Nearly 44,000 Hotel Rooms Opened in the U.S. Last Year

 In 2012, 407 new hotels opened in the U.S., according to the STR/McGraw Hill Construction Dodge Pipeline Report, for a total of 43,865 rooms. That should represent net room growth of about 0.5 percent, which would be the second straight year of low supply gains. "We anticipate higher supply growth this year and are expecting a full-year net room increase of about 1 percent in 2013," noted STR senior VP of operations Bobby Bowers. When breaking down the growth by segments, Upper Midscale debuted the most rooms in 2012, with 15,700. The Upscale segment was next in line, with 11,819 rooms, followed by the Independent segment, which saw 7,216 rooms debut. In the Luxury segment, meanwhile, just 233 new rooms opened last year -- all at one property. In the coming year, STR is forecasting 817 new properties to open, with a total of 87,301 rooms.