PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Canada’s hotel-construction pipeline ended Q4’21 at 262 projects/35,325 rooms, according to analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE.) The pipeline is down three per cent by projects and up two per cent by rooms, year-over-year (YOY).
At the end of 2021, projects under construction came in at 62 projects/8,100 rooms. In the next 12 months, 85 projects/10,536 rooms are scheduled to start. Lastly, 115 projects/16,689 rooms are in the early planning stage, up 15 per cent by projects and 14 per cent by rooms YOY.
Ontario continues to lead Canada’s construction pipeline in Q4’21, reaching its highest project count since Q4’19 with 154 projects/19,818 rooms. Ontario accounts for 59 per cent of the projects and 56 per cent of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline. British Columbia comes in behind with 37 projects/5,675 rooms, followed by Alberta with 24 projects/3,739 rooms and Quebec with 18 projects/2,481 rooms.
Markets with the most projects are Toronto with 65 projects/9,621 rooms, Vancouver with 14 projects/2,016 rooms, Niagara Falls with 13 projects/2,341 rooms, Montreal with 13 projects/1,956 rooms and Ottawa with 10 projects/1,694 rooms. Together, these five cities account for 44 per cent of the projects and 50 per cent of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline.
The top franchise companies in Canada’s construction pipeline are Marriott International, reaching an all-time high of 71 projects/8,890 rooms. Hilton Worldwide follows behind with 65 projects/7,870 rooms, then InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 47 projects/4,732 rooms. These three companies claim 70 per cent of the projects and 61 per cent of the rooms in the total pipeline.
Canada’s top brands include Hampton by Hilton with 26 projects/2,946 rooms; IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 24 projects/2,461 rooms; Marriott’s TownePlace Suites with 17 projects/1,817 rooms; Hilton’s Home2Suites with 16 projects/1,706 rooms; and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 16 projects/1,533 rooms.
Canada had 35 new hotels (3,742 rooms) open in 2021 at a growth rate of 1.1 per cent. In 2022, LE is expecting Canada to open 38 hotels/4,251 rooms for a growth rate of 1.2 per cent. In 2023, LE is forecasting a slight increase in Canada’s growth rate to 1.3 per cent with 41 new hotels/4,632 rooms to open by year-end.
