There was some concern expressed by Leven regarding a double-dip, noting that there was nothing on the horizon which would indicate a change in unemployment rates. This factors heavily on the lodging industry, which is often at the whim of disposable income. Bennett summed up the panel’s feelings on government, saying, “You can’t have a hotel discussion without talking about government regulation.”

Joyce said that he feels the lodging industry needs to hold influential persons accountable for detrimental opinions on hotels. “Our industry has been poor about making our case to the public and government,” he explained.

Goldberg agreed, but placed the onus on getting word to businesses and travelers, as opposed to monitoring speeches. “There are things we can do to stop making people feel guilty for traveling,” he said. “Get to companies and ask why they aren’t letting those employees travel,” and getting to employees to reassess how valuable they are to that company if the company is refusing to send them out. Joyce noted this was an issue in the luxury sector, since a lot of business is done face-to-face at conferences and on golf courses.

Leven noted, however, that the “AIG Effect” of the government’s reprimand of luxury getaways for bailed out companies during the recession, was not going to impact the luxury sector in the U.S. in the long term.

Joyce pointed again to jobs, “We need job creation and leisure will come,” saying he felt there is a “bright future for leisure.”

Haggerty said that leisure’s comeback would follow from jobs, but from an investment point of view, since there was a lag of leisure resort on the supply side. He explained that this presented an interesting opportunity from an investment point of view, although did not weigh in on when it would be good to invest into that sector.

Technology was also a strong issue during the panel. Some panelists pointed to the internet causing rate issues, as transparency has grown rapidly in line with the recession, however there was also the advent of boutique hotels offering more technological amenities.

Leven joked, in reference to some hotels that were offering smaller rooms with numerous gadgets: “This was someone’s bright idea that will go nowhere."

Joyce stressed simplicity, that the questions will always be, “’What value are you providing?’ and “How do you define that in each segment?’” Goldberg agreed: “I don’t believe we are in a position as hoteliers, yet, to provide technology, we just have to give customers the opportunity for them to use it.”

Finally, the panel addressed foreign markets. Haggerty joked that in Europe, “all the good sites were taken 100 years ago.”

And Leven sees opportunity in Asia, noting that if you are in a country that doesn’t have protections against building new casinos, such as Singapore, casinos offer a good start. “Casinos give you leverage to support other sections,” such as conference or a hotel, while they build up. He still feels, however, that Asia will face similar issues that the US faces daily.

Leven said that supply and demand issues will plague Asian markets, since the markets are immature and the infrastructure is not up to demand levels for some regions.

Haggerty agreed, saying the luxury hotels in Asia have not all been something they recommend for investors, since urbanization is not catching up to demand in places like China and India.