tel Real Estate’s Status Explored At NYU Conference

NEW YORK CITY- There has been some improvement in the industry’s fortunes of late, but many of the prime economic-performance indicators are still lagging substantially. That was the word from a panel of hoteliers moderated by Ernst & Young’s Chase Burritt at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference here Monday. The group also raised some less-mundane observations, what with CNL Hospitality Corp.’s Charles Muller contending, “unique product can [go a long way toward]overcoming local market softness.” Rodrick Rohrbach of Credit Lyonnais— when questioned about the likelihood of further consolidation and/or other organizational changes that may be in the offing for the industry— suggested such moves in the near future might see companies transitioning from private to public status…primarily because of the presently advantageous cost-of-capital such a stance would represent. When the subject turned to the conservative lending practices that have ruled the industry arena recently, the predominant position of the panel was that tight underwriting would likely continue to be the industry norm, at least for the near term, which in turn would continue to dampen deal-making opportunities.—Michael Billig