Dive Brief:
- The global hotel construction pipeline reached a record 15,871 projects, or roughly 2.4 million rooms, in the second quarter of 2025, up 3% by projects and 2% by rooms year over year, Lodging Econometrics reported Monday.
- Globally, 6,257 projects were under construction at the end of Q2, according to Lodging Econometrics. Meanwhile, 3,870 projects were scheduled to start construction in the following 12 months, and 5,744 projects were in the early planning stage.
- The U.S. led other countries for the largest hotel construction pipeline. Hotel projects in higher-tier chain scales dominated the pipeline globally.
Dive Insight:
With 6,280 hotel projects, or 737,036 rooms, the U.S. accounted for 40% of the global hotel construction pipeline in Q2, according to Lodging Econometrics. China, with the second largest pipeline by project count (3,733), accounted for 24% of the global pipeline. India, Saudi Arabia and Canada rounded out the top five largest pipelines worldwide.
Dallas, with 199 projects, led cities worldwide for the largest hotel construction pipeline in Q2, followed by Atlanta (165); Chengdu, China (143); Nashville, Tennessee (128); and Austin, Texas (125).
The upper midscale and upscale segments dominated the global hotel construction pipeline in the quarter, representing 52% of the projects in the global pipeline. There were 4,463 upper midscale projects and a record 3,852 upscale projects in the pipeline in the quarter.
In the U.S., specifically, the upper midscale segment had the highest project count (2,282) of all chain scales in that pipeline in Q2.
The upper upscale and luxury segments reached record global project counts of 1,807 and 1,267, respectively, in the second quarter. That represented 5% year-over-year growth for the upper upscale pipeline and 11% annual growth for the luxury pipeline, per Lodging Econometrics.
During Q2 earnings calls, CEOs from Hyatt Hotels and Marriott International pointed to the luxury segment as a bright spot for future growth as high-end consumers continue to prioritize travel.
As for openings, 970 new hotels, or 138,168 rooms, debuted worldwide in the first half of 2025. An additional 1,884 hotels are scheduled to open by year-end, Lodging Econometrics forecast.
Some 735 hotels are expected to open domestically in 2025, representing 1.5% year-over-year growth, according to Lodging Econometrics.
