According to the recent Asia Pacific Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report, Asia Pacific’s total construction pipeline, excluding China, remained steady year-over-year (YOY) to end the third quarter of 2020 at 1,820 projects/385,194 rooms, up 2% by projects and down slightly by 1% by rooms YOY.

While coronavirus cases surge again across Europe and the United States, the Asia Pacific region has been one of the few regions of the world to successfully control the spread of COVID-19. This has allowed for hotel construction to continue throughout the region.

During the third quarter of 2020, the Asia Pacific region, excluding China, saw 97 new hotels accounting for 20,587 rooms open, a 44% opening increase over the Q2 total, a sign that construction has resumed in much of the region.

At the end of the third quarter, the region had 947 projects/212,361 rooms under construction, down slightly from the peak project count hit last quarter. There are 392 projects with 77,894 rooms scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months. Counts in this stage of the pipeline remain essentially unchanged YOY. Projects in the early planning stage of the pipeline stand at 481 projects/94,939 rooms, up 12% by projects and 6% by rooms YOY.

Countries with the largest pipelines in Asia Pacific, excluding China, are led by Indonesia, with 346 projects/56,379 rooms. Next is India with 252 projects/34,100 rooms, and Japan with 186 projects/34,192 rooms. Australia follows with 174 projects/32,456 rooms and then Vietnam with 165 projects/62,052 rooms.

Asia Pacific cities outside of China with the largest construction pipelines are led by Jakarta, Indonesia with 78 projects/13,459 rooms. Next is Seoul, South Korea with 66 projects/12,990 rooms and Bangkok, Thailand with 51 projects/12,546 rooms. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia follows with 49 projects/13,710 rooms and Tokyo, Japan with 34 projects/7,467 rooms.

The top four franchise companies in the region are: Marriott International with 278 projects/60,002 rooms; AccorHotels with 218 projects/46,309 rooms; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) at 159 projects/33,665 rooms; and Hilton Worldwide, at an all-time high project count, with 99 projects/22,636 rooms.

Top brands in Asia Pacific’s construction pipeline, excluding China, are Marriott International’s Fairfield Inn at 50 projects/7,299 rooms and Courtyard at 37 projects/7,595 rooms. AccorHotels’ Ibis brands have 46 projects/8,980 rooms and Novotel has 46 projects/11,200 rooms. IHG’s top brands are Holiday Inn with 61 projects having 12,675 rooms and Holiday Inn Express with 27 projects/5,582 rooms.

This is followed by IHG’s InterContinental Hotels with 18 projects/4,361 rooms. Hilton Worldwide’s top brands include Hilton Hotel & Resort with 33 projects/9,166 rooms and DoubleTree by Hilton with 32 projects/6,473 rooms. Additionally, Hilton’s Garden Inn brand has hit a record high this quarter with 23 projects