A report by Lodging Econometrics forecasts continued growth in U.S. hotel supply for 2024. According to figures at the end of the third quarter (Q3) last year, 59,569 operating hotels accounted for more than 5.647 million rooms across the country. Adding the 182 hotels that were expected to open by the end of last year, before the report was completed, would total 59,751 hotels and more than 5.672 million rooms—reflecting a supply increase of 1.2 percent year over year from 2022 to 2023. For 2024, Lodging Econometrics forecasts an additional 664 hotels and 79,286 rooms, which would result in a slight supply increase of 1.4 percent year over year, from 2023 to 2024.
Construction and renovation of hotels showed a bigger year-over-year increase from 2022 to 2023. There were 1,063 projects and 140,331 rooms under construction through the end of Q3, meaning a year-over-year increase of 8 percent for projects and 4 percent for rooms. With 2,234 projects and 257,729 rooms scheduled to start construction in 2024, the construction trend is expected to increase slightly—with a year-over-year increase of 8 percent for projects and 9 percent for rooms from 2023 to 2024.
In addition, the 2,407 projects and 274,616 rooms in the early planning stages represented a year-over-year increase of 7 percent each from 2022 to 2023—just 27 projects and 5,296 rooms shy of a record. Activity for renovations and conversions—1,100 projects and 146,757 rooms at the end of Q3—was the highest reported by Lodging Econometrics. The renovation and conversion active pipeline remains strong, with 1,912 projects and a peak number of rooms, at 258,568. The positive trends are expected to continue over the next two years.
