In the Q3 2022 Latin America Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), analysts report the total construction pipeline stands at 548 projects/90,728 rooms, down 5% by projects and 12% by rooms, year-over-year (YOY).
At the end of the third quarter, projects currently under construction stand at 239 projects/44,837 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are up 6% by projects YOY, standing at 165 projects/24,648 rooms and those in the early planning stage stand at 144 projects/21,243 rooms, up 22% and 14% respectively.
Five countries in Latin America's construction pipeline account for 68% of the projects in the region. Mexico has the most projects in the pipeline at Q3, with 206 projects/33,761 rooms. Brazil follows with 92 projects/15,420 rooms. Next is Peru with 28 projects/3,610 rooms, then the Dominican Republic with 27 projects/6,262 rooms, and Argentina stands at 18 projects/1,956 rooms.
Cities in Latin America with the largest project counts in the pipeline include Mexico City, Mexico with 24 projects/3,168 rooms; Guadalajara, Mexico with 21 projects/2,595 rooms; Cancun, Mexico with 20 projects/8,590 rooms; Lima, Peru with 17 projects/2,508 rooms; and Sao Paulo, Brazil with 12 projects/2,609 rooms. These five cities account for 21% of the rooms in the region's total construction pipeline.
Hotel franchise companies with the largest construction pipelines in Latin America at the Q3 close are Hilton Worldwide with 104 projects/14,792 rooms, Marriott International with 103 projects/17,471 rooms, Accor with 75 projects/9,528 rooms, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 58 projects/6,629 rooms. These four companies account for 62% of the projects in the total Latin America construction pipeline.
The top brands in the pipeline are Accor's Ibis brands with 53 projects/6,577 rooms, Hilton Garden Inn with 24 projects/3,162 rooms, Hampton by Hilton with 23 projects/2,737 rooms, and Hilton's Curio brand with 14 projects/1,285 rooms. These are followed by IHG's Holiday Inn Express 13 projects /1,538 rooms and Hyatt's AMR Collection 12 projects /4,978 rooms.
At the close of the third quarter of 2022, Latin America opened 55 new hotels with 9,013 rooms. The LE forecast for the remainder of the year shows another 25 new hotels with 3,868 rooms scheduled to open, for a total of 80 hotels/12,881 rooms to open by year-end 2022. In 2023, LE's forecast for new openings in Latin America is expected to rise to 95 new hotels with 17,146 rooms and again in 2024, to 101 new hotels with 15,986 rooms.