U.S. Hotel Construction Pipeline Drops 10% from Last Year

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According to the July 2011 STR/McGraw Hill Construction Dodge Pipeline Report, the total active U.S. hotel development pipeline comprises 2,990 projects totaling 323,070 rooms.

This represents a 10.1-percent decrease in the number of rooms in the total active pipeline compared to July 2010. The total active pipeline data includes projects in the In Construction, Final Planning and Planning stages, but does not include projects in the Pre-Planning stage.

"It is no surprise that the upper midscale segment leads the way with the most rooms in the active pipeline," said Vail Brown, VP of global sales and marketing at STR. "It is easier to fund these projects due to the lower key cost, well-established brands and less construction time."

Among the Chain Scale segments, the Upper Upscale segment ended the month with the largest increase in both rooms in the In Construction phase (+40.0 percent with 9,414 rooms) and in the total active pipeline (+21.8 percent with 23,314 rooms).The Upscale segment ended the month virtually flat with a 0.2-percent increase in rooms in the total active pipeline with 81,735 rooms. The Economy segment (-31.0 percent with 3,645 rooms) and the Midscale segment (-27.2 percent with 24,212 rooms) reported the largest decreases in rooms in the total active pipeline.

U.S. pipeline by Chain Scale segment (number of rooms and percent change July 2011 vs. July 2010):

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