STR Global Reports 175 New Hotel Openings in the Americas

STR Global Reports 175 New Hotel Openings in the Americas

STR Global reports hotel construction is growing across the globe, according to the company’s report for May. The Asia/Pacific hotel development pipeline continues to lead the pack, with 1,227 hotels totaling 302,858 rooms.

Year to date through April 30, 98 projects opened in the region with 15,007 rooms. There are 324 more projects expected to open in the remainder of 2011 with 73,430 rooms. In 2012, 424 projects are planned to open with 112,060 rooms.

Among the chain scale segments, the upper upscale segment is expected to open the largest number of rooms during the remainder of the year with 64 projects comprising 21,715 rooms, followed by the upscale segment (75 projects with 16,353 rooms) and the luxury segment (51 projects with 13,033 rooms).

In Central and South America, the hotel development pipeline is comprised of 175 hotels totaling 28,243 rooms. Among the region’s countries, Panama reported the largest expected growth in existing room supply (up 70.4 percent) if all 7,604 rooms in the total active pipeline open.

Other countries to report significant expected growth include: Paraguay (up 16.2 percent with 300 rooms in the total active pipeline); Colombia (up 13.5 percent with 2,352 rooms); Costa Rica (up 7.4 percent with 1,306 rooms); and Brazil (up 7 percent with 12,013 rooms).