U.S. Hotel Construction Took Deep Drop in September

The number of rooms in the U.S. hotel industry's active pipeline declined 21.9 percent year over year in September, though construction activity remained vigorous in a few key business travel markets, according to Smith Travel Research data released this week.

The U.S. pipeline stood at 3,362 projects, totaling 352,356 rooms, in September, according to STR. The firm’s vice president of content management, Lana Yoshii, said tight financing and barriers to entry in major markets has kept the pipeline numbers down compared with 2009 levels.

New York is an exception, however, with the most rooms under construction of any market in the United States, according to Yoshii. In total, those rooms will boost New York’s hotel supply by 7.4 percent once they open.

Other cities with more rooms under construction than last year include Orlando, Boston and Denver. Las Vegas saw the largest decrease in rooms under construction, down 85 percent from September 2009 levels to 1,025 rooms.