Lodging Econometrics (LE) has released its report on hotel construction trends in Europe for the first quarter of 2024. According to the analysts, the total project portfolio in the region at the end of Q1 comprises 1,705 projects with 253,777 rooms.
By the end of the first quarter, 45% of projects in Europe are in the construction phase, amounting to 762 hotels with 117,815 rooms. An additional 411 projects with 60,356 rooms are slated to begin construction within the next 12 months, while 532 hotels with 75,606 rooms are in the early planning stages, which is slightly below the record level recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
In the first quarter, the number of hotels in the upper upscale and upscale segments in the European portfolio increased slightly compared to 2023 figures—by 13% and 5%, respectively. The volume of projects in the upper upscale segment reached a record high of 271 projects with 45,122 rooms, while upscale hotels accounted for 358 projects with 57,153 rooms.
Among European countries, the United Kingdom leads with the highest number of projects in development in the first quarter—321 hotels with 45,257 rooms. Germany follows with 180 projects and 28,816 rooms, then France with 130 hotels and 14,268 rooms, Portugal with 120 hotels and 15,020 rooms, and Turkey with 116 hotels and a record 18,277 rooms. These five countries account for 51% of the hotels and 48% of the rooms in the region.
Among major cities, London tops the list with the most new hotel projects at the end of the first quarter, featuring 80 hotels with 14,987 rooms. It is followed by Istanbul with 51 hotels and 8,814 rooms, Lisbon with 37 hotels and 4,349 rooms, Dublin with 27 hotels and 5,254 rooms, and Düsseldorf with 26 hotels and 4,798 rooms.
In the first quarter of 2024, 45 new hotels with 5,961 rooms opened across Europe. An additional 281 new hotels with 39,129 rooms are expected to open in the second to fourth quarters. LE analysts predict that by the end of 2024, a total of 326 new hotels with 45,090 rooms will have opened in the region. Looking ahead to 2025, an estimated 367 hotels with 52,605 rooms are expected to open.
