The U.S. opened more hotels and rooms than any country between the beginning of March and end of September, according to global pipeline data from STR. At the same time, the country has shown significant growth in project deferrals and abandonments.

As of 1 October, the U.S. opened 521 properties accounting for 55,395 rooms over the seven-month period. Five additional countries have opened more than 2,000 rooms throughout the course of the pandemic.

1. U.S. (55,395 rooms)
2. China (23,470 rooms)
3. Japan (16,304 rooms)
4. Germany (9,027 rooms)
5. Canada (2,748 rooms)
6. United Kingdom (2,481 rooms)

Year to date through September, 211 projects in the U.S. were deferred, which is a 56% increase over the same period last year. Additionally, 232 projects were abandoned, which was a 16% decrease over 2019.

STR: U.S. leads in hotel openings during pandemic — Source: STRSTR: U.S. leads in hotel openings during pandemic — Source: STR
STR: U.S. leads in hotel openings during pandemic — Source: STR

"Generally, projects that have already broke ground are going to be finished—but abandonments and deferrals, which are becoming more common, affect the total room count in the pipeline," said Jan Freitag, STR's senior VP of lodging insights. "The movement of projects into these phases is playing into the overall slowing of development activity because there isn't that constant flow of projects moving into construction. Additionally, there is no longer a rush to move projects from planning to construction because the record-breaking demand of 2019 isn't there waiting for new hotels to open."

The number of rooms in construction in the U.S. has declined from the country's peak in April (220,207 rooms). In September, the U.S. had 216,063 rooms in construction, which was still up 6.1% year over year.

About STR

STR is the global leader in hospitality data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a robust global presence with regional offices strategically located in Nashville, London, and Singapore. In October 2019, STR was acquired by CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP), a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the commercial and residential property markets. For more information, please visit str.com and costargroup.com.