A new report from Lodging Econometrics says Dallas led the country with the largest hotel construction pipeline during the first quarter of the year.
According to Lodging Econometrics (LE), the Big D topped the list with 203 projects covering 24,496 rooms in Q1 2025, an all-time high. The results represented a 9% project growth and 11% room growth compared to the same quarter one year earlier in an industry still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
When comparing the greatest number of projects currently under construction at the end of the quarter, Dallas ranked third with 31 projects covering 3,706 rooms.
Dallas boasted the largest number of projects scheduled to kick off anytime within the next 12 months, with 80 projects / 8,890 rooms. Dallas also recorded the highest number of projects in early planning, with 92 covering 11,900 rooms.
Nationwide, 138 projects accounting for 19,800 rooms were announced across the 50 top U.S. markets. Dallas led the new project announcements (NPAs) category with nine projects and 2,011 rooms.
Dallas was second in the country in terms of new hotel openings, with six new hotels covering 534 rooms. Only Atalanta was higher, with seven new hotels covering 733 rooms.
New York is forecast to see the highest number of new hotels open this year, at 31. Dallas landed at number two with 20 new hotels, with 2,133 rooms expected to open before the year is out. However, LE says Dallas is forecast to lead in new hotel openings in 2026 with 26, covering 2,611 rooms.
Monty Bennett, chairman and CEO of the Ashford Group of Companies, says the hotel industry continues to recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic and faces headwinds from still-elevated interest rates. Bennett recently told Biz TV that this continues to present opportunities for investors.
“My guess would be two or three more years until we get to the same economic level that we were in 2019 — which means there’s some good buys out there right now,” explained Bennett.