Over 1,700 (1,705 to be precise) investment projects for new hotels in Europe, with a total capacity of 253,777 rooms, made their debut at the close of the first quarter of 2024, according to data from Lodging Econometrics (LE).
More specifically, 45% of hotel projects are under construction, with 762 hotels and 117,815 rooms. Another 411 projects with 60,356 rooms are scheduled to start within the next 12 months, while 532 hotels with 75,606 rooms are in the early planning stage, slightly below the record high reported in Q1 2023.
During the first quarter of 2024, 45 new hotels/5,961 rooms opened across Europe, with a further 281 new hotels/39,129 rooms projected to open in the second quarter. LE analysts forecast that a total of 326 new hotels/45,090 rooms will open by the end of 2024. While, for 2025 new hotel openings in Europe, 367 new hotels/52,605 rooms are forecasted.
Hotel projects in the upper-tier and luxury segments in Europe increased slightly in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the full year 2023, by 13% and 5%, respectively.
The upper-upscale chain category reached a record level with 271 hotels/45,122 rooms, while 358 hotels/57,153 rooms were in the luxury category. Meanwhile, 305 hotels/46,020 rooms belonged to the mid-range category. These three categories accounted for 55% of hotel projects in the region’s total construction programme.
Leading countries and cities in hotel projects
The countries in Europe with the largest number of hotels in development in the first quarter of are led by the UK with 321 hotels/45,257 rooms. This is followed at a distance by Germany with 180 hotels/28,816 rooms, France with 130 hotels/14,268 rooms, Portugal with 120 hotels/15,020 rooms and Turkey with 116 hotels and a record 18,277 rooms. These five countries accounted for 51% of hotel projects and 48% of rooms in the total hotel investment planning on the Old Continent in the first quarter.
Similarly, the European cities with the largest number of hotels at the end of the first quarter are London with 80 hotels/14,987 rooms, Istanbul with 51 hotels/8,814 rooms, Lisbon with 37 hotels/4,349 rooms, Dublin with 27 hotels/5,254 rooms and Düsseldorf with 26 hotels/4,798 rooms.
