The total active U.S. hotel development pipeline comprises 2,745 projects totaling 300,954 rooms, a 6.9% decrease in the number of rooms in the total active pipeline compared to July 2011, according to new data from STR.
“While construction is up, we’re seeing very little change now in the total active pipeline, with a very modest 1.6% increase compared to last month and a 6.9% decline compared to July 2011. The only real movement is with the upscale and upper midscale segments, comprising 55% of the nearly 300,000 rooms in the phases that make up the active pipeline,” said Duane Vinson, STR’s vice president of database content and integrity.
Among the chain scale segments, the luxury segment reported the largest growth in rooms in the total active pipeline, increasing 93.1% with 7,951 rooms. The economy segment was the only other segment to report an increase in rooms in the total active pipeline, rising 12.2% with 4,088 rooms. The upper upscale segment ended the month with the largest decrease of rooms in the total active pipeline, falling 26.9% with 17,473 rooms. Overall, the upper midscale segment reported the largest number of rooms in the active pipeline with 88,643 rooms.
Three segments reported increases in the rooms under construction of more than 20%: the economy segment, up 40.6% with 1,340 rooms, the upscale segment, up 33.3% with 19,605 rooms and the unaffiliated segment, up 22.7% with 10,261 rooms. The midscale segment reported the largest decrease in rooms under construction, falling 32.1% with 2,403 rooms.