STR Reports Global Hotel Construction Pipeline for December

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Caribbean & Mexico

According to STR's December 2010 Global Pipeline Report released this week, the Caribbean - Mexico hotel development pipeline comprises 128 hotels totaling 18,802 rooms.

"The Caribbean/Mexico pipeline activity has picked up since the same period last year," said Lana Yoshii, VP of Content Management at STR. "We reported at the start of 2010 there would be 5,423 rooms that would open in 2010; however, in actuality, 3,800 rooms opened during the year. In this reporting cycle, we are projecting 7,590 rooms opening in 2011 and expect many of these rooms to open during the year as 70 percent of these rooms are currently under construction."

In 2010, 32 projects in the region opened with 3,791 rooms. In 2011, there are 58 projects expected to open with 7,590 rooms. The Midscale without Food and Beverage segment is expected to open the largest number of projects and rooms with 22 projects and 2,389 rooms. In 2012, there are 50 projects expected to open in the region with 7,815 rooms.

Central & South America

The Central/South America hotel development pipeline comprises 146 hotels totaling 22,325 rooms.

"Panama City will see more than half of its current room supply being added to the market during the next three years," said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. "It represents the biggest increase compared to the existing supply of all the major markets in Central and South America. The economic strength and outlook for the market has continued to attract development".

Among the top markets in the region, Panama City, Panama, reported the largest expected growth (56.7 percent) if all 4,734 rooms in the total active pipeline open. Other countries to report significant expected growth include: Lima, Peru (15.5 percent expected growth with 789 rooms in the total active pipeline); San Jose, Costa Rica (11.7 percent with 676 rooms); Bogota, Colombia (11.2 percent with 813 rooms); and Santiago, Chile (6.8 percent with 542 rooms).

European Markets

The Europe hotel development pipeline comprises 718 hotels totaling 120,251 rooms.

"The majority of hotel rooms under construction are based in the United Kingdom", said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. "The U.K. is followed by Russia and Germany in second and third place. Turkey and Sweden take the remaining spots in the Top 5 European countries with rooms in the In Construction phase. The 2012 Olympic Games have fuelled the construction activities in London, where 38 percent of rooms under construction in the U.K. are located".

Among the region's countries, the United Kingdom reported the largest number of rooms in the In Construction phase with 14,061 rooms, followed by Russia with 7,477 rooms. Other countries to end the month with a significant number of rooms in the In Construction phase include: Germany (5,402 rooms); Turkey (4,556 rooms); and Sweden (3,086 rooms).   

Middle East & Africa

The Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline comprises 430 hotels totaling 116,152 rooms.

"The overall Middle East/Africa pipeline is being filled by projects in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Cairo and Jeddah, with Dubai making up 23 percent of the rooms in the total pipeline", said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. "The markets of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are expected to continue attracting interesting projects and will continue to lead the development pipeline during 2011".

Among the region's markets, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, ended the month with the largest number of rooms in the total active pipeline with 27,102 rooms. Abu Dhabi, UAE, followed with 13,239 rooms. Three other countries reported more than 1,500 rooms in the total active pipeline: Cairo, Egypt (3,275 rooms); Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (3,033 rooms); and Muscat, Oman (1,831 rooms).   

Asia-Pacific Markets

The Asia/Pacific hotel development pipeline comprises 1,064 hotels totaling 262,662 rooms.

"Similar to Europe, Upscale hotels make up the biggest amount of rooms in the Asia/Pacific pipeline", said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. "Upscale projects are followed by projects in the Upper Upscale and then Luxury segments, underlining the strong focus across the region to bring the higher-end hotel brands into the main markets before diversifying into a broader offering in more secondary locations".

Among the Chain Scale segments, the Upscale segment accounted for the largest portion of rooms in the total active pipeline with 25.0 percent and 65,662 rooms, followed by the Upper Upscale segment (23.3 percent with 61,186 rooms) and the Luxury segment (18.5 percent with 48,548 rooms). The Midscale without Food and Beverage segment (2.7 percent with 7,176 rooms) and the Economy segment (3.2 percent with 8,515 rooms) made up the smallest portion of rooms in the total active pipeline.

Asia/Pacific pipeline by Chain Scale segment for December 2010 (number of rooms):

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