LE: Asia-Pacific’s Hotel Construction Pipeline Remains Strong

PORTSMOUTH, NH—Asia-Pacific’s total construction pipeline, excluding China, continues in a four-quarter topping out formation with 1,779 projects/389,830 rooms, up 2% and 6% respectively, year-over-year (YOY), according to a report from analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE).

The region currently has 958 projects/221,927 rooms under construction. There are 391 projects/78,032 rooms scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months and 430 projects in the early planning stage with room counts at an all-time high of 89,871 rooms. Brand conversions are also at an all-time high.

Excluding China, the Asia-Pacific region opened 243 new hotels with 43,600 rooms through the close of the third quarter and is forecast to open another 95 new hotels/19,621 rooms by year-end. The LE forecast for new hotel openings will rise in 2020 to 374 projects with a record 77,315 rooms before slowing slightly in 2021 to 360 new hotels/71,077 rooms. In preparation for the 2020 summer Olympics, Japan continues to have the largest count of new hotels forecast to open in the region with 41% of all new hotels in 2019 and 30% in 2020.

Countries with the largest pipelines in Asia-Pacific, excluding China, are led by Indonesia, with 375 projects/62,547 rooms, accounting for 21% of Asia-Pacific’s total pipeline. Next is India with 236 projects/34,389 rooms, then Japan standing at 211 projects/44,014 rooms. These countries are followed by Vietnam with 134 projects having 56,720 rooms and Malaysia at 134 projects/36,252 rooms.

Cities with the largest construction pipelines in Asia-Pacific are led by Jakarta, Indonesia, with 84 projects/15,362 rooms. Next is Seoul, South Korea, with 73 projects/13,945 rooms and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with 54 projects/14,232 rooms. Tokyo follows with 53 projects/12,375 rooms and Bangkok with 46 projects/12,305 rooms. Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Seoul all have pipelines higher than 25% of their existing supply of open and operating hotels.

The top four franchise companies, accounting for 41% of all the projects and rooms in the pipeline, are Marriott International with an all-time high of 258 projects/57,839 rooms; Accor with 218 projects/46,092 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), at a record high 162 projects/36,045 rooms; and Hilton, also with an all-time high of 91 projects/20,422 rooms.

Top brands in Asia-Pacific’s construction pipeline, excluding China, include Accor’s Ibis brands with 56 projects/10,735 rooms and Novotel with 41 projects/10,010 rooms. Marriott International’s two top brands are Fairfield Inn with 40 projects/6,472 rooms and Courtyard at 38 projects/8,044 rooms, both at record highs. IHG’s Holiday Inn has 63 projects with 14,136 rooms, while Holiday Inn Express has 33 projects/6,950 rooms. Hilton’s DoubleTree and its full-service Hilton Hotel & Resorts are also at record highs with 33 projects/6,587 rooms and 30 projects/7,874 rooms, respectively.