Above: a room at the Malliouhana in Anguilla, which is currently being renovated (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

There are 162 hotels and 26,647 rooms in the Caribbean/Mexico hotel development pipeline, according to a new report from STR.

That represents a 21.5 percent increase in rooms under contract compared to March 2013, and an 11.7 percent jump in rooms under construction, according to the company.

Total rooms under contract include those in the In Construction, Final Planning and Planning stages.

Haiti is reporting the largest expected supply growth of any in the region at 49.2 percent, if all 525 rooms under contract open, STR said.

Five other Caribbean countries are reporting expected room growth higher than 10 percent, including the Bahamas, at 21.6 percent with 2,990 rooms; Turks and Caicos, at 18.4 percent with 545 rooms; St Kitts and Nevis at 15.5 percent with 245 rooms and Dominica at 14 percent with 90 rooms. Anguilla is showing 11.4 percent expected growth with 80 rooms.

STR recently amended its pipeline definitions; under contract refers to what was formerly described as the total active pipeline.