As I travel to industry meetings and conferences, I see a lot of smiling faces. 2005 has been a great year for the lodging industry. Nearly every property in every segment and in every market has shown improvements in occupancies, rates and most importantly, profits. Business travel is back, and leisure travel never went away — even in the grim months following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Even better news is on the horizon: As good as 2005 has been, you can probably expect an even better year in '06. Despite turbulence in many industries (autos and airlines quickly come to mind), most managers understand that their salespeople and other workers need to travel to sell their customers, to solve their customers problems and to attend conferences and shows to hone skills and gather market intelligence. On the leisure side, American consumers have fully embraced the concept that yearly, or more frequent, vacations and getaways are a birthright they're not willing to forego.

With all of this prosperity at hand, it's important that lodging owners and operators make sure they're investing in the future of their properties and businesses. 2006 is a perfect time to renovate or upgrade, to add more rooms or facilities or to buy or build additional lodging properties.

The 2006 Lodging Hospitality Almanac you have in your hands is a great tool to help you with whatever capital project you have on the drawing boards. Our Directory of Products & Services and Directory of Suppliers can connect you with all of the resources you need to envision, design, bid, buy and build.

I wish all of you a happy and profitable 2006.