Middle East, Africa hotel room pipeline tops 150k

There are 637 hotels under development across the Middle East and Africa, with a combined total of 151,205 rooms, according to the latest 2014 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report.

Its September report includes projects in the in Construction, final planning and planning stages, but does not include projects in the unconfirmed stage.

Meanwhile, 139 hotels have already opened across the region this year, with a total of 33,232 rooms. Another 82 hotels, with 18,538 rooms, are expected to open by the end of the year.

According to the report, the most rooms are planned to be added in the upper upscale segment (5,419 rooms in 18 hotels), followed by the unaffiliated segment (4,626 rooms in 22 hotels), the upscale segment (3,531 rooms in 13 hotels) and the luxury segment (3,480 rooms in 15 hotels).

Meanwhile, looking ahead to 2015, STR expects 145 hotels to open, with 32,371 rooms. Again the upper upscale segment will dominate, expected to account for 38 hotels, with 12,516 rooms, followed by the luxury segment (26 hotels with 5,318 rooms) and the upscale segment (31 hotels with 5,024 rooms).

STR Global’s report for August had suggested there were a total of 628 hotels, with a combined 147,454 rooms, under development.