The hospitality industry group Lodging Econometrics has released its new prospectus of hotel projects in the construction and planning pipelines, indicating a new all-time high for the growing sector. At the end of Q2, 1,171 projects were reportedly under construction across the U.S. Another 2,350 projects are expected to start construction in the next 12 months, and 250 were reported to have opened in the first two quarters of 2024 alone.

The group also "expects that as interest rates begin to decline, projects scheduled to start in the next 12 months will move to under construction rather quickly." This may be a good sign for nonresidential and non-commercial projects in different markets, as the Construction Starts Index has experienced considerable volatility for over a year.

Looking forward, the new report states: "The LE forecast for the remainder of 2024 includes the opening of another 400 projects with 44,451 rooms, totaling 650 new hotels with 74,228 rooms by year-end. The year-end 2024 forecast represents a 35% increase over the total number of hotel openings in 2023, which stood at 480 hotels/60,922 rooms. Looking ahead to 2025, LE analysts anticipate an additional 779 new hotels/87,405 rooms to open. And, announcing for the first time, is LE’s U.S. New Hotel Openings Forecast for 2026, which estimates 928 projects/101,796 rooms to open in the U.S. equating to a 1.8% new supply increase."