Hotel construction is booming. Jobsite spending has more than doubled since the beginning of last year, and the value of starts increased 70% since early 2006, according to Reed Construction Data.
Market expansion will continue for three more years, but the pace of growth will gradually fall back to match nominal GDP growth. This is the usual late-cycle pickup in a volatile market augmented by the growing importance of hotels that are themselves destinations and by a surge of foreign visitors from rapidly expanding foreign economies drawn to the U.S. by a persistent 3-5% annual depreciation of the dollar.
The hotel burst is ebbing because occupancy rates have stabilized with the opening of the first surge of new rooms. This has also halved the annual gain in revenue per available room from the 10% peak a few years ago.
Top 20 hotel design firms
(2006 billings in $ millions)
| Firm | Billings |
| Source: 2007 Giants 300 survey Note: This ranking is based on firms that made the Giants 300 list. |
|
| 1. HKS | 61.10 |
| 2. Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo | 57.40 |
| 3. Gensler | 46.31 |
| 4. BBG-BBGM | 32.25 |
| 5. OZ Architecture | 22.00 |
| 6. Leo A Daly | 21.98 |
| 7. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | 16.80 |
| 8. RTKL Associates | 16.07 |
| 9. Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart | 13.50 |
| 10. HOK | 12.38 |
| 11. X-nth | 12.16 |
| 12. Arquitectonica | 11.76 |
| 13. NBBJ | 11.23 |
| 14. Martin Associates Group | 11.20 |
| 15. Hnedak Bobo Group | 10.35 |
| 16. Jacobs Engineering Group | 10.12 |
| 17. Flack + Kurtz | 10.00 |
| 18. Hillier Architecture | 9.95 |
| 19. Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates | 9.68 |
| 20. Parsons Brinckerhoff | 8.95 |
Top 20 hotel contractors
(2006 revenue in $ millions)
| Firm | Revenue |
| Source: 2007 Giants 300 survey Note: This ranking is based on firms that made the Giants 300 list. |
|
| 1. The Yates Cos. | 1,296.30 |
| 2. Hunt Construction Group | 417.90 |
| 3. Swinerton Inc. | 376.42 |
| 4. The Turner Corp. | 330.96 |
| 5. Structure Tone | 286.20 |
| 6. Hensel Phelps Construction | 213.10 |
| 7. Bovis Lend Lease | 185.56 |
| 8. The Flintco Cos. | 184.95 |
| 9. PCL Construction Enterprises | 180.67 |
| 10. McCarthy Building Cos. | 166.06 |
| 11. Walton Construction | 157.92 |
| 12. The Walsh Group | 142.50 |
| 13. Suffolk Construction | 133.59 |
| 14. Dick Corp. | 125.35 |
| 15. Pepper Construction Group | 121.16 |
| 16. The Weitz Co. | 119.20 |
| 17. Skanska USA Building | 114.00 |
| 18. Ryan Companies US | 113.42 |
| 19. M. A. Mortenson Co. | 112.50 |
| 20. Gilbane Building Co. | 105.93 |
