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THE U.S. LEADS the global full-service hotel pipeline in the first quarter of 2024 with 2,272 projects and 341,854 rooms, accounting for 41 percent of all planned or under-construction hotels worldwide, according to Lodging Econometrics. Dallas and Los Angeles are among the top five cities globally in the pipeline. The global pipeline totals 15,366 projects and 2,382,195 rooms, marking a year-over-year increase of 6 percent in projects and 3 percent in rooms. LE's Q1 2024 Global Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report showed a record high in global room counts and a significant rise in full-service projects by the end of the first quarter. In the first quarter, there are 6,195 projects and 1,101,602 rooms under construction worldwide, the report said. Projects set to start within the next 12 months total 3,840 projects and 528,251 rooms, an 8 percent increase in projects and a 5 percent increase in rooms year-over-year. Early planning stage projects and rooms have reached all-time highs at 5,331 projects and 752,342 rooms, rising 12 percent and 9 percent year-over-year, respectively.

THE U.S. HOTEL construction pipeline increased year-over-year in September for the seventh straight month, according to STR. Investor sentiment remains positive following the Federal Reserve's September interest rate cut, as shown by continued double-digit growth in the planning and final planning stages of the pipeline. In CoStar's pipeline, 157,253 rooms were under construction in September, a 7 percent increase from last year. An additional 268,190 rooms were in final planning, up 10.4 percent, while 336,205 rooms were in planning, up 38.4 percent. "Growth in rooms in construction has accelerated over the last seven months," said Isaac Collazo, STR's vice president of analytics. "Despite higher interest rates throughout 2024, developer appetite has remained strong. With the recent rate cut in September and more on the way, investor sentiment remains positive, as evidenced by continued double-digit growth across the planning and final planning stages of the pipeline. Upscale and upper midscale continue to account for about 50 percent of all rooms in the final phase, while luxury and midscale showed the highest growth in rooms in construction, up 48.5 percent and 34.5 percent, respectively."

HAWKEYE HOTELS AND HOS Management recently sold three hotels in the Savannah, Georgia, area for approximately $100 million. Both companies have plans to continue to expand their development pipelines. The Montford Group and Opterra Capital purchased the Aloft Savannah Airport while Mission Hill and KSL Capital Partners bought the Fairfield Inn & Suites Downtown Savannah Historic District and the Aloft Savannah Historic District, according to Hawkeye, which is led by Ravi Patel as president. All three hotels have more than 400 rooms and each were developed by Savannah-based HOS and Hawkeye Hotels in the last 24 months. HOS and Hawkeye together have more than 40 hotel projects in the pipeline, including more than a dozen projects starting construction this year. Both have been actively buying and selling multiple assets in addition to developing new hotels, and last month Hawkeye opened The Le Meridien St. Louis Downtown in St. Louis.

U.S. HOTEL CONSTRUCTION increased slightly in December after 25 consecutive months of decline, according to STR. Projects in the later stages of development saw a reversal in their decline and luxury projects were up. There are 159,344 rooms in construction during the month, up 0.3 percent, over Dec. 2021. As many as 213,066 rooms are in the final planning state, an increase of 15 percent over last year. STR pipeline data added that 240,092 rooms are under planning, a decline of 15.6 percent. New York City, Phoenix and Dallas are set to see the largest supply percentage increases from current construction. The luxury and upscale segments would see the most supply. "While the overall pipeline continued to contract year over year, December showed strength in the later phases of development," said Alison Hoyt, STR's senior director of consulting. "Over the past year, we've seen late-stage pipeline rooms consistently decline from 2021 levels, while rooms in the planning phase often showed double-digit growth. We started to see a change in this pattern in November, when final planning rooms significantly jumped year over year and planning rooms came down pretty firmly. The same occurred in December, with the only difference being construction increasing slightly over 2021. When looking strictly at volume, the in-construction phase has been fairly stable throughout the year, remaining under 160,000 rooms and showing month-over-month increases from July through October and again in December."

DALLAS LEADS THE nation's hotel construction pipeline with 204 projects totaling 23,669 rooms, according to Lodging Econometrics. Atlanta follows with 168 projects and 19,431 rooms. Nashville and Phoenix each report 130 projects with 17,029 and 16,824 rooms, respectively. The Inland Empire rounds out the top five with 122 projects and 12,234 rooms, according to LE's latest U.S. Construction Pipeline Trend Report. New York City leads the under-construction pipeline with 36 projects and 5,928 rooms, followed by Phoenix with 31 projects and 4,788 rooms. Dallas has 31 projects with 3,467 rooms, Atlanta 27 projects with 3,211 rooms, and the Inland Empire 19 projects with 1,962 rooms.

THE U.S. HOTEL construction pipeline dropped 8 percent by projects and 10 percent by rooms in 2021 when compared to 2020, according to Lodging Econometrics. However, the number of projects in the early planning stage is rising, it added. The total construction pipeline at the fourth quarter of last year stood at 4,814 projects containing 581,953 rooms, according to LE. There were 2,021 projects containing 239,816 rooms in the early planning stage, up 18 percent by projects and 11 percent by rooms, LE data shows. According to LE, 1,821 hotel projects containing 210,890 rooms are scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months. As many as 972 projects containing 131,247 rooms under construction finished the year. "New project announcements are down in the fourth quarter. However, developers are eager to accelerate projects long-delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, they face some development roadblocks, including escalating inflation and supply chain shortages, that are causing higher prices versus 'pre-pandemic' costs for labor and materials," LE said. "These factors continue to prolong hotel development timelines. We anticipate these challenges to abate throughout the year and see construction starts to moderately improve."

OFFICIALS OF THE "She Has a Deal" annual hotel investment pitch contest announced the five teams selected to advance to the final round of SHaDPitch 2023. The competition allows early career women to compete for the prize of $50,000 of equity in SHaD's Prosperity Fund I, following the conclusion of a virtual, preliminary round of pitching, SHaD said in a statement. SHaD 2023 will be held at the new Marriott Headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, on April 27 to 28. According to the statement, the goal of SHaD is to increase the number of women owning and developing hotels. It provides participants with the ability to source, analyse, raise capital and close hotel real estate investment deals. During the preliminary judging round, eight teams comprising 15 participants pitched their hotel investment acquisition or development projects live on Zoom to a judging panel of hotel business executives, entrepreneurs, and investors. The judges evaluated and selected the following five teams: Sydney Young and Rachel Nicholson with SpartanStone, graduates of Michigan State University, pitching a La Quinta Inn & Suites in Lewisville, Texas. Chandler Williamson with Chanders Core Commitment, graduate of North Carolina Central University, pitching a Hilton Garden Inn in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina. Isabella Suffredini, Veronica Lewis and Alexandra Neoman with CROWN, graduates of Cornell University, pitching a TownePlace Suites in Houston, Texas. Makenna Price with Hookipa Hospitality, graduate of Washington State University, pitching a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Allison Busch and Hannah Takekawa with AH Hospitality, graduates of San Diego State University, pitching a Staybridge Suites in Austin, Texas "Every year, I grow more encouraged that we are making an impact," said Tracy Prigmore, founder of SHaD. "These are brilliant women who benefit from the education and programming that SHaD provides, and their hotel investment acumen has grown by leap

HILTON WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS reported net income of $422 million for the second quarter ending June 30, up from $413 million last year. The development pipeline grew 15 percent year-over-year to 3,870 hotels with 508,300 rooms, an 8 percent increase from the previous quarter. Systemwide RevPAR rose 3.5 percent year-over-year due to higher occupancy and ADR. "We are pleased to report a solid second quarter, with an increase in RevPAR of 3.5 percent, driven by growth in all segments, with particularly strong group performance," said Christopher Nassetta, Hilton's president and CEO. "On the development side, we ended the quarter with a record development pipeline, up 15 percent from the prior year and up 8 percent sequentially from the first quarter, including strategic partner hotels. Looking forward to the rest of the year, with the continued growth of our existing brands, as well as the addition of our new brands and strategic partner hotels, we expect net unit growth of 7 percent to 7.5 percent for the full year." Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended June 30 was $917 million, up from $811 million in 2023, Hilton said. Management and franchise fee revenues increased by 10 percent year-over-year. In the US, second-quarter occupancy rose by 1.1 percentage points to 76.8 percent, ADR increased by 1.4 percent to $172.36, and RevPAR climbed 2.9 percent to $132.33.

APPROXIMATELY 6,095 PROJECTS with 713,151 rooms are in the U.S. construction pipeline at the end of the second quarter, according to Lodging Econometrics. This all-time high marks a 9 percent year-over-year increase in projects and an 8 percent increase in rooms compared to the second quarter of 2023. LE's Q2 2024 U.S. Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report revealed 1,171 projects with 147,611 rooms under construction at the end of the second quarter, reflecting a 10 percent increase in projects and a 4 percent increase in rooms year-over-year. LE expects that as interest rates decline, projects scheduled to start in the next 12 months will quickly move to under construction. Extended-stay brands remain popular with developers, comprising 36 percent of projects under construction, 33 percent of those starting in the next 12 months and 34 percent of projects in early planning, the report said. Sixty-four percent of these projects are in the middle tier of brands.

WYNDHAM HOTELS & RESORTS is quietly bouncing back after Choice Hotels International's failed takeover bid. The company reported a net income of $86 million for the second quarter ending June 30, a 22.8 percent increase from $70 million the previous year. Wyndham's global pipeline grew 7 percent year-over-year, with a 5 percent increase in the U.S. alone. Its net income increase was driven by higher adjusted EBITDA, a benefit from the reversal of a spin-off matter and a lower effective tax rate, Wyndham said in a statement. "The resilience and highly cash generative nature of our business model was once again on full display this quarter," said Geoff Ballotti, Wyndham's president and chief executive officer. "Amid a normalizing domestic RevPAR environment, we delivered strong adjusted EBITDA driven by net room and ancillary fee growth. We awarded 33 percent more hotel contracts domestically which grew our development pipeline to a record 245,000 rooms, and drove significant increases in our U.S, international and global royalty rates. Year-to-date, we've returned over $250 million to shareholders, representing 4 percent of our beginning market capitalization this year."

PEACHSTATE HOSPITALITY RECENTLY selected TPG Hotels & Resorts to manage 10 properties. The contract includes eight Marriott select service hotels and two IHG Hotels & Resorts select service hotels in Georgia. Both the firms have entered into an exclusive strategic agreement for the management of additional hotels in the current and future pipeline to be developed by PeachState Hospitality which is headed by Danny Patel as president and CEO, the statement added. "PeachState Hospitality is a leading owner and developer in our industry, and we are pleased to welcome them as a new partner and these exceptional properties into our portfolio," said Tim Muir, chief development officer, TPG Hotels & Resorts. "We look forward to growing our partnership as they accelerate their development platform over the next few years."

THE TOP FIVE U.S. markets with the largest hotel construction pipelines are led by Dallas with 189 projects and a peak of 22,392 rooms in the second quarter of 2024, according to Lodging Econometrics. That is four projects shy of its end of fourth quarter 2023 record. Atlanta follows with a record 159 projects and 18,522 rooms. The Inland Empire ranks third with a record 124 projects and 12,569 rooms, while Nashville has 123 projects and 15,924 rooms and Phoenix boasts 120 projects and 15,627 rooms. LE's Q2 2024 U.S. Construction Pipeline Trend Report revealed that 10 states-Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Arizona, New York, Alabama and Michigan-account for 60 percent of the rooms in the pipeline.

THE HOTEL PROPERTY types most associated with business travel, upper upscale hotels, are well represented in the U.S. hotel construction pipeline. The volume of projects in the segment points to confidence in the future of business travel, according to STR. "Upper upscale saw the slowest recovery, but a steady climb in performance and the business travel indicators have supported developer confidence in the segment," said Isaac Collazo, STR's vice president for analytics. "The more than 23,000 upper upscale rooms in construction right now represent 3.4 percent of the segment's existing supply. That is well above the long-term growth average, up 2 percent in the U.S." According to STR, a total 154,284 rooms were under construction in March, down 0.5 percent compared to the same period last year. As many as 239,995 rooms are in the final planning state, an increase of 34.6 percent over last year. STR pipeline data showed that 232,517 rooms are under planning, a decline of 21.6 percent compared to March 2022. After three consecutive month-over-month increases, the overall number of U.S. rooms in construction fell slightly in March, which aligns with patterns in previous years. Among the chain scale segments, luxury shows the highest number of rooms as a percentage of existing supply. Luxury segment reports the highest increase in hotel construction in March, up 5.2 percent containing 7,136 rooms, followed by upscale, up 4.1 percent with 36,089 rooms and upper midscale, increased 3.7 percent containing 43,470 rooms.

WYNDHAM HOTELS & RESORTS reported growth in net rooms and its development pipeline for the third quarter. Global systemwide rooms increased 4 percent year-over-year, with 1 percent growth in the U.S. and 8 percent internationally. Global RevPAR rose 1 percent in constant currency compared to 2023, with a 1 percent decline in the U.S. and 7 percent growth internationally. The company's adjusted net income for the third quarter was $110 million, a 1 percent decrease year-over-year but a 3 percent increase on a comparable basis, Wyndham said in a statement. "Our teams delivered exceptional results, executing our growth strategy and achieving 7 percent growth in comparable adjusted EBITDA, driven by system expansion, higher royalty rates, and increased ancillary revenues," said Geoff Ballotti, president/CEO. "We awarded 10 percent more franchise contracts domestically, driving 5 percent growth in our development pipeline. Stabilizing RevPAR trends and increasing infrastructure demand are expected to lead to improved results in the coming quarters. We remain focused on delivering value to our guests, franchisees, and shareholders, having returned nearly $380 million year-to-date through dividends and share repurchases."

TATA GROUP-OWNED INDIAN Hotels Co. Ltd. added 85 hotel signings and opened 40 properties in 2024, growing its portfolio to 360 hotels with 123 more in the pipeline. The Taj brand added 19 new signings, expanding to 125 properties. IHCL expanded its market position by acquiring a majority stake in Tree of Life and securing a brand license for The Claridges, New Delhi, the company said in a statement. "This record growth performance is attributed to the continued expansion of the brandscape," said Suma Venkatesh, IHCL's executive vice president for real estate and development. "IHCL launched the reimagined Gateway, acquired a majority shareholding in Tree of Life, adding a boutique leisure offering, and entered into a brand license agreement for The Claridges, commencing with the management of the brand's landmark hotel in New Delhi, extending IHCL's luxury portfolio."

U.S. HOTEL CONSTRUCTION declined for the seventh consecutive month in June, according to STR. Rooms in construction in New York City and Nashville represent a significant percentage of existing supply in those markets. Though at a slower pace, planning activity increases across the U.S. and developers are showing interest in Miami, Nashville and Phoenix, the report said. According to STR, there are 146,198 rooms under construction in the U.S. in June, down 20.1 percent when compared to same period last year. As many as 178,809 rooms are at final planning during the month, decreased 11.3 percent from last year and 281,190 rooms are at planning phase, an increase of 6.1 percent from June 2021. "The U.S. hotel pipeline continues to decelerate as we enter the second half of the year," said Carter Wilson, senior vice president of consulting, STR. "The continued increases in debt costs combined with the ongoing supply chain disruptions will likely delay projects from breaking ground this year, which will lead to a further decline in rooms in construction. On a national basis, new supply will not be a significant headwind for the future." New York leads the major markets in rooms in construction at 13,568 rooms in June, up 10.8 percent compared to last year, followed by Nashville with 3,939 rooms, up 7 percent, Phoenix with 4,388 rooms, an increase of 6.3 percent over last year, Atlanta with 5,991 rooms, up 5.5 percent and Detroit with 2,382 rooms, an increase of 5.1 percent over June 2021.

WITH 67 PROJECTS and 7,772 rooms in its construction pipeline, Charlotte, North Carolina, ranks 15th among the top 25 U.S. markets by project count, according to Lodging Econometrics. LE predicts continued growth in the city's future. Hotels under construction in the city total 11 projects and 1,435 rooms at the end of the first quarter, with 31 projects and 3,466 rooms set to begin construction in the next 12 months, and 25 projects totaling 2,871 rooms in early planning. LE's first quarter hotel development data for Charlotte, released ahead of the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference, showed that more than 65 percent of the projects are upscale and upper-midscale brands, totaling 44 projects and 5,007 rooms combined.

La Quinta by Wyndham Selma is now open in Selma, North Carolina. Owned by Jay Sai Corp., it is the 120th hotel to open using the La Quinta Del Sol prototype. The 80-room hotel is near Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Smithfield Community Park. Amenities include an outdoor pool. Another Del Sol hotel is expected to open in Galveston, Texas, this summer, according to Wyndham. There are 175 La Quinta hotels in the development pipeline and openings scheduled this year in several markets, such as Nashville, Tennessee; Santa Cruz, California and Denver.

Zubin Saxena is the new senior vice president and country head for Hilton India. Saxena joins Hilton from Radisson Hotel Group, where he worked for more than eight years, most recently as the managing director/area senior vice president for South Asia. He is scheduled to assume his new responsibilities in January, Hilton said in a statement. Saxena has a 24-year career in hospitality, including a 4-year tenure at IHG as director of development for South Asia, Hilton said. He held senior advisory positions at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels in India and HVS in New York. In his new role, he will oversee Hilton's 25 operational hotels in India and lead the company's expansion in South Asia with 20 properties in the development pipeline. He takes over the position from Navjit Ahluwalia, who leaves Hilton after six years.

VISION HOSPITALITY GROUP recently broke ground on its Embassy Suites by Hilton in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The seven-story 184-suite Embassy Suites will be developed for $54 million and includes rooftop and street-level bars and a coffee area in an open lobby. The project also includes a leasable restaurant space and 5,000 total square feet of meeting space, Vision said in a statement. Vision said it will bring an economic boost to the destination with more than 100 jobs ranging from senior management positions, guest service agents, housekeepers and others. With a construction timeline of approximately two years led by Humphreys and Associates Contractors, LLC, the hotel is expected to open in the summer of 2025. "We are thrilled to begin construction on this project in our hometown of Chattanooga, just steps from our company headquarters," said Mitch Patel, Vision's president and CEO. "This project is our first Embassy Suites hotel, and we know the brand's value-added services are a perfect fit for this location welcoming both corporate and leisure travelers." Embassy Suites by Hilton, one of Hilton's 19 brands. Amenities will include a fitness center and an evening reception. Embassy Suites by Hilton has more than 260 open hotels, with 42 properties under development. The Embassy Suites Chattanooga is one among 15 projects in Vision's development pipeline expected to open in the next two years. The company's portfolio comprises 16 properties in Greater Chattanooga and 41 nationwide, the statement added.