January 30, 2020 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – In the Lodging Econometrics (LE) year-end report for 2019, analysts detailed the leading franchise companies and their brands in the construction pipeline. Marriott International tops the list, at an all-time high, with 1,579 projects/207,906 rooms, followed by Hilton Worldwide with 1,370 projects/152,832 rooms, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 943 projects/96,725 rooms. Sixty-eight percent of the projects in the total pipeline derive from these three franchise companies.
The leading brands by project count for these three companies continue to be Hilton’s Home2 Suites by Hilton with 408 projects/42,346 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 379 projects/39,644 rooms, and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 322 projects/31,119 rooms. These three brands dominate the total pipeline and combined claim 19% of the projects. These brands also had the highest number of new openings in 2019. Hilton’s Home2 Suites opened 90 new hotels, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express opened 85 and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn opened 64.
Other notable brands in the pipeline for each of these parent companies are: Hampton by Hilton with 308 projects/31,373 rooms and Hilton’s Tru by Hilton with 300 projects/29,065 rooms; Marriott’s TownePlace Suites with 218 projects/22,075 rooms and Residence Inn with 214 projects/26,199 rooms; and IHG’s Avid Hotel with 189 projects/17,157 rooms and Staybridge Suites with 150 projects/15,728 rooms.
In 2019, 1,017 new hotels/118,674 rooms opened, a 7% increase from 2018’s 954 new hotels/112,329 rooms. Of the 1,017 new hotels that opened, 28% are Marriott branded, 27% are Hilton branded, and 16% are IHG branded.
The LE forecast for new hotel openings in 2020 anticipates that Marriott will open 286 projects/36,767 rooms. Next is Hilton with 284 projects/30,499 rooms followed by InterContinental Hotels Group with 179 projects/17,667 rooms forecast to open by year-end.
