U.S Hotel Construction Pipeline Drops 35.9% from One Year Ago

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(HENDERSONVILLE, TN) -- The total active U.S. hotel development pipeline includes 3,551 projects comprising 368,740 rooms, according to the February 2010 STR/TWR/Dodge Construction Pipeline Report released last week. This represents a 35.9-percent decrease in the number of rooms in the total active pipeline compared to February 2009. 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.

"We're seeing comparable declines in room development across all regions of the country," said Duane Vinson, vice president at STR. "The Mountain Region has posted the sharpest year-over-year decline due to a 75-percent (16,000-room) decline in the Las Vegas pipeline."

Among the nine geographical U.S. regions, the Mountain region reported the largest year-over-year percent change in rooms in the total active pipeline, falling 95.3 percent to 32,701 rooms, followed by the East North Central region (-38.7 percent to 29,630 rooms) and the West South Central region (-38.1 percent to 59,793 rooms). The East South Central region (-37.6 percent to 24,077 rooms) and the South Atlantic region (-37.5 percent to 87,857 rooms) also posted large decreases in the number of rooms in the total active pipeline. The West North Central region ended the month with the smallest decrease of rooms in the total active pipeline, falling 7.3 percent to 15,542 rooms.

U.S. pipeline by region (rooms and projects and percent change Feb. 2010 vs. Feb. 2009):

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