Sunny Fundamentals Ahead for Hotel Industry, but Investment Outlook Is a Little Cloudy
Rising Interest Rates Could Slow Profit Growth and Potentially Limit Asset Value Growth
While the current labor shortage and rising labor costs are continuing to grab headlines, another potentially larger issue could limit the value of hotels in the years ahead.
Our Collective Annus Horribilis
Everyone has been touched by this pandemic in some way: Given the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic and its ripple effect across our health, the economy and the resulting emotional to...
Whither Breakfast: An Elegy to Eggs
No one knows how the pandemic will play out in the hotel industry, and I don’t want to add to the predictions that will certainly be wrong. One thing I do expect is the end of hot breakfast items at select- and limited-service hotels.
Times change and things we used to enjoy fade into the past. The experience of a hotel stay has changed over the years in many ways, for better and not so much. With concerns about...
Our World and Our Industry Will Change
No one can accurately predict how things will change when the pandemic of 2020 subsides, though we all know things will change. What follows are some observations based on how other demand shocks played out and some predictions of how things might change moving forward.
Call me a fool. Making predictions about how something as sudden and unexpected as a demand shock will change the world and the hotel industry is a fool’s errand. Yet, that is what...
The Downturn Is Underway. Recession? Not so Much
There seems to be agreement that the U.S. hotel industry is in a downturn, but the economy continues to chug along, for now. A shallow downturn that lasts a year or two seems likely, but risks remain.
Looking back on my last two columns, it looks like I nailed it in early July when I stated that an industry downturn had begun. In October, I predicted that a recession appeared im...
The Signs Are Pointing to a Recession
The hotel industry is experiencing deteriorating demand dynamics, and many are concerned about the prospect of falling room rates. A recession appears imminent, or perhaps has already begun.
“Hope for the best, expect the worst.”
The Downturn Has Begun
For most owners and operators, occupancy has peaked. Room rates are likely to soften further, following years of rising occupancy and anemic rate growth. The question now is how long and how deep this downturn will be.
While it may be too early to officially announce the death of the cycle, it seems clear that we are in the early stages of a downturn.
A Little Less Profit Is Not the End of Good Times
U.S. RevPAR has continued to rise since the beginning of 2019, and the economy continues to grow. Nonetheless, I fear we are at the beginning of a profit downturn for hotel owners.
Things are going pretty well in the U.S. hotel industry.
Outlook for 2019 Is Positive but With Plenty of Bumps
The partial U.S. government shutdown presents another risk for the economy and the hotel industry in a year already fraught with risk.
A year ago, in my first column for HotelNewsNow.com, I suggested that a new upswing had begun for the U.S. hotel industry in 2017 and would continue in 2018 and perhaps beyond. I e...
Lessons From Pebblebrook’s Takeover of LaSalle
As expected, Pebblebrook and LaSalle will be combining. The lessons from this saga are likely to resonate in the years ahead.
The takeover battle for LaSalle Hotel Properties is over, with Pebblebrook Hotel Trust expected to close on its acquisition in about three months, following shareholder votes from ...
LaSalle Takeover: The Drama Continues
Unless LaSalle accepts Pebblebrook’s offer or Blackstone raises its offer, LaSalle faces an uncertain shareholder vote. How does the Pebblebrook-LaSalle takeover drama end? Most likely with one large public hotel REIT called Pebblebrook.
While Blackstone is under contract to acquire LaSalle Hotels Properties, in the end I don’t think that deal is likely to close. Rather, I see three scenarios that would result in P...
Intertwined History of LaSalle, Pebblebrook
Some background might help to understand the motivations behind a proposal to merge the two real estate investment trusts.
Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part analysis of the proposed Pebblebrook-LaSalle merger. Part one examines the motivations of scale that are behind the plan.
Proposed Pebblebrook-LaSalle Merger Is About Scale
The plan to combine the real estate investment trusts is driven by the usual pressures of scale, but whether it comes to fruition or not will depend on how board members view the future of the two companies.
Editor’s note: This is the first part of a two-part analysis of the proposed Pebblebrook-LaSalle merger. Part two examines the two companies’ shared history and what it could mean ...
A New Industry Upswing Has Begun
Hotel performance data shows the U.S. hotel industry has survived a soft landing in 2016 and is actually on a path toward a small upswing.
I believe we are in the early stages of a modest upturn for hotels, following a soft landing of sorts in 2016.