At the end of the fourth quarter of 2000 a total of 1,591 projects and 222,871 rooms were in the active pipeline nationally as compared with a total of 1,911 projects and 284,371 rooms at the end of the third quarter of last year. In contrast, according to Peter Glucker, director of marketing communications for the firm, "Boston is a different story."

Glucker tells GlobeSt.com that from 1998 to 1999 supply exceeded demand in the Boston Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is similar to the government's definition of the MSA. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2000, demand growth was 9.2% while supply growth was 4%. "Demand outgrew performance by 5.2%," notes Glucker. "That was the fourth best performance in the top 25 markets."

As Glucker points out, even more impressive is this area's construction trend. The current hotel census at the end of 2000 was 260 hotels with 42,115 rooms. The number of guestrooms under construction and in the permitting process in this area was 16.2% of that hotel census of 42,115 rooms. "This construction trend is the highest within the top 25 markets," he says.