LE Debuts 2028 New Hotel Openings Forecast as Dallas Drives U.S. Hotel Construction Activity in Second Quarter

PORTSMOUTH, NH – July 27, 2026

According to the recent Q2 2026 United States Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), at the close of the quarter, the five markets with the largest hotel construction pipelines are led by Dallas with 183 projects and 22,840 rooms. Atlanta follows with 157 projects/17,423 rooms, then Nashville with 122 projects/16,281 rooms, Austin with 116 projects/13,875 rooms, and Phoenix with 115 projects/16,136 rooms.

Additional markets reaching record-high project and room pipeline totals at Q2 include Indianapolis with 76 projects/8,557 rooms, Tampa with 61 projects/8,370 rooms, St. Louis with 59 projects/6,373 rooms, and Oahu Island with 11 projects/2,850 rooms.

As of the end of Q2, five U.S. markets stand out for their active under construction hotel projects. Dallas leads with 38 projects totaling 4,184 rooms, followed by Phoenix with 31 projects and 4,621 rooms. New York is third with 29 projects comprising 5,811 rooms, while Atlanta and Indianapolis tie with 22 projects each; Atlanta accounts for 3,020 rooms, while Indianapolis has 2,311 rooms.

At Q2, Dallas, with 68 projects/7,885 rooms, has the most projects scheduled to start in the next 12 months. Following Dallas are Atlanta with 61 projects/6,761 rooms, Austin with 59 projects/6,542 rooms, Nashville with 49 projects/6,623 rooms, and the Inland Empire with 43 projects/4,545 rooms.

Dallas tops the list of markets with the most hotel projects in the early planning stage at Q2 with 77 projects and 10,771 rooms. Atlanta follows with 74 projects and 8,351 rooms, while Inland Empire and Orlando tie with 54 projects each; Inland Empire accounts for 12,587 rooms and Orlando for 5,474 rooms. Nashville rounds out the top five with 53 projects and 7,023 rooms.

New York, with 11 projects/2,296 rooms, has the largest number of new project announcements (NPAs) into the pipeline at Q2. Tampa follows with 9 projects/902 rooms, then Phoenix with 8 projects/1,641 rooms, Orlando with 8 projects/1,292 rooms, and Nashville with 7 projects/844 rooms.

LE records a combined U.S. renovation and conversion total led by Houston with 35 projects/4,841 rooms, followed by Washington, DC-MD-VA with 33 projects/4,669 rooms, San Antonio with 32 projects/3,041 rooms, Chicago with 31 projects/5,732 rooms, and Atlanta with 31 projects/5,258 rooms.

Looking ahead, Phoenix leads the 2026 year-end new hotel openings forecast with 26 projects/3,615 rooms, followed by New York with 20 projects/3,079 rooms, Dallas with 20 projects/2,332 rooms, Inland Empire with 12 projects/1,024 rooms, and Austin with 11 projects/1,573 rooms.

For 2027, Dallas is forecast to lead new hotel openings with 27 projects/2,486 rooms, followed by Atlanta with 22 projects/2,145 rooms, Phoenix with 16 projects/1,989 rooms, Nashville with 16 projects/1,853 rooms, and Indianapolis with 15 projects/2,154 rooms.

Releasing for the first time this quarter, LE’s forecast for new hotel openings in 2028 shows Atlanta leading with 25 projects/2,345 rooms, followed by Dallas with 19 projects/2,042 rooms, Saint Louis with 14 projects/1,438 rooms, Austin with 14 projects/1,344 rooms, and Memphis with 14 projects/1,233 rooms.

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