Luxury hits record high in Q1 US pipeline

NATIONAL REPORT — The luxury segment saw a record high project count in the first quarter of 2026, according to Lodging Econometrics’ hotel construction pipeline update.

According to LE, the luxury segment had 102 projects with 25,527 rooms through Q1, up 16% by projects and 23% by rooms year-over-year (YOY). Three other chain scales (upscale, upper midscale, and midscale) account for 75% of the projects in the total U.S. construction pipeline – and each is expected to post its highest new hotel opening totals since 2022.

Through the first quarter, LE’s total hotel construction pipeline stood at 6,020 projects with 705,825 rooms in the pipeline. Of those, 1,071 projects comprising 132,016 rooms are under construction. Another 2,164 projects with 249,465 rooms are scheduled to start construction within the next 12 months, while projects in the early planning stage total 2,785 and 324,344 rooms.

Meanwhile, Q1 construction starts totaled 140 projects with 15,546 rooms, and new project announcements totaled 166 projects and 20,864 rooms.

Beyond the construction pipeline, LE's latest data points to broad-based activity across other key industry metrics. Hotel conversions remain strong, standing at 1,461 projects and 141,971 rooms — up 3% by projects and 4% by rooms year-over-year — while combined conversion and renovation activity reaches 2,041 projects and 258,665 rooms.

In the first quarter of 2026, 126 new hotels opened in the U.S., accounting for 14,614 rooms. For the remaining three quarters of 2026, LE forecasts another 556 projects with 62,709 rooms to open, bringing the total to 682 new hotels with 77,323 rooms by year-end, representing a 1.4% increase in new hotel supply. Looking ahead to 2027, LE analysts anticipate 750 new hotels with 81,199 rooms to open in the U.S., for a 1.4% supply increase.