Compiling the Top 100 Owners & Developers listing, as we have done for three years now, is not as easy as it looks. In fact, because of the many restrictions we have put on just who should be listed, it has become downright difficult. Add to that the significant number of multi-property owners who prefer to remain anonymous. So, some of you may ask, and rightfully so, what?s the big deal? Maybe it is no big deal, but like everything else we attempt to do here at HOTEL BUSINESS?, we thought it would be extremely interesting to our readers to show how diverse the hotel industry is. Most everybody is aware of the few big players like Tharaldson Enterprises, Remington Hotels, Equity Inns and John Q. Hammons. But mention companies like Westmont, Ocean Hospitality, Strategic Hotel Capital, Milestone, Naman and now Larkspur, and you may very well draw blank stares from many in the industry. Yet, they are very much players with their expanding portfolios. With our restrictions on who should be listed in this group? no management companies that own less than 50 percent of the properties they manage (they wind up in our management company list), hotel chains large and small, and up to this year the Real Estate Investment Trusts? this undertaking has become a major research task. As for the REITS, we have revisited our decision on listing many of them because this group has ?settled down? for the most part, becoming more stable, and as you will note, many are included on this year?s list. As with any listing of this type, there are a few who fall under our radar, and some purposely so. But measured as a whole, this listing is very representative of the movers and shakers who make up the backbone of the hotel industry. These are the people out there building and buying hotels day in and day out, regardless of what onlookers and new reports say on where the future of the lodging industry lies. If you glance through this year?s Top 100 Owners & Developers chart, which is on page 40 in this issue, and look at what many of these owners have in the pipeline for development this year you can see that most remain extremely bullish about the industry and its near-term prospects. Moreover, because of their strong belief in branded products, it is apparent that franchising continues to play an important role in the business. Previous reports of this type that we have published, including the Top 100 Management Companies and Top Purchasing Companies listings, received very high degrees of readership interest. I assume this new Owners & Developers report will also recieve a similar response.
