Carlton's John Bralower

John Bralower won’t say that the credit crisis was a non-issue for the Manhattan-based Carlton Advisory Group. Indeed they felt the bite as well. But despite the rocky seas, the investment banking firm managed to score some big hits: Equity deals–well sure–but more impressive, CMBS deals–both creating a volume of more than $4 billion at the end of August. That included such highpoints as the $587 million in acquisition capital they provided for the Lipstick Building and $350 million of senior and mezz money for the construction of the Trump SoHo. In an exclusive interview, fresh from an exploratory mission to Dubai, India, Bralower–president of Carlton Hospitality and managing director of the Advisory Group (and a panelist on Real Estate Media’s recent RealShare New York conference)–spoke about the crisis, the deals and the prospects in Dubai. Credit crisis?

GlobeSt.com: Let’s start with the hotel sector. An incredible year. What’s the dynamic?

Bralower: The hotel business as a business is performing very well right now. Occupancy and rates are very high. Couple that with the fact that there was a long period of time when people were underweighted in hotels. That was partly because performance wasn’t as good then, and because there’s always been a group who have the knee-jerk reaction that real estate guys shouldn’t do hotels. And while there’s a degree of truth in that, there are also people who have come to recognize that there’s great money to be made in the hotel business.