Leonardo Hotels plans to open 28 new hotels in 2026 and is rebuilding its development team to absorb that volume, MarketScale reports.

The restructuring points to a pipeline large enough that the operator can no longer run expansion through its previous team structure. Twenty-eight openings in a single year is a pace that puts pressure on construction management, pre-opening staffing and integration of new properties into existing operations.

What does this change for the operator?

A rebuilt development team shifts the bottleneck from deal-making to execution. Hotel groups that scale at this rate typically need more project managers, stronger regional oversight and clearer handoffs between development and operations. The move signals that Leonardo Hotels expects its 2026 pipeline to demand dedicated capacity rather than shared resources.

The company has not yet detailed the size of the new team or the individual roles involved. What is clear is the scale target: 28 properties in one calendar year, a figure that frames 2026 as the group's most active opening period to date under this plan.

How effectively the restructured team converts those 28 projects into operating hotels will define the group's footprint at the end of 2026.

By Elena Vasquez