Two regions of the country — South Atlantic and West South Central — account for 41.2 percent of hotel guestrooms in the U.S. development pipeline, according to Lodging Econometrics. The two regions account for a slightly higher portion (44.9 percent) of projects under development.

At the close of last year's fourth quarter, 5,358 hotels with 686,516 guestrooms were in some stage of development in the U.S. Given the economic climate and tight lending environment, a large percentage of those proposed properties may never open.

The Middle Atlantic (595 hotels/78,046 guestrooms) trails the South in pipeline activity followed by the Mountain states (466/70,510) and Pacific region (552/70,236).

The pipeline only includes those projects announced in the public domain, have dedicated land parcels and are being activity pursued by developers.