On the Road - For the Hotel Industry, Recovery Is a Long Way Off - NYTimes.com

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For the Hotel Industry, Recovery is a Long Way Off
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By JOE SHARKEY
Published: November 23, 2009
IN these uncertain economic times, I am wary when I hear someone proclaiming, “We have finally bottomed out.” After all, who knows how long we may stay on the bottom?

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Chris Gash
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So that’s why I urge caution in evaluating small recent indicators that might mean better times ahead for the hotel industry.

On Monday, for example, the hotel investment services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels released a survey showing that investors saw some signs of improvement for hotels, but not for at least a year.

For business travelers that means hotels will remain a buyers’ market, especially as they continue to discount rates. But because hotels have cut spending on staff, maintenance and renovations, it means the general quality of the hotel experience could continue to decline.

Every couple of months, I like to take the temperature of the hotel business because, like most business travelers, I generally like the way domestic hotels steadily improved services for about a decade. On Monday, I spoke with two experts at New York University Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management. Both say the hotel industry needs to think differently about how it does business, even after it gets back to a firmer financial footing.

Hotel operators, who recall past cycles when booming growth came after business downturns “have to get over the idea that things are going to get back to the way they were,” said Lalia Rach, the dean of the hospitality program at the Tisch Center.

She sees a number of hurdles once hotels start ...

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/business/24road.html?_r=1&ref=business

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/business/24road.html?_r=1&ref=business