The latest Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report for Canada from Lodging Econometrics shows the country's total pipeline has reached new all-time-high project and room totals at Q1 2025, with 341 projects accounting for 47,426 rooms. These record-breaking figures represent a 9 percent increase in projects and a 20 percent increase in rooms year-over-year.
Currently, projects under construction stand at 79 projects/11,418 rooms, showing solid growth of 13 percent by projects and 25 percent by rooms year-over-year. Projects scheduled to start construction sometime within the next twelve months increased substantially at Q1 to 96 projects/13,849 rooms, up 20 percent by projects and 44 percent by rooms year-over-year, signaling accelerated development timelines. Meanwhile, early planning stage projects have reached 166 projects with a record-setting 22,159 rooms, continuing their upward trajectory with increases of 1 percent by projects and 6 percent by rooms compared to Q1 2024.
By chain scale, upper midscale projects account for the largest percentage of the pipeline with 132 projects/13,870 rooms, representing 39 percent of the total projects. The upscale segment showed strong growth with 66 projects/10,842 rooms, up 14 percent and 34 percent year-over-year.
At the Q1 close, hotel construction projects in the province of Ontario continue to lead Canada's construction pipeline with 203 projects/28,822 rooms, up 9 percent and 21 percent year-over-year, representing 60 percent of the projects and 61 percent of the rooms in the total pipeline. Following Ontario, the largest number of projects and rooms in the pipeline at Q1 is British Columbia with 68 projects/11,077 rooms, up 21 percent and 35 percent year-over-year, then Quebec with 23 projects/2,540 rooms. These three provinces account for 86 percent of the projects and 89 percent of the rooms in the total pipeline in Canada at Q1.
Focusing on cities, Toronto maintains its lead with the highest number of construction projects in the pipeline reaching a new all-time high with 71 projects totaling 11,781 rooms, up 6 percent and 26 percent year-over-year. Vancouver also reached a new all-time high, with 33 projects/7,004 rooms, up 57 percent and 72 percent year-over-year, followed by Niagara Falls with a record-high 20 projects/5,652 rooms, up 67 percent and 39 percent year-over-year.
Five new hotels with 518 rooms opened in Canada during the first quarter. An additional 37 new hotels, accounting for 4,506 rooms, are scheduled to open by year-end. According to LE analysts, 42 new hotels and 5,024 rooms will open in Canada in 2025. LE analysts forecast new hotel openings in Canada will continue to rise through year-end 2026 with 43 new hotel openings with 5,479 rooms.