PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE) report that at year-end 2019, the total construction pipeline in Canada hit an all-time high of 305 projects/39,984 rooms. This represents year-over-year (YOY) pipeline growth of 15 per cent by projects and 20 per cent by rooms.
At the close of 2019, projects under construction hit record counts with 96 projects/12,007 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months — up an extraordinary 36 per cent by projects and 28 per cent by rooms — stand at 120 projects/13,785 rooms and projects in the early-planning stage are also at an all-time high with 89 projects/14,192 rooms.
Canada’s hotel construction pipeline is expected to remain strong and may continue to expand through 2020 as new-project announcements also reached record counts in 2019. Further, interest rates are expected to remain stable, unemployment rates are near record lows and inflation is being held in check.
Markets with the most projects in the pipeline continue to be led by Toronto — at an all-time high with 55 projects/7,608 rooms. Toronto has 18 per cent of all the projects in Canada’s construction pipeline. Distantly following are Montreal, also setting record counts with 18 projects/2,406 rooms, then Vancouver with 14 projects/1,853 rooms, Niagara Falls with 13 projects/3,655 rooms and Ottawa with 13 projects/1,976 rooms.
Canada had 54 new hotels/6,150 rooms open in 2019. In 2020, the country is forecast to have 60 new hotels/6,208 rooms open, and 2021 is expected to climb to 67 new hotels/7,218 rooms opening — likely to be the highest counts for this cycle.
The top hotel companies in Canada’s construction pipeline are Marriott International with 64 projects/8,082 rooms and Hilton Worldwide with 60 projects/7,081 rooms — both of which are at all-time highs. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) follows closely with 55 projects/5,288 rooms. These three companies claim 59 per cent of the projects in the total construction pipeline.
The top brands in Canada’s pipeline are IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 33 projects/3,241 rooms, followed by Hampton by Hilton with 29 projects/3,174 rooms, Hyatt Place with 16 projects/2,421 rooms and Marriott’s TownePlace Suites — at record counts with 15 projects/1,652 rooms.
