December 10, 2019 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – In the recently released report from analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE), Asia Pacific’s total construction pipeline, excluding China, continues in a four-quarter topping out formation with 1,779 projects/389,830 rooms, up 2% and 6% respectively, year-over-year (YOY).
The region currently has 958 projects/221,927 rooms under construction. There are 391 projects/78,032 rooms scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months and 430 projects in the early planning stage with room counts at an all-time high of 89,871 rooms. Brand conversions are also at an all-time high.
Excluding China, the Asia Pacific region opened 243 new hotels with 43,600 rooms through the close of the third quarter and is forecast to open another 95 new hotels/19,621 rooms by year-end. The LE forecast for new hotel openings will rise in 2020 to 374 projects with a record 77,315 rooms before slowing slightly in 2021 to 360 new hotels/71,077 rooms. In preparation for the 2020 summer Olympics, Japan continues to have the largest count of new hotels forecast to open in the region with 41% of all new hotels in 2019 and 30% in 2020.
Countries with the largest pipelines in Asia Pacific, excluding China, are led by Indonesia, with 375 projects/62,547 rooms, accounting for 21% of Asia Pacific’s total pipeline. Next is India with 236 projects/34,389 rooms, then Japan standing at 211 projects/44,014 rooms. These countries are followed by Vietnam with 134 projects having 56,720 rooms and Malaysia at 134 projects/36,252 rooms.
Cities with the largest construction pipelines in Asia Pacific are led by Jakarta, Indonesia with 84 projects/15,362 rooms. Next is Seoul, South Korea with 73 projects/13,945 rooms and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with 54 projects/14,232 rooms. Tokyo follows with 53 projects/12,375 rooms and Bangkok with 46 projects/12,305 rooms. Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Seoul all have pipelines higher than 25% of their existing supply of open and operating hotels.
The top four franchise companies, accounting for 41% of all the projects and rooms in the pipeline, are: Marriott International with an all-time high of 258 projects/57,839 rooms; AccorHotels with 218 projects/46,092 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), at a record high 162 projects/36,045 rooms; and Hilton Worldwide, also with an all-time high of 91 projects/20,422 rooms.
Top brands in Asia Pacific’s construction pipeline, excluding China, include AccorHotels’ Ibis brands with 56 projects/10,735 rooms and Novotel with 41 projects/10,010 rooms. Marriott International’s two top brands are Fairfield Inn with 40 projects/6,472 rooms and Courtyard at 38 projects/8,044 rooms both at record highs. IHG’s Holiday Inn has 63 projects with 14,136 rooms while Holiday Inn Express has 33 projects/6,950 rooms. Hilton Worldwide’s DoubleTree and its full-service Hilton Hotel & Resorts are also at record highs with 33 projects/6,587 rooms and 30 projects/7,874 rooms, respectively.
