According to the recent Latin America construction pipeline trend report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the total construction pipeline has 750 projects/129,351 rooms, the lowest number of projects in the pipeline since the fourth quarter of 2013.

Trendline analysis suggests that peak construction activity in Latin America occurred in 2015-2016 and the construction pipeline has now begun a cyclical decline.

The cyclical decline is most notable in Brazil, which has historically accounted for more than half of the region’s pipeline. Brazil’s pipeline peaked in the first quarter of 2015 at 453 projects/79,431 rooms and now stands at just 212 projects/34,559 rooms. Lessor declines but still of note are also evident in Panama, Argentina, and Jamaica.

In Latin America, there are 363 projects/63,607 rooms presently under construction, projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 207 projects/32,305 rooms, and projects in early planning are at 180 projects/33,439 rooms.

Only 94 projects/16,024 rooms started construction in the first half of 2018. New projects announced into the pipeline during the first half of 2018 are down -38% with only 114 projects/17,595 rooms compared to the 177 projects/28,533 rooms announced in the first half of 2017.

In the first half of 2018, Latin America had 61 new hotels open, the lowest level since the first half of 2014 which had 59 new hotels open. The LE forecast for new hotel openings calls for another 106 new hotels to open in the second half of the year bringing the total to 167 by the year-end. This is a downturn from the 180 new hotel openings seen in 2017 and 187 in 2016. The forecast for 2019 will likely see a slight increase to 182 new hotel openings before dipping back down to 168 in 2020.

Countries with the most projects in the total construction pipeline are led by Brazil with 212 projects/34,559 rooms. Next is Mexico with 180 projects/33,071 rooms, Columbia, with 63 projects/9,623 rooms, Peru which is at an all-time high of 47 projects/6,843 rooms, and Argentina which, conversely, is at an all-time low with 29 projects/2,776 rooms. This is followed by the Dominican Republic with 26 projects/9,452 rooms, Cuba with 26 projects/8,643 rooms, and Chile with 21 projects/3,607 rooms.

Top hotel companies in Latin America’s construction pipeline are AccorHotels with 112 projects/16,223 rooms, Marriott International with 95 projects/15,125 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 76 projects/11,851, which is an all-time high for the Hilton company in Latin America, and InterContinental Hotels Group with 47 projects/5,933 rooms. These four companies make up 44% of projects in the total construction pipeline and are forecast to see the highest number of new hotel openings in 2019 and 2020.

The top brands are AccorHotel’s Ibis brands with 79 projects/10,501 rooms and Novotel with 12 projects/2,034 rooms, Hilton Worldwide’s Hilton Garden Inn with 20 projects/2,877 rooms and Hampton Inn by Hilton with 17 projects/2,087 rooms, and InterContinental’s Holiday Inn Express with 19 projects/2,32 0 rooms and Holiday Inn with 11 projects/1,537 rooms. These are followed by Marriott International’s full-service Marriott Hotel with 11 projects/2,191 rooms, Courtyard by Marriott with 11 projects/1,644 rooms, and AC Hotel by Marriott with 10 projects/1,701 rooms.