Europe’s Early Planning Pipeline Reaches Record Highs as New Project Announcements Rise 57% Year-Over-Year at Q3 Close
Europe's Q3 2026 pipeline totals 1,765 projects/260,385 rooms, with early planning at record highs and new project announcements surging 57% year-over-year.
According to the Q3 2026 Europe Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), at the close of the quarter, the region’s total pipeline stands at 1,765 projects/260,385 rooms, up 6% by projects and rooms year-over-year (YOY).
Projects currently under construction stand at 739 projects/110,132 rooms, accounting for 42% of both projects and rooms in the total pipeline. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 379 projects/57,598 rooms, making up 21% of the projects and 22% of the rooms. Projects in the early planning stage reach record highs of 647 projects/92,655 rooms, and account for 37% of the projects and 36% of the rooms in the total pipeline.
At the end of the third quarter, Europe’s construction pipeline continues to be led by the upscale chain scale with 406 projects/63,791 rooms, up 10% by projects and 12% by rooms YOY. The upper upscale chain scale reaches record highs this quarter with 317 projects/52,275 rooms, up 14% by projects and 17% by rooms YOY. Upper midscale follows with 305 projects/43,177 rooms. The luxury chain scale also reaches record highs with 198 projects/23,432 rooms, up 18% by projects and 13% by rooms YOY, followed by midscale with 186 projects/26,040 rooms. Combined, the upscale and upper upscale chain scales total 723 projects/116,066 rooms, up 12% by projects and 14% by rooms YOY, and represent 41% of the projects and 45% of the rooms in Europe’s total construction pipeline.
New project announcements (NPAs) at Q3 total 151 projects/21,339 rooms, a substantial increase of 57% by projects and 92% by rooms YOY. Combined, hotel renovations and brand conversions total 699 projects/84,883 rooms.
The leading countries in Europe’s construction pipeline are the United Kingdom with 255 projects/37,755 rooms, Turkey with 154 projects/20,504 rooms, up 10% by projects YOY, Germany with 145 projects/24,470 rooms, France with 128 projects/12,943 rooms, up 12% by projects and 17% by rooms YOY, and Portugal with 116 projects/14,341 rooms. These five countries combined account for 45% of the projects and 42% of the rooms in Europe’s total pipeline.
The cities with the largest pipelines are London with 66 projects/12,577 rooms, Istanbul with 46 projects/6,503 rooms, Lisbon with record highs of 44 projects/4,863 rooms, up 16% by projects and 15% by rooms YOY, Tashkent with 29 projects/4,459 rooms, and Hamburg with 27 projects/5,189 rooms. Madrid also reaches record highs this quarter with 21 projects/3,333 rooms.
Through the third quarter of 2026, new hotel openings in Europe total 176 hotels/21,854 rooms. LE’s forecast for new hotel openings anticipates an additional 85 new hotels/11,100 rooms to open in Q4, bringing the year-end total for 2026 to 261 new hotels/32,954 rooms. Looking ahead, LE forecasts 307 new hotels/44,836 rooms to open in 2027, and 319 new hotels/40,747 rooms to open in 2028.
About Lodging Econometrics (LE)
For over 25 years, Lodging Econometrics (LE) has been the industry-leading provider of global hotel intelligence and decision-maker contact information. LE custom-builds business development database programs for hotel franchise companies looking to accelerate their brand growth, hotel ownership and management companies seeking to expand their real estate portfolios, and lodging industry vendors wanting to increase their sales. To learn more about our business development programs contact us: +1 603.431.8740, ext 0025 or [email protected].
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