At the close of 2019, analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE) report that the total U.S. construction pipeline continues to grow with 5,748 projects/708,898 rooms, up 4% by projects and 6% by rooms year-over-year (YOY). The pipeline has now completed its eighth consecutive year of growth. These robust year-end counts are a mere 135 projects/76,649 rooms shy of the all-time high of 5,883 projects/785,547 rooms reached in the second quarter of 2008.
Projects under construction continue to rise reaching an all-time high of 1,768 projects with 237,362 rooms, up 7% by projects and 10% by rooms, YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 2,283 projects/265,161 rooms. Projects in the early planning stage are at 1,697 projects/206,375 rooms.