GlobeSt.com: What are your thoughts on companies like Blackstone Group taking assets private?

Geller: Blackstone tends to divert a lot of people's attention because they are the big buyer of assets from public to private. They are buying in bulk--they love the market. They are going to break the companies up or do something and sell them. So they're not buying for long-term hold.

GlobeSt.com: What does that mean for Strategic?

Geller: It validates the hypothesis--we can see private money, which is highly leveraged, looking at it, but they're making these big bets on the same dynamics we are. We believe in the time to buy--as well as the time to sell--certain assets and we love where the cycle is. For us at the high end, the luxury cycle is so strong because there is in most markets zero or negative new supply, which means that unless something major happens in the economy, supply and demand statistics are such that there's not going to be new supply for three or four years. So you have tremendous rate ability in a compression market. It's very interesting market dynamics and I like that people are going private; I'm amused--and in some cases de-mused--that people are selling.

GlobeSt.com: As a long-term holder, what do you do to improve your inventory?

Geller: Every hotel does consumer research, but we're the only chain I know of that spends a fortune on individual hotel research. We spend a lot of money on individual hotel research and trend research so we believe suites are a very big deal coming in on the luxury end. So we're investing in building more suites in our hotels or adding suite components to them. We believe that retailing is a very big trend in lodging, and the high-end hotels and consumer propensity to spend for those consumers is unique.

GlobeSt.com: What market indicators do you research?

Geller: We look to what's going on in airports and the airline business and we model ourselves off of cruise ships. We look at their spend analysis and we try to maximize retail yield per square foot. We also spend a lot of time looking at demographics and psychographics.

GlobeSt.com: Psychographics?

Geller: For example when we bought the Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay, our research showed that the hotel was physically and operationally marketed at a demographic that was older than where the market was. It was marketed at a consumer who was 45 to 65 when in reality the market was all in the 35- to 45-year range. So we changed some things in the hotel, put in fire and flare, a new wine room, up-market retailing, and more attractive spas and the thing is sizzling.GlobeSt.com: So, what's next for Strategic? Geller: More of the same. We'll sell a few assets; we'll try to continue to try to buy more iconic assets; we'll buy major city-center assets; and we'll keep expanding every one of our hotels. Some will be used as a blank canvas on which we can plan a major project.

GlobeSt.com: Are there any talks of going into gaming?

Geller: No. No. I gamble with my shareholders money on real estate, and that's enough.