U.S. hotel project pipeline totals 1,422 properties with 288,280 keys: Rolf W. Schmidt

TOPHOTELPROJECTS’ Founder & CEO Rolf W. Schmidt. Photo by Rahul Venkit.

TOPHOTELPROJECTS Founder & CEO Rolf W. Schmidt tells attendees at TOPHOTELWORLDTOUR New York that the United States leads the world in new hotel development, having surpassed China at the moment.

The hotel project pipeline in North America is in the midst of an ongoing boom, according to new stats released at the TOPHOTELWORLDTOUR event November 12 in New York City.

TOPHOTELPROJECTS Founder and CEO Rolf W. Schmidt shared in-depth information about the project pipeline in North America — as well as the rest of the world — at the event, which was held at the Standard Highline in New York’s revitalized Meatpacking District.

Schmidt presented a new report that indicated the United States is leading the world in hotel growth, which has 1,422 project and 288,280 rooms. This marks a shift over recent years in which China has been the world leader for hotel growth. China, at present, has 1,137 projects and 277,281 rooms in its own pipeline.

And there’s no reason to think the growth will slow, either.

“This number is increasing year by year,” Schmidt said during the presentation.

Leading cities in the U.S.

Another interesting reveal during the presentation was the cities that are enabling the sustained hotel growth in the United States.

The first two cities on the list are New York City and Los Angeles, neither of which comes as a major surprise. New York, Schmidt said, has 63 hotels in its project pipeline while Los Angeles has 40.

What is, perhaps, a bit more surprising is that in third place is Atlanta, a city in the southern United States that currently has 37 projects in its pipeline.

Supply and demand in NYC

Given the TOPHOTELWORLDTOUR setting of New York City, a steady topic of conversation during the event was whether the hotel market there would soon have more supply than demand, leading to a soft period for the hospitality market.

Schmidt said he does not necessarily believe it is possible to have oversupply in a vibrant world city such as New York.

“We’ve been doing this 10 years,” Schmidt said. “What’s amazing is that the need is always there, the money is there, and the numbers are there.”

In fact, at the start of his presentation, Schmidt noted that over the decades-long life of his company, the TOPHOTELPROJECTS database currently has its highest number of projects ever, which paints a rosy picture for the global hospitality industry.

Rolf W. Schmidt made his Americas hotel pipeline presentation at TOPHOTELWORLDTOUR New York City. To attend, address or sponsor future TOPHOTELWORLDTOUR events around the world, contact TOPHOTELPROJECTS Head of Global Events & Conferences Kayley van der Velde.