report shows 506,000 rooms in 4,125 projects under contract in the U.S. The total represents a 14.6% increase in the number of rooms under contract compared with April 2015.

Under contract data includes projects in the construction, final planning, and planning stages, but does not include projects in the unconfirmed stage.

In the construction stage, the U.S. reported 161,014 rooms in 1,241 projects, a 28.3% increase in year-over-year comparisons.

Among the Chain Scale segments, Upscale (55,994 rooms in 407 hotels) accounted for the most rooms in construction, followed by Upper Midscale (52,934 rooms in 523 hotels).

“The Upscale and Upper Midscale segments combine to represent more than 67% of total construction activity in the U.S., with almost 109,000 rooms between the two,” said Bobby Bowers, STR’s Senior VP for Operations. “Looking further down the road, these two segments combine for almost 207,000 rooms in the two planning phases. That means these segments will likely continue to experience significant supply increases over the next few years. It will be very interesting to monitor the effect on select-service occupancy.”

The Economy segment reported the least contract and construction activity but the largest year-over-year increases in rooms under contract (+41.2% to 4,731 rooms) and in construction (+94.8% to 1,276 rooms).

“The increase in activity is coming across the board,” Bowers said.

Every segment with the exception of Luxury (+7.9%) reported a double-digit increase in construction activity when compared with last April. Every segment outside of Unaffiliated (+2.4%) reported a double-digit lift in under contract.