During the past week, we here at HotelNewsNow.com have published quite a few stories outlining the hotel industry data coming out of last week’s Hotel Data Conference. Makes sense because there was an awful lot of numbers to sift through.
But there are still those tidbits that, while interesting, don’t seem to find a home in any of the stories I write. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to empty out my HDC notebook of some of the numbers and commentary I overheard during the two-day conference.
• As of June 2011, the development leaders by number of rooms opened during the past 12 months are: Holiday Inn Express (4,689 rooms); Hampton Inn & Suites (2,948 rooms); and Courtyard by Marriott (2,135 rooms).
• The average U.S. gap in roomnights sold in top 25 markets is 451,000 rooms compared to prior peak.
• With year-over-year rooms in construction down 22.5%, the number of rooms in construction should continue to decline through 2012.
• The number of hotel deals exceeding US$100 million during the first half of 2011 is the third highest on record.
• Far and away, New York leads in the number of full-service hotel transactions this year with volume of US$2.3 billion, representing price per room of US$426,000.
• Don’t pay too much attention to the guidance being presented by public hotel companies. Given all the economic uncertainty, it’s anyone’s guess how the third quarter will play out, let alone full-year 2011.
• Expense-cutting didn’t have a big effect on preserving profits when the downturn started in 2009. Everyone’s net profits declined at approximately the same rate.
• In 2010, the U.S. luxury’s sector’s profits grew at a rate of 26 times rate growth.
• The strongest hotel profit growth is centered in the middle of the country in Kansas and Nebraska.
• There were a lot of hotel closures that didn’t happen during the downturn that probably should have occurred. Many economy and midscale properties struggled, lost their flag, but because there was no better use for the land, the hotels stayed open.
• “In the last couple of months, I’ve gotten away from using the word ‘discounting,’” STR’s COO Brad Garner said. “I call it a ‘price reset.’”
• The major markets were hit “really hard” during the downturn, according to Steve Hennis, director of HotelNewsNow.com’s sister company STR Analytics. But this makes those areas ripe for investment.
• Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Minneapolis and Detroit are close to reaching their prior peak of roomnights sold.
• Hotels have been able to grow net operating income despite a challenging average-daily-rate environment.
• Second to New York in supply growth in 2011 is Dallas.
• Of the 162 U.S. markets, only two do not have at least one economy chain scale property (Hawaii-Kauai and Oahu Island.)
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