PricewaterhouseCoopers is predicting a healthy 45% increase in hotel starts in the US this year to 120,000 properties.
That’s the most new properties in any year since 2000, said Bjorn Hanson, a partner in the company’s lodging division.
The Raleigh-Durham, NC, Triangle area is among booming hotel cities with 2,500 new rooms under construction or planned.
It’s being called the “biggest expansion” in nearly a decade.
Demand for rooms is particularly robust because there’s been a slowdown in construction since 9-11.
Hotel revenues are also up, jumping 8.4% last year for the biggest increase since 1984, said Smith Travel Research.
Report by David Wilkening
