Moreover, there's nothing really firmly in the pipeline save for the 329-room tower addition to the Downtown Hilton and no planned projects reporting a firm construction date, says Dundon. "This all bodes will for a recovery of the local hotel industry to parallel the local economic recovery without the dampening affect of supply additions," writes Dundon.

A recent Legg Mason Walker report predicting positive RevPar growth in the fourth quarter of 2002 and up to 3% growth in 2003, states Dundon. That rate is nearly two percentage points behind what Pricewaterhouse Coopers is predicting for the hotel market nationwide, but Portland lagged the rest of the nation going into the recession. Backing all that up is a Goldman Sachs report this month predicting that lodging stocks are at the beginning of a multi-year out performance and will produce better than expected earnings for the first three months of 2002.

The positive expectations should also increase investment activity, says Dundon, as investors perceive the market has bottomed out and angle to get in on the beginning of an expansion phase. "While closings of transactions have been slow the past six months, market activity has increased with more owners willing to consider selling instead of waiting out the market," he says. "In addition, there are now more active buyers in the market…"