Record US hotel building will not meet demand, study says construction will start this year on 119,000 hotel rooms in the US, well above the 25-year average of 82,625, said a new study.
This would be the highest number of starts since 2000. It compares with just 82,625 starts last year. PricewaterhouseCoopers said last year’s starts were slower because of higher costs for construction materials and the hurricanes that discouraged new hotels.
“Another factor in holding down hotel starts in the past few years has been the number of full-service hotels on the drawing boards,” said the study.
“Even with this large increase, supply will continue to increase at less than demand for 2006 and 2007,” predicted PricewaterhouseCoopers hospitality partner Bjorn Hanson.
Report by David Wilkening
