GlobeSt.com: It seems like a lot of people think it’s a good idea to buy right now, but no one want to be the first guy in the pool. So why are you so bullish?

Mount: The assets that we continue to acquire, we’re getting these at a great basis. I think we talked about this earlier today, if you look at the metrics from the start, [the hotel industry’s] not just doing fine, it’s doing well. It’s not knocking it out of the park, but it’s still moving in the right direction. I think the metrics for our industry are still good and now that the REITs have pulled back a little bit, that’s opened up some doors for assets that we were publicly losing out to them just 60 days ago. And I think from our perspective we still feel the next 12-18 months will be a good environment for purchasing assets.

GlobeSt.com: Why only the next 12-18? Do you think there is something 24 months down the line that will be a problem?

Mount: Well, it’s hard to tell how all of the CMBS coming due is going to fall out. The thought is that they are not going to sell, they’re going to figure out a way to hold onto them. It would be great if they did want to sell them, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.

I think a lot of the owners that sat on the sidelines through this economic cycle are holding on by their bootstraps and are selling more; you’re starting to see more assets come to market. We work very hard to find off-market assets, a lot of the assets we’ve acquired are off-market; which for us is a better way to go.

GlobeSt.com: Do you think REITs were overpaying?

Mount: Not for them, but for us. We couldn’t buy at those kinds of cap rates. It wouldn’t make sense to us. We were making all-cash offers on some pretty significant assets and we weren’t even getting into the second round against the REITs.

GlobeSt.com: You’re looking at some tertiary markets, but they’re all college towns?

Mount: Yes, if you look at Syracuse, it did not fall off as sharply as secondary markets and that’s because of the university. The university at Syracuse is at 40,000 undergrads, so the metrics are still good in those market tracks, so we’ll continue to look at those. Our partners in the US are still very, very bullish at acquiring assets in the US.

GlobeSt.com: What do you see as the biggest opportunities coming down the pike?

Mount: From an opportunity standpoint, for us, we’re seeing a lot of operators that don’t have the same resources that we and others have and those hotels are struggling, so we’ve seen more opportunities to take over contracts, which has been a big part of what we’ve done here in the last half as well.

Again, on the acquisition side, you have to be pretty nimble. If you look at the Sheraton Chapel Hill, that we acquired, we took 50% of the equity and we actually provided the debt. And we needed to do that so we could close in 45 days with the lender, but I don’t think there are too many owner/management companies that can provide their own debt. And we can.