NYCREW holds hotel industry spotlight panel on October 22nd

NYCREW held its hotel industry spotlight on October 22, 2008 at the Sheraton Manhattan, a Starwood brand hotel. The panelists included Laura Benner, vice president real estate portfolio management of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.; Jennifer Collins Rosenblum, vice president with Westbrook Partners; Jin Lee, senior vice president acquisitions & development for HEI Hospitality LLC; Michael McCarthy, director real estate, gaming and leisure with Scotia Capital and Mark Gordon, executive vice president and principal of Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman. Elif Bali, NYCREW member, recently promoted to senior vice president of development for Loews Hotels, moderated the event. Bali opened with an overview of domestic markets and statistical highlights of the differences in the broader market and the N.Y. market and then progressed to specific questions about development activity, room rates, occupancy rates, group bookings versus business travelers and the expectations for 2009. Some panelists predicted a tendency to "jump over" 2009 and look forward to 2010. McCarthy and Gordon showed optimism that there is still capital for hotel deals even though the market has tightened. Benner, Collins Rosenblum and Lee were in agreement that the main hub, urban markets are faring better, but that 2009 is likely to be down. Some ways that operators are cushioning the current economic crisis and the effects that it is having on the hospitality industry is to capitalize on operational efficiencies and being more selective with capital projects.