Habeeb: On the business-to-business side, it’s been a pretty decent first quarter, and we’re pretty optimistic on the rest of 2012. For RevPar, we’re up about 5%, and we think we should see possibly 8% RevPar growth this year if nothing major goes wrong.

GlobeSt.com: You handle mid-level hotels. How do they stack up against the class A properties?

Habeeb: The luxury segment has shown nice improvement, though they also fell the most. With mid-level hotels, you’ve got the best of both worlds, attracting a mix of corporate and vacation travelers who just want a good hotel. We’ve got six hotels in downtowns under the Hampton flags, and if you put people in those lobbies, they would have trouble distinguishing them from full-service.

GlobeSt.com: What type of development are you doing today?

Habeeb: We’re doing a lot of hotel conversions, it’s the cyclical nature of real estate. The last recession, hotels had it tough and office and residential were still decent. Now the reverse is true. You can get good properties by using tax credits, finding a marquee building with good bones. However, though others have tried to get into the conversion market, but it’s difficult to know which project to pick, etc. It’s like alligator wrestling – they both are difficult, and you can get into trouble real fast if you jump in without knowing what you’re doing.

GlobeSt.com: Is there lending available for this work?

Habeeb: On the transaction side, there is debt available for transactions, though it’s a restrictive 60-40 split with personal guarantees. If it is a worthwhile project there’s plenty of credit out there, and if you’re willing to do recourse, you can get debt. The deal just has to be extremely right. I also think the lending community is being very schizophrenic – you go to a finance conference and everyone is ready to pull the trigger, but every new credit application is being heavily scrutinized.

GlobeSt.com: Do you think rising gas prices will affect travel this year?

Habeeb: I think the rest of the year should fall in very nicely. Everybody is worried about the cash crisis…unless something catastrophic happens, even if gas goes up to $5 a gallon, it shouldn’t have an impact on travel. We still think the corporate traveler is going to stay somewhat conservative

GlobeSt.com: Speaking of conservative, do you think this year’s election will affect travel this year?

Habeeb: My new prediction is that the election is going to have a bigger impact on the economy than people think. I think if a Republican wins, no matter who it is, things will just light right up – the financial and business community have just been so down on Obama. People with cash are just sitting on it and waiting for more certainty. If not, it’s going to be a slow climb out, though we’ll benefit still from constrained supply.