Room completions for 2002 are now estimated to be 81,800 or 28 percent below 2001 completions. Room completions for 2003 will decline to 77,000, or six percent from 2002 levels.

Room completions in 2001 will decline 18.5 percent below the level expected in PricewaterhouseCoopers' July 2001 Lodging Forecast, and 16.2 percent in 2003 below the level expected in July.

Combined with higher numbers of room removals in 2002 and 2003, net supply growth for 2002 is now estimated at 1.5 percent.

"This forecast is for room completions to be at the lowest level since 1995," said Bjorn Hanson, Ph.D., global industry leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Hospitality and Leisure Group provides services including management, technology, human resources and financial consulting in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. The group has a partnership with Smith Travel Research.