US popping with new construction projects

NATIONAL REPORT — The U.S. hotel industry demonstrated resilience and growth throughout 2024, with new construction projects flourishing across the country's top metropolitan areas, according to Lodging Econometrics data.

Despite economic headwinds in other sectors, hotel developers pushed forward with expansion plans and the top 50 markets added 675 new project announcements adding more than 95,000 rooms to the national pipeline.

LE experts view this widespread construction activity — with nearly two-thirds of major markets announcing at least 10 new projects — as evidence of a new phase of strategic expansion across the country.

“We're witnessing the classic pattern of hospitality development spreading across the country,” said Bruce Ford, senior vice president and director of global business development at LE. “The initial surge typically begins in the southern United States before expanding northward and eventually reaching coastal markets — a progression that strongly suggests we've entered a new phase of substantial pipeline growth across key metropolitan centers.”

For 2024, hotel development activity remained robust across major U.S. markets with 42 of the top 50 markets each announcing at least five new construction projects. 

Dallas was the top market for new projects, with 52 representing 6,211 rooms. Atlanta was second with 38 projects and 4,117 rooms, Phoenix was third with 29 projects and 3,405 rooms. Orlando and Nashville rounded out the top five, each with 26 projects. Orlando projects totaled 5,687 rooms, while Nashville had 3,260, respectively.

In the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, 44 of the top 50 markets announced at least one new construction project. Dallas still led with 20 new project announcements and 2,061 rooms. Phoenix was second with 12 new developments and 1,376 rooms, while the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina market claimed third place with 10 projects and 1,146 rooms. Las Vegas, Nashville, and Austin tied for the next spot, each reporting eight new projects — though with dramatically different scales, as Las Vegas's developments encompassed 4,556 rooms compared to Austin's more modest 749.

Nearly half of America's top 50 markets demonstrated significant confidence in the sector, with 22 markets announcing five or more new hotel projects in Q4.

In Q4, the top 50 markets in the U.S. had 65 new projects and 7,453 rooms breaking ground. Phoenix, Dallas, Atlanta and the Inland Empire and Sacramento in California emerged as the primary catalysts for this construction momentum.

Concurrently, the top 50 U.S. markets welcomed 251 newly opened hotels during the year, adding 33,232 rooms to the national inventory. Five markets led this expansion: Dallas, New York, Austin, Nashville and Atlanta, which together contributed 70 hotels and 11,716 rooms. The fourth quarter alone saw 77 hotel openings and 8,955 rooms nationwide.