Mark WoodworthOf PKF Consulting

And the cycle starts all over again for the hotel market. The long-beleaguered sector is up again–after what without question has to be its dizziest slump ever, marked as it was with overbuilding, economic woes, Sept. 11, SARS and the global threat–and reality–of war. But investors are licking their chops anew as revenues begin to climb and the “d” word (development, not depression) actually begins to sound appealing. But do the seeds of a future slump lie therein? The Atlanta-based Hospitality Research Group of PKF Consulting is currently releasing its latest findings (based on Smith Travel’s Q3 research). In a recent, exclusive interview, executive managing director R. Mark Woodworth told of his confidences–and his fears.

GlobeSt.com: Any surprises in the data?

Woodworth: Being in the forecast business, it’s not easy to admit there are surprises. With that caveat, there are two surprises that come to mind. One is that room rates are coming back at a much quicker pace than we had originally anticipated, which is a consequence not so much of demand growing faster–that’s been on track–but that managers have become better at managing inventories and practicing yield management. The other surprise, although it’s less of one, is that, while we knew revenues overall were coming back, expenses have begun to grow at a slightly greater rate than we anticipated.