Nearly one-fourth of new hotel room openings in 2008 will be in the South Atlantic states, according to Lodging Econometrics. More than 31,000 rooms will open in the region. Overall, says Lodging Econometrics, 1,190 lodging projects with 133,623 will open in the U.S. this year for a gross growth rate (not counting hotel closings or conversions to other uses) of 2.8 percent.

Other regions accounting for double-digit shares of new rooms are the West South Central with 16 percent of rooms and the East North Central with 10 percent of openings. In addition, more than 10,000 rooms will open in casino hotels during the year.