According to the latest Europe Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), research analysts report that at the close of the second quarter of 2021, Europe’s hotel construction pipeline dropped 1% by projects and increased 1% by rooms year-over-year (YOY) and ended the quarter with 1,841 projects and 296,843 rooms.

Projects under construction are up 1%, YOY, standing at 934 projects/ 152,549 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months saw a small decrease last quarter, closing at 466 projects/73,739. Projects in the early planning stage dropped 2% by projects YOY to 441 projects while rooms increased 1% YOY to 70,561 rooms.

Over the past 18 months, closed borders and the absence of tourism have been a great upset for many European economies. Like the rest of the world, countries in the region are still combating the COVID-19 virus and its variants. However, many are starting to show signs of recovery. The advancement of vaccination programs has enabled many European countries to ease restrictions and now open their borders, each with its own conditions for domestic and/or international visitors. Those that have opened have already seen increases in hotel and flight reservations. Pent-up demand has tourists eager to make plans for late summer. As long as the COVID-19 situation improves, or at a minimum, remains stable in the region and restrictions continue to ease, travel demand is expected to strengthen during the second half of 2021.

The region had significant growth in new openings during the second quarter, reaching record-highs of 168 new hotels and 24,253 rooms. The LE forecast for new hotel openings shows continued growth for the next several years with a total of 458 new hotels/65,422 rooms opening by the end of 2021, followed by 468 hotels/69,756 rooms expected in 2022, and 461 hotels/74,671 rooms in 2023.

Fifty Percent of the Projects in Europe’s Pipeline Belong to These Companies

The top hotel companies in Europe’s construction pipeline are Accor with 281 projects/40,123 rooms, Marriott International with 218 projects/35,721 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 205 projects/32,155 rooms, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 154 projects/23,391 rooms, and the Radisson Hotel Group with 55 projects/10,160 rooms. These five companies comprise 50% of the projects in the total hotel construction pipeline in Europe.

The leading brands for these four companies are Hilton Worldwide’s Hampton by Hilton brand with 80 projects/12,503 rooms. Accor’s Ibis brands follow with 78 projects/9,394 rooms, then IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 60 projects/9,412 rooms. Marriott International’s Moxy brand ended the quarter with 56 projects/9,635 rooms, and Radisson Hotel Group’s Radisson Blu brand closed with 16 projects/2,646 rooms.

The United Kingdom Leads the Construction Pipeline in Europe

The United Kingdom leads the construction pipeline with 345 projects/52,925 rooms. Germany is second with 276 projects/50,304 rooms. France follows with 169 projects/19,948 rooms. Next is Portugal with 120 projects/14,510 rooms, and then Poland with 94 projects/14,074 rooms.

The markets in Europe with the most projects in the pipeline are London with 86 projects/15,717 rooms, Dusseldorf at 52 projects/10,370 rooms, and Paris at 44 projects/6,927 rooms. Next is Lisbon with 35 projects and a room count total of 4,130 and Istanbul follows with 33 projects/6,472 rooms.