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October 19, 2020
Speakers during the online Southern Lodging Summit discussed their outlook for new hotel development, investment in distressed assets, and design and operational changes looming for hotels.
By Dan Kubacki
dkubacki@hotelnewsnow.com
@HNN_Dan
REPORT FROM THE U.S.—The fourth quarter of 2020 will reveal much about how hoteliers act in a continued state of uncertainty.
Participants on the “Visionary viewpoints: Crisis leadership” panel as part of the online 2020 Southern Lodging Summit shared their expectations for the pace of new development and lending availability along with how they’re making decisions to change operations and design.
Development expectations
John Koshivos, VP and managing director of development of the Southeast Region at Hilton, described his hotel development outlook as a “period of cautiousness,” split into the activity of conservative holders, opportunistic builders and aggressive buyers.
“There are those right now that are sitting back, (who are) extremely conservative,” he said. “They want to ride out the storm, see what’s going to happen in their markets, manage expectations as to what they’re doing today, and how business is going to look in the near-term future. You have another group that is going to potentially be opportunistic right now. There are going to be people that are saying, ‘Construction costs may be moderating or coming down a bit, land costs are coming down a bit. I know I’m not going to open this hotel for say two or three or four years.’
“… And then you’ve got the other group that is going to potentially be looking at distressed assets. We know there’s going to be issues with loans that are out there. There might be a lot of conversion opportunities when it comes to independent hotels that might be in play for some potential branding.”