Each Friday, the HotelNewsNow.com editorial staff picks the most compelling (or downright gutsy) quote and reader comment from the previous week.
Comment of the week
Earlier this week, Chesapeake Lodging Trust announced it had entered into a credit agreement to obtain a US$115 million, two-year secured revolving credit facility with a syndicate of banks.
Some might view the agreement as a welcomed sign of easing capital markets, but commenter Bob S. had a different take:
“Its(sic) odd. These banks will give a line of credit to a Hotel REIT, but if an individual borrower called them for a loan, they are "out of the market". We live in strange times today...”
Quote of the week
There’s no doubt that hotel performance metrics look better in the United States, but one crucial measurement, average date rate, still lags, according to the number crunchers at STR.
During the opening session of the Hotel Data Conference, Mark Lomanno, president of the Hendersonville, Tennessee-based research company, explained that although demand has recovered in the U.S. hotel industry, pricing has a long way to go.
“(Revenue per available room) is all occupancy driven, and the room-rate trajectory will determine the recovery,” he said. “It requires a willingness to be aggressive on pricing.”
• Read “HDC: US laggard in hotel rates globally.”
