STR: U.S. HOTEL CONSTRUCTION PIPELINE UP IN DECEMBER FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2020

U.S. HOTEL CONSTRUCTION increased slightly in December after 25 consecutive months of decline, according to STR. Projects in the later stages of development
saw a reversal in their decline and luxury projects were up.

There are 159,344 rooms in construction during the month, up 0.3 percent, over Dec. 2021. As many as 213,066 rooms are in the final planning state, an increase of
15 percent over last year. STR pipeline data added that 240,092 rooms are under planning, a decline of 15.6 percent.

New York City, Phoenix and Dallas are set to see the largest supply percentage increases from current construction. The luxury and upscale segments would see the
most supply.

“While the overall pipeline continued to contract year over year, December showed strength in the later phases of development,” said Alison Hoyt, STR’s senior
director of consulting. “Over the past year, we’ve seen late-stage pipeline rooms consistently decline from 2021 levels, while rooms in the planning phase often
showed double-digit growth. We started to see a change in this pattern in November, when final planning rooms significantly jumped year over year and planning
rooms came down pretty firmly. The same occurred in December, with the only difference being construction increasing slightly over 2021. When looking strictly at
volume, the in-construction phase has been fairly stable throughout the year, remaining under 160,000 rooms and showing month-over-month increases from July through
October and again in December.”