In their Q3 2023 Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report for Canada, industry analysts Lodging Econometrics (LE) report that the total construction pipeline in Canada stands at 275 projects and 37,780 rooms. That figure is up 5% by projects and 8% by rooms year-over-year.

Projects under construction at Q3 stand at 56 projects and 8,228 rooms. Those figures are up 4% and 18% year over year, respectively. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 101 projects and 11,548 rooms at Q3, while projects in the early planning stage stand at 118 projects and 18,004 rooms – a 13% year over year increase by projects and a 33% increase by rooms.

Hotel renovations at Q3 stand at 40 projects and 5,469 rooms, and brand conversions ended the quarter at 58 projects and 6,025 rooms.

Ontario continues to lead Canada’s hotel construction pipeline with 160 projects and a record high of 22,294 rooms. The province accounts for 58% of the projects and 59% of the rooms in the country’s total pipeline. British Columbia follows with 51 projects and 8,500 rooms, then Quebec with 19 projects and 2,231 rooms, Alberta with 18 projects and 1,832 rooms, and Saskatchewan with 7 projects and 674 rooms.

Not surprisingly, Toronto leads Canadian cities with the most projects (61) and rooms (9,049) in the hotel construction pipeline. Those figures represent 22% of all the projects, and 24% of all rooms in the country’s total pipeline.

Vancouver follows distantly with 22 projects and a record-high count of 3,890 rooms, then Montreal with 14 projects and 1,735 rooms, Niagara Falls with 13 projects and 4,712 rooms, and Ottawa-Hull with 9 projects and 1,453 rooms. These five cities alone account for 43% of the projects and 55% of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline.

In the first three quarters of 2023, Canada had 16 new hotel openings.

LE’s forecast for new hotel openings predicts another six hotels will open in the last quarter of 2023, bringing the total to 22 hotels and 2,917 rooms for a 0.8% room supply increase.

Its analysts also forecast a 1.2% increase in room supply growth for 2024, with 35 hotels and 4,200 rooms expected to open, and in 2025, LE anticipates that 40 hotels and 4,877 rooms will open for a 1.3% room supply increase.