- LE: U.S. pipeline reached 6,020 projects in the first quarter.
- 126 new hotels opened, adding 14,614 rooms.
- It projects 556 openings, bringing the year-end total to 682 hotels.
THE U.S. PIPELINE reached 6,020 projects and 705,825 rooms at the end of the first quarter, according to Lodging Econometrics. The luxury segment posted a record-high project count in the first quarter.
LE’s “Q1 2026 U.S. Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report” found that 1,071 projects with 132,016 rooms are under construction. Another 2,164 projects with 249,465 rooms are scheduled to start construction within the next 12 months, while 2,785 projects with 324,344 rooms are in early planning.
Construction starts totaled 140 projects with 15,546 rooms, while new project announcements totaled 166 projects with 20,864 rooms, the report said.
Within the chain scales, the luxury segment reached 102 projects with 25,527 rooms in the first quarter, up 16 percent by projects and 23 percent by rooms year-over-year. The upscale, upper-midscale and midscale segments account for 75 percent of projects in the U.S. construction pipeline. Each is expected to post its highest new hotel opening total since 2022.
Hotel conversions totaled 1,461 projects and 141,971 rooms, up 3 percent by projects and 4 percent by rooms year-over-year, while combined conversion and renovation activity totaled 2,041 projects and 258,665 rooms, LE data showed.
Additionally, 126 new hotels opened in the U.S. in the first quarter, accounting for 14,614 rooms. For the remaining three quarters, LE forecast 556 projects with 62,709 rooms to open, bringing the total to 682 hotels with 77,323 rooms by year-end, a 1.4 percent increase in supply. For 2027, it projected 750 hotels with 81,199 rooms to open in the U.S., a 1.4 percent increase in supply.
In February, LE’s “Q4 2025 Global Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report” found that the U.S. led with 6,146 projects and 720,089 rooms, followed by China with 3,608 projects and 644,938 rooms.
