PORTSMOUTH, NH—Analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE) report the upper-midscale category is currently at 2,067 projects representing 205,662 rooms, and has the largest project count of any chain scale in the total pipeline. The second largest is upscale, which currently has 1,246 projects representing 161,229 rooms. Together, the upper-midscale and upscale pipelines compose 66% of all projects in the total pipeline.
According to LE, the brands with the largest number of projects in the upper-midscale pipeline are IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 412 projects/38,160 rooms; Hilton’s Home2 Suites with 344 projects/36,074 rooms; and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 285 projects/27,220 rooms. In upscale, the top brands are Marriott’s Residence Inn with 188 projects/23,725 rooms; Marriott’s SpringHill Suites with 147 projects/17,293 rooms; and Hilton Garden Inn with 135 projects/17,914 rooms.
These two chain scales are forecast to have the highest guestroom growth rates over the next two years. Upper-midscale is forecast to grow its guestroom census by 5.3% and upscale by 5.7% in 2017, and by 6.3% and 5.8%, respectively, in 2018, according to LE.