Like me, a lot of people in the hotel industry were a little shocked at last week’s news that the U.S. hotel development pipeline shot up by 9.2% in April. The report from STR, the parent company of HotelNewsNow.com, also showed an 18.5% increase hotel rooms under construction, when compared to April 2012.

These numbers reinforce a trend I’ve seen for a number of months: Hotel developers, lenders and brand companies are back in the game of building hotels. The question remains, however, whether this renewed enthusiasm for hotel development will lead to the curse of overbuilding, which in the past often resulted in an industry downturn. Maybe this time it will be different (although I doubt it). ... Read More

There’s an infection running rampant in your hotel right now, and it could very well choke the life out of your profitability. But unlike most infections, this one has some very real benefits as well—if cultivated wisely.

I’m not talking of disease or some other terrible plague. I’m speaking here of emotions. Like germs, they can spread from one employee to the next faster than you can say, “Gesundheit!” ... Read More

Turns out those banking folks are pretty smart after all.

The “extend-and-pretend” and “delay-and-pray” strategies implemented by hotel lenders waiting for the skies to turn sunny once more has been the source of some snickering around the industry during the downturn. There was a thought that this practice was simply deferring the problem—that their comeuppance would come soon enough. ... Read More

In my travels, I’ve been to some poor countries in Central America and Africa, but I’ve never seen poverty as abject, infrastructure as broken and an economy as crippled as I did last week in Haiti. I was there as a guest of Best Western International and Aimbridge Hospitality as they showed a press delegation the recently opened Best Western Premier Pétion-Ville, a suburb of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

And while the levels of sorrow and economic depression were intensely high, I also saw an uplifting spirit and sense of optimism that, not surprising to me, is driven by the prospects of development in the tourism sector. Across the world, and now in Haiti, private and public sector leaders are realizing that well-thought-out, economically feasible hotel and other tourism development can be the key to providing much-needed jobs, import dollars and, ultimately, lasting economic growth that can spread through a community and a country. ... Read More

I’m sitting in my hotel room on the 25th floor of the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, looking out the window as the Burj Khalifa glitters like a diamond caught in a spotlight on the city’s evening skyline. While the effect is manufactured—a series of lights adorning the world’s tallest building flicker and twinkle with alluring precision—the metaphor is prescient.

Here is the crowned jewel of the world’s most glamorous stage, shining Dubai, an emblem of post-recessionary willpower and development might. ... Read More

With the world seemingly getting smaller due to more-affordable air travel and increased global business partnerships, there has been much talk throughout the hotel industry about “rolling out welcome mats” for global travelers. After experiencing the longest flight route of my life—from Cleveland to Los Angeles to Shanghai over a 24-hour stretch—I’m totally on board with the strategy. ... Read More

There were a lot of high-fives in the tourism community last week when President Obama nominated Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker to be the next United States Secretary of Commerce. Even Marriott International President and CEO Arne M. Sorenson gave a shout-out to her nomination during his quarterly earnings call with stock analysts.

To be sure, there should be advantages to having someone with direct ties to the hotel business (her father co-founded and her family retains a major interest in Hyatt Hotels Corporation) at such a high-level, policy-setting position in U.S. government. As far as I can recall, it’s an unprecedented honor for the hotel industry and, perhaps in a small way, it shows how the industry is finally achieving long-sought-after respect in Washington, D.C. ... Read More

Jim Murren and MGM Resorts International were battered by the recession. That’s not my opinion. It’s his.

“I have the scars to prove it,” said the casino/hotel operator’s chairman and CEO while on center stage at last week’s Bisnow Lodging Investment Summit. ... Read More