Wilhelm: It is a challenge. From a cost perspective, it is one of the factors slowing new construction down. But it's also driving construction in different ways by forcing developers to look at other means and methods and to be smarter about those different options; it's forcing developers to a degree to look at other avenues such as adaptive reuse. A lot of factors drive developers to adaptive reuse, but construction is playing a big part in that. We have seen an increase in construction costs over the last 18 months, but we have been able to stabilize the continued increase, and this has to do with continued relationships with our sub-contractors. We've been building hotels for 35 years, and we've created some pretty dynamite relationships with sub-contractors. They really relied on us during the recession, and today there is reciprocation. We helped them through tough times, so now we get preferred pricing and resources. Relationships are the driving force in hotel construction today.

GlobeSt.com: How is the changing economy affecting certain geographical areas of the hotel industry, and how is the industry predicting how these areas will perform?

Wilhelm: There are a lot of different perspectives out there. People say the secondary and tertiary markets still have some life, and this may be true, but I would be cautious about that because historically supply and demand fluctuates based on the economy. What I'm seeing from our chair is that geographically it really comes down to supply and demand. L.A. is heavily underway today and is even having more traction with the renovation/adaptive-reuse model. We have four of those type of products underway in that market and are in discussion with three others. The driving force is trying to get ahead on bids and beat time clocks, trying to forecast when it's going to happen and also the approval process. Developers feel they must get a shovel in the ground quickly or they might miss a window. At the Lodging Conference, multifamily was discussed, as in how much supply can you put into an area based on demand? For L.A., the traveler cohort is still healthy enough where it's a driving factor for lodging.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about trends in the hotel sector?

Wilhelm: Human resources is truly key. In any industry, that's really what's going to determine overall success—how you are able to respond or deliver. We're fortunate we have some of the best people who love our company because of our culture. This allows us to keep a healthy resource ingredient in our back pocket internally.