national hotel and motel constructioin showing steady increase

Representing a reliable industry segment, lodging construction across the country has seen modest growth in the last year.

According to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based Consultancy Lodging Econometrics, there are currently nearly 5,400 individual hotel and motel projects in the pipeline nationally.

Those projects mean more than 650,000 new rooms, comprising a 7 percent increase from this same third quarter period in 2017.

The overall pipeline has grown steadily, if modestly, over the last two years.

But the biggest increase now may be seen in projects pushed into development in an effort to get things going before construction materials costs go higher.

As of last month some 2,100 projects are definitely scheduled for construction between now and late 2019, a number representing 213,000 new rooms.

Overall, the industry has seen a 30 percent increase in new construction projects this year, and a 27 percent jump in new rooms.

Projects that are in the early planning stage amount to 26 individual new hotels and motels, with 3,300 new rooms.

Despite these strong numbers, notes the CLE report, “pipeline totals are still distant from the all-time high of 5,883 projects/785,547 rooms reached in the second quarter of 2008 and are not expected to reach those records again this cycle.”

New York currently leads the nation with 170 projects in the pipeline, followed by Dallas with 112 projects, Houston at 103 projects, and Los Angeles with 92 projects.

Smaller numbers are seen in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, although hotel and motel construction projects completed or currently underway in those states have been on the up side throughout the year.

By Garry Boulard

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