PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — According to Lodging Econometrics’ (LE) year-end Construction Pipeline Trend Report for Canada, the country’s hotel-construction pipeline ended the fourth quarter of 2020 at 270 projects/34,678 rooms, a mere 35 fewer projects than the region’s peak of 305 projects achieved in Q4 of 2019.
Projects under construction stand at 83 projects/9,836 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months recorded 87 projects/10,142 rooms, while projects in the early planning stage stand at 100 projects/14,700 rooms — up 12 per cent by projects and four per cent by rooms year-over-year (YOY). Projects under construction and scheduled to start in next 12 months have both seen YOY declines after reaching peaks recently. New-project announcements were higher in Q4 than any other quarter of 2020, with 20 projects/1,882 rooms.
Ontario continues to lead Canada’s construction pipeline, with 147 projects/18,179 rooms, accounting for 54 per cent of the projects and 52 per cent of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline. British Columbia follows with 44 projects/6,126 rooms, then Alberta with 26 projects/4,153 rooms and Quebec with 25 projects/3,267 rooms.
Toronto leads the country’s top-five cities with the largest construction pipelines, with 60 projects/8,498 rooms — a record-high room count for the city. Following distantly is Montreal with 15 projects/2,180 rooms, Vancouver with 12 projects/1,652 room, Niagara Falls with 11 projects/1,768 rooms and Ottawa with nine projects/1,456 rooms. Combined, these five cities account for 40 per cent of the projects and 45 per cent of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline.
The top franchise companies in Canada’s pipeline are led by Hilton Worldwide with 68 projects — a three-quarter consecutive high project count — and 8,214 rooms. Hilton is followed by Marriott International with 67 projects/8,250 rooms (a record-high project count) and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 45 projects/4,384 rooms.
The top brands in Canada’s pipeline are Hampton by Hilton, with 28 projects/3,180 rooms; IHG’s Holiday Inn Express, with 26 projects/2,574 rooms; and Fairfield Inn by Marriott, with 18 projects/1,722 rooms — an all-time high.
