The number of U.S. hotel rooms under construction is down about 48,000 from the country’s all-time high in April 2020 (220,207 rooms), according to September 2021 pipeline data from STR.
The final two phases of the pipeline, construction and final planning, are down by double digits from the same time in 2020, while activity in the planning stage has risen significantly.
September 2021 (percentage change in comparison with September 2020):
⦁ In construction: 172,251 rooms (down 20.3 percent).
⦁ Final Planning: 205,829 rooms (down 17.2 percent)
⦁ Planning: 263,673 rooms (up 41.1 percent)
“The impacts of the pandemic and the associated financial bearings have reached the hotel-development pipeline, as the number of rooms in the construction phase continues to decline,” said Alison Hoyt, STR’s senior director of consulting. “While part of the decrease has come from fewer rooms entering and moving through the pipeline, new openin
