August 20, 2020 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – According to the latest Europe Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), analysts report that at the close of the second quarter of 2020, Europe’s hotel construction pipeline increased 9% by projects and 13% by rooms to end the quarter with 1,851 projects and 295,038 rooms. Second quarter project and room counts are up slightly over last quarter’s totals.
Projects under construction stand at an all-time high of 923 projects/149,637 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 477 projects/75,818 rooms. Projects in the early planning stage have 451 projects/69,583 rooms; up 16% and 26% respectively, YOY. During the first quarter of 2020, Europe opened a mere 35 new hotels with 5,998 rooms. This is the lowest number of project openings LE has recorded in the region since 2012 and is a result of halted construction projects in the region as a result of the pandemic.
The United Kingdom, recording an all-time high, leads the construction pipeline with 350 projects/52,398 rooms, and then Germany with 323 projects/58,533 rooms. France follows with 172 projects/21,405 rooms. Next is Portugal, also at an all-time high, with 123 projects/14,329 rooms, and then Poland with 91 projects/14,257 rooms.
The cities in Europe with the largest pipelines are London with 94 projects/16,542 rooms, Dusseldorf at 57 projects/11,254 rooms, and Paris at 40 projects/6,350 rooms. Next is Libson with 38 projects and a record high room count total of 4,173. This is followed by Hamburg, also at an all-time high, with 35 projects/7,496 rooms.
Four global franchise companies account for 44% of all projects in Europe’s Pipeline. They are Accor Hotels, which leads franchise companies in Europe with the largest pipeline by projects, at 236 projects/32,092 rooms. Accor is followed by Marriott International, with 217 projects/36,108 rooms. Hilton Worldwide is next with, an all-time high of, 207 projects/32,696 rooms; then InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 151 projects/24,276 rooms.
The leading brands for these four companies are Accor Hotel’s Ibis brands with 106 projects/13,510 rooms and then Mercure and Novotel Hotels with 26 projects/3,075 rooms and 25 projects/3,890 rooms, respectively. Marriott International’s top brands are Moxy with 72 projects/12,876 rooms, Courtyard by Marriott with 27 projects/4,739 rooms, and Autograph Collection with 22 projects/2,873 rooms. Hilton Worldwide is led by Hampton by Hilton at all-time record high totals of 79 projects/12,575 rooms, Hilton Garden Inn with 45 projects/7,545 rooms, and DoubleTree by Hilton with an all-time high 30 projects having 3,802 rooms. IHG’s top brands include Holiday Inn Express with 65 projects/9,840  rooms, Holiday Inn with 28 projects/6,798 rooms, and Hotel Indigo with 17 projects/1,793 rooms.
Much like other regions around the world, Europe’s hotel construction pipeline is experiencing slight delays to project timelines of approximately two to four months.
*COVID-19 (coronavirus) has had an unprecedented impact on the world and the hospitality industry. LE’s market intelligence department has and will continue to gather global hotel intelligence on the supply side of the lodging industry and make that information available to our subscribers. It is still early to predict the full impact the pandemic will have on the lodging industry. We will have more information to report in the coming months.
