According to the 2025 Q4 Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report filed by Lodging Econometrics, the U.S. hotel construction pipeline was down quarter-by-quarter and year-over-year from 2024. Last year saw just 640 new hotel openings with 74,079 rooms—an expansion of only 1.3%. Projects in the early planning stage accounted for most of those in the active pipeline, with 2,883 projects and 331,959 rooms.

Now for the good news: Brand conversions in the pipeline reached a record high by the end of Q4, with 12% growth of projects year-over-year to 1,497 and 16% growth of the number of rooms year-over-year to 148,981.

Upper-midscale hotels led the pack in Q4 with 2,275 projects and 218,526 rooms. Upscale hotels followed (1,336 projects and 167,316 rooms), followed by midscale hotels (956 projects and 80,260 rooms). Although they brought up the rear, luxury hotels set a segment record with 95 projects with 22,045 rooms.

While renovation numbers were pretty flat (621 projects with 129,647 rooms), when combined with conversion projects, the total number represents “a significant portion of hotel development activity, reaching a new record-high, totaling 2,118 projects with 278,628 rooms,” according to the report.

More specifically, Dallas was the city with the most hotel construction projects in the pipeline in Q4, with 708 new hotels and 80,034 rooms scheduled to open in 2026—a 1.4% increase in supply.

Behind Dallas were:

• Atlanta: 159 projects and 17,804 rooms
• Phoenix: 124 projects and 16,303 rooms
• Nashville, Tenn.: 120 projects and 15,983 rooms
• Austin, Texas: 120 projects and 14,120 rooms

Dallas also led Atlanta, Austin, California’s Inland Empire and Nashville with the largest number of planned hotel construction starts over the next 12 months, totaling 74 projects and 8,202 rooms.

The ranking of the under-construction stage of the pipeline looks a little different, with Phoenix out front with 35 projects and 4,829 rooms. Close behind Phoenix was Dallas (34 projects and 3,663 rooms), followed by New York (29 projects and 5,689 rooms), Miami (24 projects and 4,843 rooms) and Atlanta (21 projects and 2,206 rooms).

Houston led in hotel renovations and conversions (35 projects and 5,411 rooms), with Atlanta a very close second (35 projects and 5,314 rooms).

Currently, 1,088 projects are under construction, accounting for 134,380 rooms. The report indicates that 2,175 projects with 253,750 rooms are scheduled to start construction this year.

The report concluded with optimism, as Lodging Econometrics projected “continued growth in the years ahead.”