Q2’20 Latin America Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report shows that the total construction pipeline stands at 681 projects/118,936 rooms, down 4% by projects and rooms, year-over-year (YOY).

Projects presently under construction stand at 345 projects/61,622 rooms, up 7% by projects and 10% by rooms, YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 196 projects/36,562 rooms. Projects in the early planning stage have experienced the sharpest decline, down 23% by projects and 34% by rooms YOY, settling in at 140 projects/20,752 rooms at Q2 close.

In the first half of 2020, 35 new hotels/5,803 rooms opened throughout Latin America. New projects announced into the pipeline in the first half of the year stand at 87 projects/10,487 rooms. In the second quarter of 2020, there were 51 new project announcements with 6,891 rooms; this is up slightly after a record low count in Q1’20.

Latin America’s construction pipeline is led by Mexico at a record high with 230 projects/42,372 rooms. Brazil follows with 132 projects/20,268 rooms. Next is Peru with 42 projects/5,619 rooms, then the Dominican Republic with 30 projects/6,091 rooms, and Cuba stands at 28 projects/7,649 rooms. Together, these five countries account for 69% of the rooms in the total pipeline.

Cities in Latin America with the largest pipelines include Lima, Peru with 31 projects/4,551 rooms; Mexico City, Mexico with 27 projects/4,217 rooms; Cancun, Mexico with 24 projects/11,541 rooms; Guadalajara, Mexico with 21 projects/2,767 rooms; and Sao Paulo, Brazil with 16 projects/2,667 rooms.

Hotel franchise companies with the largest construction pipelines in Latin America are Marriott International with 118 projects/20,343 rooms, AccorHotels with 97 projects/12,742 rooms, Hilton Worldwide at a record high 92 projects/12,960 rooms, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 60 projects/7,334 rooms. These four companies account for 54% of the projects in the total construction pipeline.

Leading brands in the pipeline are AccorHotel’s Ibis brands with 66 projects/8,455 rooms, Hilton Garden Inn recording an all-time high of 25 projects/3,441 rooms and Hampton by Hilton with 24 projects/2,850 rooms. These are followed by Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 16 projects/2,359 rooms and IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 16 projects/1,955 rooms.