October 27, 2020 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – In the recent report released by Lodging Econometrics (LE), at the close of the third quarter of 2020, the top five U.S. markets with the largest total hotel construction pipelines are Dallas with 154 projects/18,592 rooms; followed by Los Angeles with 150 projects/25,188 rooms; New York City with 144 projects/25,147 rooms; Atlanta with 134 projects/18,670 rooms; and Houston with 109 projects/11,384 rooms. These top five markets account for 15% of the rooms in the total U.S. pipeline. Twenty of the Top 50 markets in the U.S. have more than 50 projects in their hotel construction pipelines.

There are currently seven markets in the United States that have 30 or more projects under construction in their pipelines. New York City continues to have the greatest number of projects under construction with 105 projects/18,453 rooms. Atlanta follows with 44 projects/6,483 rooms, and then Dallas with 42 projects/5,086 rooms, Los Angeles with 41 projects/7,278 rooms, Nashville with 33 projects/5,532 rooms, Orlando with 31 projects/5,107 rooms, and Austin with 30 projects/5,228 rooms. Of the top 50 Markets in the U.S., there are 20 markets, including the seven directly listed above, that have 20 or more projects under construction in the pipeline.

Despite the impact COVID-19 has had on operating performance, development, renovation and conversion activity in the lodging industry continues. This is evidenced by the number of hotels that opened in Q3. The top 50 markets in the U.S. saw 140 hotels /17,195 rooms open in Q3 ’20. The U.S. as a whole had 280 hotels/31,271 rooms open in Q3 ‘20. Additionally, there are 1,259 hotels/207,544 rooms under renovation or conversion at the end of Q3 ’20. Eleven of the top 50 markets in the U.S. have 10 or more hotels undergoing renovation or conversion activity currently.

*COVID-19 (coronavirus) has had an unprecedented impact on the country and the hospitality industry. LE’s market intelligence department has and will continue to gather global hotel intelligence on the supply side of the lodging industry and make that information available to our subscribers. It is still early to predict the full impact the pandemic will have on the lodging industry. We will have more information to report in the coming months.