The total U.S. hotel construction pipeline stayed relatively flat year over year in the third quarter of 2025, while brand conversions saw record-high project totals, according to the Q3 2025 U.S. Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics.

The overall national project pipeline remained somewhat stable at 6,205 projects compared to last year’s Q3, which set an all-time high. By rooms, the pipeline grew 1% to 728,416 rooms for the period.

Through the third quarter of 2025, 490 new hotels with 57,479 rooms opened in the U.S. Another 202 projects, or 22,368 rooms, are anticipated to open by the end of the year, according to the report. 

Despite its relative stability, the year-over-year hotel construction pipeline in Q3 2025 was down from the two previous quarters. In the first quarter, it comprised 6,376 projects, or 749,561 rooms, while in Q2, there were 6,280 projects, or 737,036 rooms.

At the close of the third quarter, the U.S. hotel pipeline had 1,118 projects, or 137,620 rooms, under construction, according to the latest report. In addition, there were 2,234 projects, or 258,973 rooms, scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, and an additional 2,853 projects, or 331,823 rooms, in the early planning stages.

“Year-over-year, both the starts in the next 12-month stage of the construction pipeline and the early planning stage increased modestly, while the under construction stage saw a marginal decline,” the report stated, adding that there were 230 new projects, or 28,951 new rooms, announced for the quarter. In terms of renovations, there were 566 projects, or 123,142 rooms, for the period.

Brand conversions set record

Brand conversion activity closed the quarter with 1,477 projects, or 148,035 rooms, up 18% by projects and 22% by rooms year over year. Combined, the total renovation and brand conversion pipeline in the U.S. stands at 2,043 projects, or 271,177 rooms, up 4% by projects and 3% by rooms year over year.

The markets with the largest combined number of renovations and conversions in the third quarter were the Washington, D.C., area, which had 37 projects, or 4,745 rooms, followed by Houston, which had 34 projects, or 5,360 rooms, and Atlanta, with 33 projects, or 3,988 rooms.

Dallas outpaces other markets

In the five markets with the largest hotel construction pipelines, Dallas led with 197 projects and 24,310 rooms for the quarter, followed by Atlanta, which had 160 projects accounting for 18,239 rooms. Nashville, Tennessee, set a record high with 130 projects and 17,183 rooms, while Phoenix posted 125 projects, or 16,481 rooms, and Austin, Texas, had 124 projects accounting for 14,486 rooms.

In the next 12 months, Dallas has the most projects scheduled to start, with 80 projects, or 8,894 rooms. Dallas also led the Q3 markets in terms of hotel projects in the early planning stage, with 85 projects, or 11,748 rooms.

Phoenix had the largest number of projects under construction in Q3, with 36 projects, or 5,009 rooms. Dallas followed with 32 projects, or 3,668 rooms, and New York with 31 projects, or 5,458 rooms. Miami and Atlanta each had 21 projects under construction, accounting for 4,345 rooms and 2,503 rooms, respectively.

Upper midscale, extended stay projects lead the pipeline

The upper midscale chain scale continued to have the largest project count, with 2,279 projects, or 219,385 rooms, in the quarter, while the upscale chain scale had 1,383 projects accounting for 172,238 rooms. The two segments combined comprised 59% of all projects in the total pipeline.

The midscale segment pipeline was up 2% year over year by both projects (947) and rooms (78,956). The combined project count of the top three chain scales — upper midscale, upscale and midscale — accounted for 65% of all projects in the total pipeline for the quarter.

Extended stay hotel projects comprised 40% of all projects and 34% of all rooms in the total U.S. hotel construction pipeline. 

In Q3, the category had 2,468 total projects, or 250,754 total rooms, with middle-tier extended stay hotels representing the largest segment, with 1,648 projects, or 154,499 rooms, up 3% year over year for both projects and rooms.

There were 431 projects, or 45,542 rooms, currently under construction in the extended stay category, and 983 projects, or 102,064 rooms, scheduled to start construction in the next year. An additional 1,054 projects, or 103,148 rooms, in the extended stay segment are in the early planning stage. 

Long-term growth slow but steady

Lodging Econometrics projected that 2025 would finish with 692 new hotels open, representing a forecast year-over-year growth rate of 1.4%. 

Looking ahead, report analysts forecast 754 new hotels, or 83,118 rooms, will open in 2026, at a forecast growth rate of 1.5%. Next year, Dallas and Phoenix are expected to lead the markets with 25 new hotel openings each (2,746 and 2,698 rooms, respectively).

For 2027, LE forecasts 864 new hotels, or 91,571 rooms, will open across the U.S. at a growth rate of 1.6%, with Dallas again leading the markets followed by Inland Empire in California.