According to the latest Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), at the end of Q1 ‘22, China’s total hotel construction pipeline reached record high project and room counts, standing at 3,711 projects/704,101 rooms and up 8% by projects and 7% by rooms year-over-year (YOY).
China has 2,623 projects/477,245 rooms presently under construction, both at record highs, and up 11% and 12% YOY, respectively. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 504 projects/96,054 rooms. Projects and rooms in the early planning stage are up 26% and 17% YOY, respectively, and stand at 584 projects/130,802 rooms at the end of Q1 2022.
Despite the COVID-19 impact on the country’s lodging industry, construction growth remains steady in China. The record high project and room counts seen in Q1 can be credited to the large number of hotel projects coming back online following previous construction postponements. In addition, upper-upscale, upscale, and upper-midscale projects in the country’s pipeline reached record high totals this quarter. As cities across China ease COVID-19 lockdowns, domestic leisure and business travel is steadily increasing, and booking and occupancy rates are rising. This growing demand is expected to continue throughout 2022.
In the first quarter of 2022, Chengdu leads China’s pipeline with 143 projects/29,276 rooms. Next is Shanghai with 123 projects/23,617 rooms, followed by Guangzhou at 118 projects/24,372 rooms. Then, Hangzhou with 100 projects/21,069 rooms and Wuhan with 94 projects/12,887 rooms.
Franchise companies topping China’s construction pipeline are Hilton Worldwide, hitting a record high by projects, with 675 projects/123,855 rooms, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 443 projects/91,569 rooms, and Marriott International with 393 projects/104,785 rooms. Next is Accor with 201 projects/36,909 rooms and Jin Jiang Holdings with 187 projects/18,529 rooms.
The leading brands in the construction pipeline for each of these companies, at Q1 ’22 in China, are Hilton Worldwide’s Hampton by Hilton brands, with 355 projects/53,254 rooms and its Hilton Garden Inn brand, at an all-time high, with 94 projects/18,835 rooms. IHG’s leading brands in China’s hotel construction pipeline are Holiday Inn Express, with 197 projects/32,814 rooms and Holiday Inn, with 71 projects/17,296 rooms. Marriott International’s brands with the greatest number of projects in the construction pipeline are its Marriott Hotel brand with 67 projects/20,004 rooms and its Four Points Hotel brand with 65 projects/17,627 rooms. Accor’s leading brands in the construction pipeline, at Q1 ‘22, are its Ibis brands with 61 projects/6,398 rooms and the Mercure Hotel brand with 53 projects/8,813 rooms. Brands topping the construction pipeline for Jin Jiang International are 7 Days Inn with 94 projects/7,370 rooms followed by Vienna Hotel with 39 projects/4,022 rooms.
In the first quarter, China opened 57 new hotels/8,949 rooms. LE anticipates 817 new hotels with 124,951 rooms will open for all of 2022, while in 2023, 893 new hotels with 142,285 rooms are forecast to open.
