Hotel Values On The Mend

NEW YORK— As room rates and occupancies rebound, hotel values will start to rebound as well, said Stephen Rushmore of HVS International during the general session at the NYU Investment Conference being held here. Some cities, said Rushmore, such as New York, Boston, San Jose and Oakland, CA, have been hit harder due to severe drops in occupancy and RevPAR, so they have a much deeper hole from which to climb. For those cities most affected, it will take more than six years to get back to 1999 levels, Rushmore noted. As for his picks where it would be most appropriate to buy or sell hotel assets, Rushmore said to sell in Salt Lake City, UT and Oakland, CA; wait and see in Boston, Austin, TX, and San Jose, CA; and buy in Houston, TX, San Antonio, TX, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Reno, NV and “almost anywhere else because you cant go wrong.”