Just like the rest of us, Jim Burba wants to be optimistic about the outlook for the lodging industry. But even he’s hedging his bets. At this week’s planning session in Dallas for the upcoming Americas Lodging Investment Summit, the conference chairman unveiled the conference tagline, “Rebound!”, reflecting the perception (or hope) the industry is back on track to prosperity. He quickly noted, however, that if conditions change between now and the conference (Jan. 23-25), he could change the line to “Rebound?”

Despite that wee bit of hesitation, most speakers and attendees at the ALIS Summer Update, which followed the planning session, were upbeat about the prospects for the industry for the rest of this year and into 2012. However, as always, the industry and the hotels and companies that form it, face a wide range of challenges.

Top on the list of topics during a panel discussion among lodging companies' CEOs was the inability of most hotels to increase rates, even in light of near-record levels of demand.

Jim Burba, ALIS chairman and president of BHN at the 2011 ALIS

“There has been a long-term shift in the perception of value among consumers,” said Choice Hotels President and CEO Steve Joyce. “This value focus extends across just about all segments. Consumers will pay [what’s appropriate for each segment], but they demand value. Those hotels and companies well positioned
from a value point of view should do reasonably well during this period.”

To drive that value perception Choice has in the past given gas cards to guests and this summer offers a free night’s stay after two separate stays. “We see real and measurable peaks in demand based on those offerings and the marketing we create around them,” he said.

Veteran management company executive Tony Farris believes the problem for many hotels is market mix. “This is the largest spread between transient and group rates I’ve ever seen,” said the CEO of Dallas-based Quorom Hotels & Resorts. “In many cases, we simply have too many rooms occupied by people who were driven to the hotel though distribution channels that don’t generate the kinds of rates we need.”

Monty Bennett, CEO of Ashford Hospitality Trust, had a somewhat positive spin on the nation’s unemployment woes. Noting that even though unemployment nationally is above 9%, corporate travel demand is at near-record levels. This means, said Bennett, the number of trips per employed worker is up dramatically.

“Companies aren’t hiring; they’re just working their existing employees harder,” he said. “The question is whether once employment begins to rise will trips per employee drop or will we see even more people traveling.”

The panel also wrestled with changing demographics among hotel guests and the best ways to attract the varied generations of travelers. The consensus was that it’s difficult to generate brand loyalty among Millennials. As Farris noted, “They’re a lot less brand centric when it comes to hotels, but they’re very much media and electronic centric.”

This smartphone-toting generation rarely makes reservations, said Joyce. “They get in the car and start driving. When it’s time to get a hotel room, they find it on their PDAs. Their attitude is planning is for old people.”

Operating costs was another hot-button topic for the panel. As Bennett pointed out, there was a lot of effort among owners, operators and even the brands to keep costs low during the downturn. “There is some pent-up demand among the brands to ramp up some of these costs,” he said. “But we’ve had to tell them this isn’t a typical recovery, and it’s important to carefully analyze all the factors before they ask us to spend on more things.”

Joyce believes there’s still opportunity to wring additional cost savings out of hotels, particularly through technology. He cited Choice’s efforts to bring cloud computing to the franchise system, which he said leads to great potential to bring down computing costs.

ALIS moves back to Los Angeles next year after several years in San Diego. The conference will be held at the new L.A. Live complex downtown near the Staples Center. The complex includes a J.W. Marriott, a Ritz-Carlton, meeting space, shopping, entertainment and restaurants and bars. This year’s ALIS attracted 2,200 hotel people, up from 2,000 in 2010, said Burba.

Burba said the results of the planning meeting for the 2012 Summit was another sign of optimism among the nearly 70 hotel executives who participated.

“At the planning meeting two years ago, the topics were all about distressed hotels,” he said. “Last year, there was some talk of distress but hardly any this year.”