Monday, September 19, 2011

Hotel Industry Showing Signs of a Strong Comeback

  

 ATLANTA, GA (Sept. 19, 2011) – After a tough 2008 and a brutal 2009, the hotel industry is in the midst of a solid overall comeback, and the sector once again is providing good purchase opportunities for commercial real estate investors.

 That’s the view of guests of this week’s “Commercial Real Estate Show,” which provides an inside look at the recent performance of the hotel and lodging industry.

For year to date through the end of July, the national hotel occupancy rate was above 60 percent and the average room rate was more than$100, said Steve Hennis (top right photo), director of STR Analytics. At the height of the recession, the occupancy rate was 55 percent and the average room rate around $98, he added.

“You can see that we’re gaining a lot of ground but it’s mostly on the occupancy side and not necessarily all that much on the rate yet,” Hennis said.

 R. Mark Woodworth (top left photo), president of Colliers PKF Hospitality Research, seconded Hennis’ positive assessment. “If there’s anything that’s really surprising about where we are today, quite frankly its how quickly demand has been growing,” he said. “We feel very good about the state of the industry.”

 Both Hennis and Woodworth noted the sector’s recovery hasn’t been distributed evenly. The luxury hotel segment has performed particularly well during the past year, while the budget segment has continued to lag, they noted.

The hotel industry is not producing much in the way of new supply, which is helping occupancy rates, Hennis said. New supply is up just 0.8 percent this year, which is well below the long-term average of 1.9 percent a year, he noted.

 Other guests included Andrew Pace (middle right photo), director of development for Hotel Equities, and commercial real estate attorney Dan Weede (bottom left photo), who is the president of the Atlanta Hospitality Alliance. 

The show is available for download here. The show airs Saturday in Atlanta on Biz 1190 at 10am ET and on Talk 920 Sunday at 9am ET.

The next “Commercial Real Estate Show” airs September 24 and will provide an overview of the pressing legal issues facing the commercialreal estate sector, such as foreclosure and bankruptcy, deed in lieu, loan restructures and note sales.



Contacts:

Christin Clay
Wilbert News Strategies
1720 Peachtree St, Suite 1040
Atlanta, GA 30309
p 404-965-5025 | m 404-405-2354
Twitter: @christinclay10


Tony Wilbert, Wilbert News Strategies, 404.965.5022

No comments: