290,989 New Hotel Rooms Under Construction in U.S. in February

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According to the February 2012 STR/McGraw Hill Construction Dodge Pipeline Report, the total active U.S. hotel development pipeline comprises 2,716 projects totaling 290,989 rooms in February.

This represents a 5.6-percent decrease in the number of rooms in the total active pipeline compared to February 2011. The total active pipeline data includes projects in the In Construction, Final Planning and Planning stages, but does not include projects in the Pre-Planning stage.

"We continue to see new construction in many of the largest U.S. hotel markets," said Duane Vinson, VP of database content and integrity at STR. "New York, Orlando, the Washington D.C., metro area, Chicago and Nashville round out the top five in rooms in the In Construction phase. Even though it is a relatively small market (with only 36,000 existing rooms), Nashville is near the top of the list with more than 1,300 rooms in the final phase of development. Las Vegas is notably quiet with a mere 126 rooms."

"Regional construction in the South and Southeast is down considerably. States that saw significant building a few years ago such as Florida and Texas have now gone comparatively dormant. Those markets where we see a drop off include Miami (-26.2 percent), Atlanta (-34.6 percent), Houston (-39.7 percent) New Orleans (-49.3 percent) and Dallas (-90 percent)."

Among the Top 10 markets by rooms in the In Construction phase, New York, New York, reported the most rooms under construction with 7,296, a 17.2-percent increase over February 2011. Orlando, Florida, followed New York with 3,265 rooms under construction, a 29.7-percent increase over last year, followed by Washington, D.C. (-20.0 percent with 2,618 rooms); Chicago, Illinois (+100.6 percent with 1,392 rooms); and Nashville, Tennessee (+223.5 percent with 1,388 rooms.).