Apparently, hotel executives are a bunch of half-glass-full people. At last month's Americas Lodging Investment Summit in San Diego, the mood was more upbeat than I expected or perhaps was warranted by the current state of the economy. Call it denial or just plain optimism, the talk at the conference centered on when the business will turn around, not if or even how. Hotel executives, and owners and developers in particular, are through wringing their hands. They're ready to take action, if they only knew what that action should be.

The prevailing sentiment was, despite forecasts of a 10-percent dip in RevPAR for the year, the hotel industry is a group of smart, creative and experienced entrepreneurs who will find their way out of the current predicament, that tomorrow will be better than today, that the cycle will turn and that prosperity will reign again. Not to throw cold water on this love fest, but the industry's problems aren't — for the most part anyway — the result of its own irresponsibility. There's no severe overbuilding, and most developers and acquirers of assets made sensible deals at terms they can live with. It was the banking system, the home mortgage industry and the government that caused our ills. Until those massive issues can be resolved, the hotel business must be resigned to optimism instead of action.

The hotel operating companies seem to be making the best of a bad situation and most seem to be moving swiftly and decisively to mitigate the effects of the downturn. A number of operators, including Robert Habeeb of First Hospitality and Doug Dreher of The Hotel Group, told me they're aggressively increasing their sales and marketing efforts and resources, including requiring general managers to take a more-prominent role in sales. On the brand level, Andy Cosslett, InterContinental Hotel Group's chairman, said the company increased its worldwide sales staff by 30 percent “as a quick and effective way to shift business into our hotels.”

A marketing giant retires. Hotel sales and marketing guru Tom McCarthy, who's been Lodging Hospitality's sales and marketing editor for more than a decade, is retiring from his role as a monthly columnist. Tom's hotel career goes back to Marriott Hotels' very earliest days, and over the years he led a number of award-winning sales and marketing teams. We were lucky he shared his wisdom and expertiese with our readers. Tom will still contribute articles from time to time, and we wish him well and thank him for his contributions to our success.

Happy birthday, Lodging Hospitality. You may notice a sticker on the front cover of this issue (and all of the ones this year) heralding the 60th anniversary of our publication. The hotel industry has seen many changes in the six decades we've been publishing, but throughout that time we've maintained a dedication to serving the information needs of our readers: the owners, developers, operators, marketers and suppliers who make up this great industry. We won't rest on our laurels or our tenure. As always, I welcome any and all comments, suggestions or even brickbats. The way we deliver information has changed over the years, but not our dedication to the task.