In the Lodging Econometrics (LE) first quarter report for 2019, analysts detailed the leading franchise companies and their brands in the construction pipeline. Leading in the pipeline is Marriott International with 1,499 projects/196,771 rooms and Hilton Worldwide with 1,386 projects/154,349 rooms, both at all-time record highs. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) follows with 980 projects/99,115 rooms. These three franchise companies alone comprise 68% of the projects in the total pipeline.
The leading brands in the construction pipeline by project count for each of these three companies are IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 416 projects/39,078 rooms, Home2 Suites by Hilton with 415 projects/43,122 rooms, and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 305 projects/29,566 rooms. Twenty percent of the projects in the pipeline are derived from these three brands combined.
Other notable brands in the pipeline for each of these franchise companies are: Tru by Hilton with 313 projects/30,329 rooms and Hampton by Hilton with 305 projects/31,468 rooms; Marriott’s Residence Inn with 213 projects/25,936 rooms and TownePlace Suites with 209 projects/21,733 rooms; IHG’s Avid Hotel with 172 projects/15,728 rooms and Staybridge Suites with 164 projects/17,086 rooms.
New project announcements remain in a strong upswing for these companies. In the first quarter, Marriott announced 89 new projects/11,742 rooms, Hilton announced 101 projects/11,192 rooms and IHG announced 64 projects/6,848 rooms.
In the first quarter of 2019, Marriott opened 70 new hotels/9,974 rooms, Hilton opened 58 hotels/7,264 rooms and IHG opened 36 hotels/4,359 rooms
The LE forecast for new hotel openings in 2019, anticipates that Marriott will open 278 projects/34,467 rooms. Next is Hilton with 266 projects/29,554 rooms followed by InterContinental Hotels Group with 156 projects/16,284 rooms.