Suzanne Mellen, Alan Reay, Vail Brown, Stephen Rushmore, Jr., Mark Woodworth, Mike Cahill and Richard Green
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
12 May 2015
Meet the Money® 2015 – Information, deals, reflection, and celebration
Conference presentations now available
JMBM’s Meet the Money® 2015, held at the Sheraton LAX in Los Angeles, wrapped up its 25th national hotel finance and investment conference this week. The hotel lawyers in JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group were fortunate to celebrate such a significant milestone (25 years!) at a time when the hotel industry is breaking all-time records – RevPar, Occupancy, Rooms Sold, Room Revenue, Transaction Value, you name it.
Hotel fundamentals are strong, interest rates rate are low, demand is strong, and hotel investors are happy! There was general consensus that the good times will continue for at least another year or two, and some think it could last even longer. It was truly a great pleasure to hear about all of the profitable and creative deals that are going on.
While everyone acknowledged that it’s a great time to be in the hotel industry, there was plenty of healthy reflection about lessons learned from the Great Recession as well as discussion about preparing for the inevitable downside of the current cycle. Our speakers – a Who’s Who of the hotel world – represented an experienced and disciplined approach to hotel finance and investment.
You can read more about the conference in the column written by Stefani C. O’Connor in Hotel Business: With Eye to Horizon, Industry Optimism Remains at Meet the Money Conference.
Select Presentations Now Available for Free Download
We are pleased to share with you some of the presentations from the conference. To view a list of presentations, go to Hotel Industry Presentations on HotelLawyer.com.
Individual presentations include:
2015 LIIC Top Ten. Mike Cahill, CEO and Founder of Hospitality Real Estate Advisors (HREC), compiles the annual Lodging Industry Investment Counsel (LIIC) Top Ten, which reveals the challenges and investment trends identified through an annual survey of LIIC members.
Hotel Sector Update and Forecast. Mark Woodworth, President, PKF Hospitality Research. At Meet the Money® – JMBM’s national hotel finance and investment conference – Mark says that (1) there are no threats from the factors that historically have brought an end to the good times, (2) the fundamentals are solid across the vast majority of markets, (3) elevated industry growth will persist comfortably through 2016 and likely beyond, and more…
Hotel Industry Trends and Predictions. Stephen Rushmore, Jr., CEO and President, HVS. Stephen Rushmore uses industry numbers to predict that (1) supply and demand will be in equilibrium towards the latter part of 2016 or early 2017 for the USA, (2) hotel values are beginning to taper, (3) west coast markets to show the greatest value increase through 2019, (4) 40% of markets won’t appreciate above anticipated inflation over next four years, and more . . .
US Hotel Industry Performance – What Lies Ahead. Vail Brown, Vice President, Global Business Development & Marketing, STR. Vail begins her presentation at Meet the Money® with some eye-popping industry records, then covers supply progress, occupancy acceleration, customer mix and revenue growth. She says we are now “walking on sunshine” . . . See why.
California Hotel Perspective. Alan Reay, President, Atlas Hospitality Group presented an overview of California Hotel transactions and makes some fascinating comparisons — and distinctions — between 2006 and 2014 hotel transactions. He provides information on specific transactions and gives us his 2015 forecasts for sales, median price per room and hotel development. Look at the sales at prices per room over $1 million!
Hotel values and cap rates. Suzanne Mellen, Senior Managing Director, HVS. In this presentation made at Meet the Money®, Suzanne explains the current ideal conditions for a strong year of hotel transactions, and why the market is on track for transaction activity that will be stronger than 2014 and higher than the peak of 2006. See why she expects values to peak within the next two to three years, and see what role cap rates and values play in hotel transactions.
Economic Outlook — Europe, China, the Dollar, Marriage, Inequality and Rent (and what they might mean for real estate). Richard Green, Chair, Lusk Center for Real Estate, University of Southern California. Economist Richard Green explains the miracle of the Euro, why we should be bullish on China and worried about the dollar’s effect on the US economy, and how education and marriage affect the future of housing and retail. He wonders what all of this and income inequality means for the hotel industry – more travel or less? More luxury or economy hotels and fewer in between? Interesting as always!
If you were unable to attend the conference, you can go to MeetTheMoney.com to view the agenda, and the impressive list of sponsors and speakers. We hope you will join us next year!
Dates for Meet the Money 2016®: Mark your calendars now for the 2016 Meet the Money® national hotel finance and investment conference: May 2-4, 2016 in Los Angeles.
This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. We’ve done more than $68 billion of hotel transactions and have developed innovative solutions to unlock value from hotels. Who’s your hotel lawyer?
