The franchise companies leading the United States hotel construction pipeline are Marriott International with 1,469 projects/193,458 rooms, up 9 percent by projects and rooms year-over-year, according to Lodging Econometrics (LE).
Hilton Worldwide follows in second with 1,372 projects/152,853 rooms, a 3 percent increase YOY. And in third, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has 962 projects/97,647 rooms, also up 3 percent by projects and rooms, YOY.
The leading brands in the construction pipeline for each of these three companies are Home2 Suites by Hilton with 413 projects/43,040 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 410 projects/38,814 rooms, and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 300 projects/29,133 rooms.
In the first half of 2019, 70 percent of the new hotels that opened in the United States belonged to Marriott, Hilton or IHG. Marriott opened 120 new hotels/15,429 rooms, Hilton opened 125 new hotels/14,553 rooms and IHG opened 69 new hotels/7,406 rooms.
The LE forecast for new hotel openings in 2020 anticipates that Marriott will open 285 projects/36,504 rooms. Next is Hilton with 274 projects/30,099 rooms, followed by IHG with 211 projects/20,412 rooms.
In 2021, LE forecasts that Marriott will open 328 new hotels/40,841 rooms, IHG to open 284 new hotels/27,810 rooms and Hilton to open 268 new hotels/29,373 rooms.
If all these hotels open, the three companies will continue their dominance opening 73 percent of all the new hotels in 2021.
In other news, Marriott announced plans to build an all-inclusive platform to serve this increasingly popular vacation segment. The company also announced that it has signed management contracts with hotel developers who plan to build five new all-inclusive resorts, investing more than $800 million and demonstrating their confidence in Marriott International’s scale, loyalty platform and operational expertise. The resorts are expected to open between 2022 and 2025.
"It will provide the ownership community a game-changing value proposition for their luxury and premium resort projects around the world, while providing guests a new vacation option with brands they trust," Tony Capuano, Marriott International’s executive vice president and global chief development officer.
The new platform will provide the company’s 133 million Marriott Bonvoy members the option to earn and redeem points for this convenient, pay-one-price concept.
Marriott International’s newly signed management contracts are expected to deliver five all-inclusive properties in the Caribbean and Latin America that, combined, would offer more than 2,000 rooms. The planned resorts include:
- Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, 650-room Autograph Collection resort (2022 anticipated opening)
- NIA, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico
- 240-room The Ritz-Carlton resort (2023 anticipated opening)
- 400-room Westin Hotels resort (2023 anticipated opening)
- 300-room Autograph Collection resort (2025 anticipated opening)
- 500-room Marriott Hotels resort (2025 anticipated opening)
Mexico City-based Artha Capital, a leading private equity firm and real estate developer, plans to create NIA, a flagship, all-inclusive destination to feature four of Marriott International’s premium and luxury brand experiences in Riviera Nayarit. The project is slated to rise on 220 tropical acres along the Pacific Coast.
