Record-Breaking Hotel Construction Pipeline in China

As seen in Lodging Econometrics’ (LE’s) Q2 2024 Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report for China, the country’s hotel construction pipeline has reached unprecedented heights at the close of the second quarter. The pipeline stands at a record-high 3,815 projects with 699,786 rooms, marking a 4% increase in projects and 3% in rooms year-over-year (YOY).

According to the Q2 report, projects under construction have hit a new all-time high of 2,743 projects with 498,551 rooms, accounting for 72% of the projects in China’s total pipeline and growing 3% by projects and 4% by rooms YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 390 projects/70,520 rooms at Q2, up 9% by projects and 10% by rooms YOY. Projects in early planning grew 4% YOY at Q2 to close the quarter at 682 projects/130,715 rooms.

China had 219 projects/37,261 rooms start construction in Q2. That number represents a 37% YOY increase by projects and a 32% increase by rooms. Two-hundred-sixty-four new projects, with 43,301 rooms, were announced into the China construction pipeline during Q2, rising 12% YOY by projects. Combined, renovation and conversion projects reached record-high counts and stand at 206 projects and 42,084 rooms at Q2, showing a 32% YOY increase in projects and a 47% increase in rooms.

At Q2, three chain scales account for an impressive 69% of the projects and 65% of the rooms in China’s total pipeline. The upper midscale segment, claiming 32% of the projects in the country’s total pipeline, achieved record-highs this quarter, with 1,227 projects/190,268 rooms. Hotel construction projects in the upscale chain scale also reached new all-time highs at Q2, with 979 projects/219,104 rooms. The midscale segment closed the quarter with 437 projects/43,206 rooms.

China currently has 2,293 projects/413,874 rooms under construction, an increase of 3% by projects and 2% by rooms over last quarter’s totals. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 641 projects/116,884. Projects in the early planning stage stand at 441 projects/109,053 rooms, down an incremental 1% YOY.

The country opened 910 hotels/114,502 rooms in 2020. In Q4 ’20, China saw 176 new hotels accounting for 25,442 rooms open. LE is forecasting another 840 projects/131,197 rooms to open in 2021 and 994 projects/169,716 rooms to open in 2022.
During Q1-Q2 2024, 341 new hotels/47,084 rooms opened in China, with an additional 596 new hotels/92,589 rooms forecast to open in Q3-Q4. LE analysts forecast a total of 937 new hotels and 139,673 new rooms to open by year-end 2024.

In 2025, LE analysts forecast 994 new hotels/166,683 rooms to open, and according to the newly released 2026 new hotel openings forecast, 759 new hotels/146,894 rooms are forecast to open in 2026.

Chengdu Leads China’s pipeline at the Q2 close with 147 Projects/29,951 Rooms

Chengdu leads China’s pipeline at the Q2 close with 147 projects/29,951 rooms. Shanghai follows with 126 projects/24,340 rooms. Next is Guangzhou with 122 projects/24,977 rooms, then Hangzhou with 103 projects/20,997 rooms, and Xi’an with 87 projects/15,813 rooms.