Strong growth in Latin America pipeline

LATIN AMERICA – At the close of Q1 2025, the hotel construction pipeline in Latin America stood at 715 projects and 112,598 rooms, marking an 18% increase in projects and an 11% increase in rooms year-over-year (YOY), according to Lodging Econometrics.

At the end of the first quarter, there were 287 projects/49,570 rooms under construction in Latin America, reflecting a 15% YOY increase by projects and a 5% increase by rooms. Additionally, projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stood at 190 projects/29,084 rooms, up 1% by projects and rooms YOY, while those in early planning stood at 238 projects/33,944 rooms, up 43% by projects and 37% by rooms YOY.

The upscale chain scale had the biggest pipeline with 139 projects/20,122 rooms, the luxury chain scale hit all-time highs of 135 projects and 26,440 rooms, and the midscale chain scale had 128 projects/15,772 rooms. Notably, upper upscale chain scale projects in Latin America reached a record-high project total at Q1 to close the quarter with 119 projects/22,567 rooms.

Mexico had the largest number of projects with 254 projects/39,163 rooms, Brazil had 112 projects/15,134 rooms, and the Dominican Republic had 78 projects/18,331 rooms. Mexico reached a record-high project total at Q1, while the Dominican Republic achieved both record-high project and room totals. These three countries account for 62% of the projects and 65% of the rooms in the total Latin America pipeline.

Key cities with the largest construction pipelines included Mexico City with 26 projects/3,068 rooms, Riviera Maya, Mexico, with 16 projects/1,846 rooms, and Lima, Peru, with 14 projects/2,192 rooms. Dominican Republic’s Santo Domingo had 13 projects/1,546 rooms and Georgetown, Guyana, had 12 projects/1,664 rooms.

Hotel renovation and brand conversion activity remains strong in Latin America at the end of Q1 2025, accounting for 137 projects/26,015 rooms. Construction starts in the quarter totaled 36 projects/5,353 rooms, while new project announcements showed growth with 58 projects/9,364 rooms.

The LE new openings forecast for the remainder of the year expects an additional 89 new hotels with 14,761 rooms for a 2025 year-end total of 97 projects/16,080 rooms. Looking ahead, LE analysts expect new hotel openings in Latin America to increase in 2026 with 133 new hotels/20,345 rooms forecast to open.