Nearly Half of the Projects in Europe’s Hotel Pipeline are Under Construction at Q1 Close

As seen in the latest Europe Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), at the close of 2025’s first quarter, the region’s total pipeline stands at 1,683 projects/247,472 rooms.

As of the first quarter’s close, 46% of the hotel projects in Europe’s total pipeline are in the under construction stage, standing at 766 projects and 115,227 rooms. Another 386 projects with 57,992 rooms are scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, while 531 projects with 74,253 rooms are in the early planning stage.

Construction starts in the first quarter showed healthy activity with 90 projects/11,184 rooms, a 14% increase in projects year-over-year, while new project announcements totaled 94 projects/13,576 rooms.

Notably, Combined hotel renovations and brand conversions in Europe have shown strong growth at the Q1 close, with 718 projects/93,305 rooms and representing a 32% increase in projects and a 26% increase in rooms year-over-year.

At Q1, the luxury chain scale reached a record-high of 132 projects/17,124 rooms, while the upper upscale chain scale also hit a record-high with 281 projects/45,091 rooms. The upscale chain scale stands at 358 projects/55,297 rooms, while the upper midscale chain scale closed the first quarter with 325 projects/47,738 rooms. The top two chain scales by project count, upscale and upper midscale, account for 41% of the projects and 42% of the rooms in Europe’s total construction pipeline.

During the first quarter of 2025, 41 new hotels/5,450 rooms opened throughout Europe, with an additional 314 new hotels/42,099 rooms forecast to open in Q2-Q4. LE analysts forecast a total of 355 new hotels/47,549 rooms to open by year-end 2025. Looking ahead, the LE forecast for new openings in Europe will continue to rise with 371 new hotels/50,255 rooms anticipated to open in 2026.

The United Kingdom and London Lead Europe’s Pipeline at Q1

Countries in Europe with the greatest number of projects in the pipeline at Q1 are led by the United Kingdom with 288 projects/41,338 rooms. Following the United Kingdom is Germany with 153 projects/25,971 rooms, then Turkey with a record-high 133 projects/19,350 rooms, France with 119 projects/12,078 rooms, and Portugal with 115 projects/14,199 rooms. These five countries account for 48% of the projects and 46% of the rooms in the region’s total pipeline at Q1. Notably, Spain also reached a new record-high project total at Q1 2025 with 92 projects/13,509 rooms.

European cities with the largest pipelines by project count at the close of the first quarter are London with 81 projects/15,459 rooms, Istanbul with 49 projects/7,743 rooms, Lisbon with 36 projects/4,230 rooms, Dublin with 26 projects/4,696 rooms, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with 25 projects/4,261 rooms. Other European cities with notable pipeline changes at the Q1 close include Edinburgh, reaching a new record-high room total with 18 projects/3,028 rooms, and Madrid with a new record-high project total of 17 projects/2,410 rooms.