PORTSMOUTH, NH – February 9, 2021 – According to the year-end Lodging Econometrics (LE) Construction Pipeline Trend Report for Canada, analysts at LE state that Canada’s hotel construction pipeline ended the fourth quarter of 2020 at 270 projects/34,678 rooms, a mere 35 fewer projects than the region’s peak of 305 projects achieved in Q4’19.
Projects under construction stand at 83 projects/9,836 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months recorded 87 projects/10,142 rooms, while projects in the early planning stage stand at 100 projects/14,700 rooms, up 12% by projects and 4% by rooms year-over-year (YOY). The under construction and scheduled to start in next 12 months stages have both seen declines YOY after reaching peaks recently. New project announcements were at their highest in Q4 than at any other quarter of 2020 with 20 projects/1,882 rooms, a promising sign.
Ontario continues to lead Canada’s construction pipeline with 147 projects/18,179 rooms and accounts for 54% of the projects and 52% of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline. British Columbia follows with 44 projects/6,126 rooms, then Alberta with 26 projects/4,153 rooms, and Quebec with 25 projects/3,267 rooms.
The top five cities with the largest construction pipelines are Toronto with 60 projects/8,498 rooms, a record high room count for the city. Following distantly is Montreal with 15 projects/2,180 rooms, Vancouver with 12 projects/1,652 room, Niagara Falls with 11 projects/1,768 rooms, and Ottawa with 9 projects/1,456 rooms. These five cities combined account for 40% of the projects and 45% of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline.
The top franchise companies in Canada’s construction pipeline are Hilton Worldwide with 68 projects, a three-quarter consecutive high project count, and 8,214 rooms. Hilton is followed by Marriott International with 67 projects/8,250 rooms, a record-high project count number, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) follows with 45 projects/4,384 rooms.
The top brands in Canada’s pipeline are Hampton by Hilton with 28 projects/3,180 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 26 projects/2,574 rooms, then Fairfield Inn by Marriott with 18 projects/1,722 rooms, an all-time high.
