According to analysts at industry consulting partner Lodging Econometrics (LE), China’s hotel construction pipeline remains strong with record-breaking figures. In a recent report, it has stated that the country’s hotel construction pipeline stands at 2,761 projects/580,635 rooms — up 12% by projects and 6% by rooms year-over-year (YOY).

By the end of last year, both projects and rooms in the construction pipeline surpassed the previous cyclical high of 2,658 projects set in the fourth quarter of 2014. Also in 2018, China opened 619 new hotels/109,524 rooms, 23% of all projects worldwide.

Pipeline leaders

China’s pipeline is led by Guangzhou with 132 projects/28,694 rooms, a 25% increase in projects YOY and an all-time high for the city. Shanghai follows with 123 projects/25,283 rooms. Next is Chengdu also at a record high of 109 projects/23,478 rooms, Hangzhou with 90 projects/17,978 rooms, and Suzhou with 84 projects/15,436 rooms.

Current projects

Projects presently under construction are at 2,044 projects/411,032 rooms, up 17% and 10% YOY, respectively, reflective of the rush to get under construction as the economy continues to soften. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 351 projects/76,063 rooms, down 4% and 5% YOY. Projects in the early planning stage YOY are flat at 366 projects/93,540 rooms.

Beyond the horizon

The forecast for new hotel openings, in the years ahead, continues to climb as the record number of projects in the pipeline enter into the current supply. Throughout 2019, LE anticipates 671 new hotels/125,396 rooms will open and 691 new hotels having 132,108 rooms will open in 2020.

Who’s leading the race?

Hilton Worldwide leads China’s construction pipeline with 386 projects/86,880 rooms and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) comes in second with 314 projects/72,758 rooms. Next is Jin Jiang Holdings with 288 projects/33,043 rooms, Marriott International with 283 projects/77,340 rooms, and AccorHotels with 186 projects/33,683 rooms.