Those positive growth results go beyond just the lenders at the conference. According to a recent International Lodging Finance Council survey of 40 leading lenders, 94% say they expect their lodging debt to increase or stay the same over the next year. Also, those respondents say, barring external factors, they plan to grow their hospitality allocations over the short term, which was defined as one to three years.

That idea of external factors versus market dynamics held sway during yesterday's discussion as well. Panelists agreed that hospitality, even more so than other commercial real estate product types, falls privy to economic cycles, which prompted Capmark's Lowry to say: "External events that drive capital markets are just as important as a shift in actual market dynamics." He pointed to 1998 as an example when "the capital markets dried up and no one wanted to buy paper."

The subject of overpaying for properties came up, and, when asked about market discipline, GE's Forester responded with a contrarian answer. He wondered if his company was being too disciplined in its hospitality business. "Right now we're at one half of one percent defaults with our hospitality deals," Forester said. "We wonder if we're being too conservative as maybe that number should be in more the 2% range."

The sixth annual meeting of ALIS will conclude today. According to officials, more than 2,400 attendees traveled to Century City for the three-day event.