PHOENIX If hotels could pull it off, it seems they would be happy to rid themselves of real estate and just hold on to their management business. Such was the opinion of Jim Norman of Holland & Knight LLP, as expressed during the course of a Lodging Conference 2000 session examining privatization as a viable strategy for new lodging companies.
Joining Norman in the give-and-take regarding the comparative scarcity of public money earmarked for the lodging industry were Roger Cline of Arthur Andersen LLP and Howard Silver of Equity Inns, with the trio generally agreeing investors seem to see better opportunities elsewhere.
According to Cline, investment in the property market had been a considerably more attractive option when inflation rates were higher and such an investment could serve as a hedge.
Another view as to why investors appear reticent about putting their money into actual hotel ownership (particularly in the case of REITs) was offered up by Silver, who suggested that many investors may actually be scared off by the complexity [of REITs operating structure]. (9/14/00) Michael Billig