November 18, 2019 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – In the Lodging Econometrics (LE) fall report for 2019, the franchise companies dominating the United States hotel construction pipeline are led by Marriott International with 1,484 projects/196,023 rooms, up 8% by projects and rooms year-over-year (YOY). Next is Hilton Worldwide currently at 1,373 projects/153,408 rooms and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 960 projects/98,139 rooms.

Pipelines are very strong for these companies. Both Marriott and Hilton’s total pipelines are near all-time highs, as are hotels under construction, with Marriott setting a record high.

The leading brands in the construction pipeline for each of the above three companies are Home2 Suites by Hilton with 415 projects/43,239 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 399 projects/37,974 rooms, and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 296 projects/28,662 rooms.

Other prominent brands in the pipeline for these franchise companies are Hampton by Hilton with 306 projects/31,739 rooms and Tru by Hilton with 303 projects/29,423 rooms; Marriott’s Towne Place Suites with 214 projects/21,908 rooms and Residence Inn with 203 projects/24,746 rooms; and IHG’s Avid Hotel with 182 projects/16,627 rooms and Staybridge Suites with 162 projects/16,915 rooms. These prominent brands combined comprise 44% of projects in the total pipeline.

Through the end of the third quarter, Marriott opened 193 new hotels/24,208 rooms accounting for 30% of all new hotel rooms that opened in the U.S. Hilton opened 198 new hotels/22,450 rooms accounting for 28% of newly opened rooms and IHG opened 104 new hotels/10,866 rooms accounting for 13% of rooms.

The LE forecast for new hotel openings in 2020 anticipates that Marriott will open 271 projects/33,945 rooms. Next is Hilton with 279 projects/30,010 rooms, followed by IHG with 176 projects/16,974 rooms.

In 2021, LE forecasts that Marriott will open 291 new hotels/37,873 rooms, Hilton is expected to open 263 new hotels/28,231 rooms and IHG to open 225 new hotels/22,564 rooms.