One study after another suggests hotel developers are rapidly shutting down new construction projects. But there are still pockets of growth all around the industry. Marriott International, for instance, opened 8,000 new rooms in the second quarter of this year alone and has another 110,000 rooms in its development pipeline, with more than half of them under construction. The majority of the rooms are overseas.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the British lodging giant, has 4,222 hotels open with 622,000 rooms. The company is no shrinking violet these days. It has another 1,700 hotels with 236,000 rooms in its pipeline, with the brands ranging from Holiday Inn to Crowne Plaza and Candlewood Suites.

One of the better-performing segments in the industry at the moment is the boutique property. IHG’s Hotel Indigo chain is a classic model of the boutique—it has just 100 to 150 rooms per property—and has been on a tear recently. Since its start in Atlanta in 2004, the chain has grown to 29 hotels, with 17 properties due to open in the face of recession during 2009 alone.

There are nearly 60 more hotel projects in the company’s pipeline. The goal is to grow to 250 properties globally inside of 10 years and then keep expanding to ultimately reach 650 hotels. Almost all of the properties, which cost $15 million to $20 million each to open, are owned by franchisees that are somehow still finding financing.

“In 2010, considering the economy, it may take longer to get some deals done,” says Janice Cannon, vice president of global brand management for IHG overseeing the Indigo rollout. “But we’re still signing deals and expanding globally. That demonstrates this is still a growth industry.”

Indigo has been opportunistic in converting many of its hotels from older buildings. A new Indigo under construction in Miami’s South Beach neighborhood was undertaken from an assemblage of four older structures. A historic office building in Baton Rouge, La., is being converted into an Indigo. In Ottawa, Canada, an old YMCA was turned into a hotel, and in Nashville the company will open a converted bank as its latest hotel by October.

In London, the company has already opened one Indigo and has deals for three more. There is even one planned for Liverpool, the working-class seaport that is birthplace to the Beatles. Cannon predicts as the chain grows over the next decade, 50 percent of all Indigo hotels will be built in North America, with the other half equally split between Europe and Asia. “If you’ve got the right product and the right brand,” explains Cannon, “people are interested in investing in you.”

H. Lee Murphy writes for National Real Estate Investor, a Penton Media publication.