After experiencing steady year-over-year growth in project totals from 2014 to 2020, Europe’s hotel construction pipeline has been declining since Q2 2020, according to Lodging Econometrics, due to development and opening delays, project cancellations and challenges like COVID-19. At the end of 4Q21, Europe’s pipeline fell slightly lower than 2019’s year-end totals at 1,824 projects and 295,152 rooms.
At the same time, announced renovation and conversion project and room counts reached a record high of 433 projects/62,368 rooms, increasing 19% by projects and up 21% by rooms YOY. Conversions reached a high of 293 projects and 40,088 rooms and renovations closed 4Q21 standing at 140 projects/22,280 rooms.
LE also predicted that 474 additional new hotels, accounting for 70,242 rooms, will open in 2022 and 504 more new hotels with 75,015 rooms will open in 2023.
Projects under construction stood at 860 projects/142,898 rooms, down 11% by projects and 9% by rooms YOY. Projected expected to start construction in the next 12 months stood at 470 projects/72,194 rooms, down 1% by projects and 3% by rooms YOY. Project and room counts in the early planning stage both increased 7% YOY, ending 4Q21 with a record high 494 projects accounting for 80,060 rooms, also a record high room count for this stage in the region.
The U.K. leads the construction pipeline with project and room counts with 313 projects/48,770 rooms, followed by Germany (with 277 projects/48,827 rooms), France (159 projects/19,003 rooms), Portugal (119 projects/14,362 rooms) and Poland (85 projects/12,285 rooms).
Cities with the largest hotel construction pipelines included London with 83 projects/14,768 rooms, Dusseldorf (with 53 projects/9,999 rooms), Paris (37 projects/6,036 rooms), Lisbon (34 projects/3,822 rooms) and Istanbul (31 projects/5,986 rooms).
With record-high counts, Accor led franchise companies with the highest pipeline by projects at 300 projects/42,846 rooms. This was followed by Hilton with record-high counts for the company of 216 projects accounting for 33,130 rooms. This was followed by Marriott International with 211 projects/33,353 rooms and InterContinental Hotels Group (158 projects/23,486 rooms). These four companies represented 49% of the projects in the total pipeline.
Top brands were led by Accor’s Ibis brands with 103 projects/12,505 rooms and Mercure, at an all-time high project and room count, with 31 projects/4,169 rooms. Hilton’s top brands were its Hampton by Hilton with 84 projects/12,911 rooms and its Hilton Garden Inn brand 47 projects/8,005 rooms. Marriott International’s top brands were Moxy with 51 projects/8,684 rooms and Courtyard by Marriott with 23 projects/3,959 rooms. IHG’s top brands were Holiday Inn Express with 64 projects/9,403 rooms and Holiday Inn with 22 projects/4,403 rooms
During quarter, Europe opened 87 hotels/12,204 rooms, for a total of 427 hotels and a record high of 62,272 rooms in 2021.