You also have different market levels—primary, secondary—and some markets in the last four to five years have been all over the place. As the hospitality industry starts to slow down, certain markets may become a little skittish, so what is going to drive those rooms? Local business segments such as tourism might be in secondary market that aren't bad markets, but a turn of events means they might not fill up as well.

They also look at existing properties flying their flag that may be aging, so they ask franchisees to update the properties to make them current; they might not renew a franchise if they don't update. That's part of the brand side; the developer side is understanding a geographic market and where they resonate putting heads on beds.

GlobeSt.com: How does your firm ensure success in helping hotel developers and brands achieve their objectives?

Wilhelm: We're going through that on a handful of deals that are underway today. What we have to offer is probably quite a bit more than 90% of the builders out there in that, as a builder, we truly understand the operations of the hospitality industry. If I'm out there with a franchisee on one site, I understand these flags because we not only build, but also own them.

We are starting to provide the service of getting a lot more into design/build across the board. A lot of GCs have danced in design/build and not been successful or have done design assist in the mechanical trade. We do this in 90% of our jobs. We're finding more of our service expanding to design/build, not just on the mechanical side, but also doing a complete turnkey and actually procuring the furnishings. I don't know of any other contractor in California that has that capacity. We're expanding into that because our clients are asking for that. And often, it really helps kick things off in the right direction; if a developer brings R.D. Olson in, the brand is willing to talk to them about flying their flag. Getting funding is becoming tougher for developers, and lenders trust in our experience and the fact that we are a long-term holder on hotels vs. a guy who is going to flip it. We're willing to spend more money on better systems. Long-term holders will own the building for the life of the building. We have a lot more to offer because of our 36 years building hotels.

GlobeSt.com: What are your expectations for hotel construction this year?

Wilhelm: From R.D. Olson's perspective, we will have a grand-slam year. From the industry's perspective, we're starting to see the hospitality industry begin to level off in new construction. The window is starting to slide closed on new construction; a little of that has to do with saturation, and a little of it has to do with financing, which is getting tougher. There's still money out there for financing entities, but lenders are being a little more cautious. The ride has been going on for a long time, so there's concern about saturation in key markets. You will see that perspective across the board, and that will start to drive up repositionings and renovations in the hotel industry. There are a lot of new builds going on and on the books for the next six months, but the renovation and repositioning world is gearing up.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about hotel construction?

Wilhelm: The challenge we've all had is the cost of development. This has gone up over the years. The challenge we've had in the entire development world is finding a qualified workforce. The developer can have the right property, but getting it for the right price isn't easy. There are a lot of people chasing the same deal, and then you have to find the right architect who has the right resources and then find the right GC and subcontractors. It's still a challenge. From a cost perspective, I don't see cost continuing to go up much more, but I don't see it going down tomorrow. Developers are trying to get a little tighter on budgets so they pencil, but you can only go so far. If you try to push numbers down way below market cost, you will get hurt and projects won't get finished. So we've plateaued on new builds, and we're seeing a turn toward redevelopment.