PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The total construction pipeline in Canada stands at 253 projects/33,240 rooms at the close of 2021’s second quarter, dropping 15 per cent year-over-year (YOY) in projects, according to a recent report from Lodging Econometrics (LE).
Currently, projects under construction stand at 71 projects/9,218 rooms, marking a 28-per-cent decrease in projects and a 25-per-cent decrease in rooms YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next year are at 74 projects/8,645 rooms.
Ontario is leading Canada’s construction pipeline, with 146 projects/17,799 rooms at the end of Q2, accounting for 58 per cent of the projects in the total pipeline. B.C. follows with 37 projects/5,806 rooms, Alberta with 23 projects/3,797 rooms, Quebec with 22 projects/3,166 rooms and Nova Scotia with eight projects/868 rooms. Collectively, these five provinces account for 93 per cent of the rooms in the total construction pipeline.
The top five markets are led by Toronto with 63 projects/8,527 rooms, Montreal with 14 projects/2,124 rooms, Vancouver with 13 projects/2,096 rooms, Niagara Falls with 12 projects/1,817 rooms and Ottawa with nine projects/1,535 rooms. Together, these markets account for 44 per cent of the rooms in the pipeline.
The top franchise companies in Canada are Marriott International with 66 projects/8,321 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 64 projects/7,714 rooms and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 42 projects/4,247 rooms. The largest brands in the pipeline for each of these companies are Marriott’s Fairfield Inn, Hampton by Hilton and IHG’s Holiday Inn Express.
In the first half of 2021, Canada had 19 new hotel openings. In comparison, LE is forecasting 29 new hotel openings in the second half of the year, for a total of 48 projects/5,033 rooms. In 2022, LE is predicting 43 projects/5,344 rooms and, in 2023, 54 projects/6,490.
