The Middle East hotel construction pipeline reached a record 771 projects with 188,960 rooms at the end of the third quarter, Lodging Econometrics said on November 11.
The total is up 17% by projects and 15% by rooms year on year. The pipeline added 47 projects and 10,957 rooms in three months, from 724 projects and 178,003 rooms at the end of June. Early-stage planning drove much of the gain, with a record 52,691 rooms, up 84% year on year.
Projects under construction stood at 329 with 82,594 rooms, or 43% of all projects in the pipeline. A record 184 projects with 53,675 rooms are scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, up 14% by projects and 11% by rooms.
Saudi Arabia leads the region with record counts of 401 projects and 109,320 rooms, up 15% by projects and 16% by rooms. The kingdom accounts for 58% of pipeline rooms.
Egypt follows with record highs of 192 projects and 40,661 rooms, up 47% by projects and 42% by rooms. Recent signings there include Hilton’s EGP14bn deal with PRE Group for 10 projects and Rotana’s target of up to 25 hotels in Egypt by 2030.
The UAE stands at 111 projects with 26,800 rooms. Oman has 27 projects with 4,618 rooms, while Iraq has 10 projects with 2,331 rooms.
Riyadh has the largest city pipeline, with record counts of 114 projects and 23,049 rooms. Cairo follows with 71 projects and 14,663 rooms, ahead of Dubai with 65 projects and 15,067 rooms. Jeddah has a record 63 projects with 14,384 rooms, while Makkah has 34 projects with 22,109 rooms. The top five cities total 347 projects and 89,281 rooms.
The luxury, upscale and upper upscale chain scales each reached record counts. Luxury leads with 213 projects and 47,150 rooms. Upscale has 197 projects and 55,307 rooms, and upper upscale has 191 projects and 45,677 rooms.
New project announcements in the quarter totalled 66 projects with 14,841 rooms. Renovations and brand conversions reached 95 projects with 26,052 rooms, up 20% by projects and 29% by rooms.
The region opened 36 hotels with 6,319 rooms in the first nine months of 2026. Lodging Econometrics forecasts 28 more hotels with 4,091 rooms in the fourth quarter, taking the year to 64 hotels with 10,410 rooms. It expects 94 hotels with 14,716 rooms to open in 2027 and 96 hotels with 22,101 rooms in 2028.
