Patrick Ford, President, said, �At the beginning of 2005, there were 164 hotels having 17,589 rooms in the New Construction Pipeline being actively pursued by developers.�  42 hotels/4,514 rooms were already Under Construction.  Another 63 hotels/6,566 rooms are Scheduled to Start Construction in the Next 12 Months.  The remaining 58 hotels/6,010 rooms are in various stages of Early Planning.

Development in Canada�s Largest Cities is Driving Pipeline Growth

With 59 hotels/8,061 rooms, Ontario has more projects in the Pipeline than any other province.  British Columbia is second with 38 hotels/3,138 rooms, followed by Alberta with 22 hotels/2,037 rooms.

Ford explained, �Over two-thirds of all Planned Construction in Canada is taking place in the ten largest cities, four of which will account for nearly 55% of all growth.�  The city with the largest Pipeline is Niagara Falls with 21 hotels/3,926 rooms.  Following is Toronto with 24 hotels/2,660 rooms, then Vancouver with 20 hotels/1,811 rooms and Montreal with 9 hotels/1,214 rooms.

Economy Hotels Make Up the Largest Portion of the Pipeline

42% of all planned projects; 69 hotels/5,229 rooms, are in the Economy Chain Scale.  When the projects are completed, the New Opening count will be even higher as more than half of all tracked Independent projects in the Pipeline will eventually choose a brand and be classified into a chain scale prior to starting construction.

�Cendant�s Super 8 brand,� continued Ford, �has more New Construction in Canada than any other brand.  Of the 164 hotels in the Pipeline, Super 8 accounts for 61 or 37% of them.  Super 8 also accounts for 61 out of 69 projects in the Economy Chain Scale � a whopping 88%.

Marriott has 17 hotels/2,485 rooms planned, lead by six Courtyard by Marriott hotels and five Residence Inns.  Hilton�s Pipeline has 12 hotels/1,985 rooms, which includes four Hilton Garden Inns, three Hilton Hotels and three Hampton Inns and Suites.  InterContinental follows with ten projects, seven of which are Holiday Inn Express.

Lodging Econometrics (LE), of Portsmouth, NH is the Industry Authority for Hotel Real Estate and offers a quarterly Canadian Supply Side Forecast Report for every Chain Scale, Province and Market, and projects Growth Rates for all Hotel Companies and Brands.