Hotel Financing Market Remains One of the Tightest in a Decade

NEW YORK CITY-While a considerable amount of attention among big corporations based here seems to be on expansion into markets across the seas such as Vienna and Prague, there still is activity, albeit limited, right here at home. For investors, it is precisely the limited space and number of projects that can ever take place that make the few that do worth their time and money. Hotel occupancy remains the best in the country and room rental rates continue to remain high.

The research division of the National Hotel Realty, Lodging Econometrics, predicts a slowdown in hotel stays, thus hotel profits, in the year to come, but adds that the Big Apple is among the few that “shouldn’t decline much as their Active Development Pipelines suggest a lesser impact on occupancy.” With few projects in the works and high demand for rooms, most industry experts agree the hotel industry will continue to do well even as other cities may be hit hard by an economic slowdown.

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, for example, has generated more reports this year on the status of the European markets than any in America. The company has described Paris as “Europe’s most international hotel investment market.” Earlier this month it released findings that read, “Europe’s Continental hotel markets are showing strong signs of growth in the first year of the new Millennium, with hotel room yields increasing significantly across the entire continent, from Paris to Prague and Madrid to Milan.” Vienna and Prague are “riding the wave of recovery” and in an upswing. In fact, very few companies have focused very much attention on American cities, and even less on New York.