Panelists at the Hotel Data Conference, left to right: Scott Berman, the U.S. leader of the hospitality and leisure sector for PricewaterhouseCoopers; Mark Woodworth, president of PKF Hospitality Research; Kristi White, director of revenue optimization for TravelClick; Mark Lomanno, chief strategy officer for STR; and moderator Jeff Higley of Hotel News Now.

While the Dow Jones Industrial average was plummeting a year’s worst 513 points last Thursday, four of the leading industry trackers were center stage at STR’s Hotel Data Conference talking about lodging’s ongoing recovery. Demand, they all agreed, grew faster than expected over the past 18 months and despite some uncertainty about the economy, rate was slowly starting to follow.

The panel — Mark Lomanno, chief strategy officer for STR; Mark Woodworth, president of PKF Hospitality Research; Kristi White, director of revenue optimization for TravelClick; and Scott Berman, the U.S. leader of the hospitality and leisure sector for PricewaterhouseCoopers — all lamented the poor timing of the event’s last session titled “We Made It This Far … Now What,” but each speaker still projected healthy revenue growth for this year and next.

Now, after Monday’s new low on Wall Street — the Dow dropped another 635 points after news Friday that Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating — the almost forgotten fears of a double-dip recession have resurfaced.

Before news of that, Lomanno unveiled STR’s revised lodging forecast, which lowered RevPAR slightly to 7.8% growth this year, down from June’s prediction of 8%. He said occupancy would increase 3.9% and average daily rate 3.7% this year, and next year ADR growth (4.9%) would lead the way to a 7% increase in RevPAR.

White of TravelClick predicted 8% to 9% RevPAR growth this year in the U.S., although she cited consumer confidence issues here and fragile economies in Europe as large causes for concern.

Woodworth said PKF was projecting 7.3% growth in RevPAR this year and 8.0% next, while Berman and PwC called for a 7.6% boost this year and between 6% and 6.5% next year.

Might any of those forecasts be revised in lieu of the recent events on Wall Street?

“At this time we are not going to be revising our forecast numbers for either the remainder of 2011 or 2012,” Lomanno said by email. “We feel it’s best to give this current turmoil a few weeks to see if it either settles down or is the beginning of a trend toward a ‘double dip’ recession. As of now, our thinking is the former.”

He added that there has not been a surge in cancellations based on recent events or a change in long-term booking patterns, according to early indications from lodging companies.

The stock prices of those companies, on the other hand, have taken a beating. Wyndham fell 8.2% Monday, while Marriott tumbled 5.8% and Starwood 5.2%. REITs like Felcor Lodging (down 18.5%) and Ashford Hospitality Trust (10.9%) were hit harder. IHG, whose stock fell 6% Monday, announced strong first-half earnings numbers (RevPAR growth of 8.2% in the U.S) Tuesday morning.

“Whilst we continue to monitor the uncertain economic outlook, we look forward with confidence in the currently favorable hotel trading environment of record demand and low supply growth in many markets,” said new CEO Richard Solomons in a statement.

During the conference, Berman echoed Lomanno’s concern over the industry’s inability to grow rate while occupancy surged. He said although he had many questions about the industry, it was impossible not to call what was happening a recovery because of the across-the-board positive operating results. The latest blip on the economy, though, has him more concerned.

“The numbers are numbers — we’re in a rebound,” he said by phone Tuesday. “Now we’ve got this hiccup, but it’s far too early to understand the ramifications because I’m not sure if we’re in the beginning, middle or end of the event … Clearly we’ll have to go back to the laboratory and revisit the numbers for 2012.”

He said RevPAR growth above 7% this year is still achievable because of the strong first half (RevPAR was up 8.8%), but weak first-half GDP growth would cause some softness in the second half.

“I feel 2011 is going to finish OK because we have enough in the bank from the first half,” he said Tuesday, “but the real question we have as an industry is next year. I already felt like the economists’ speak was suggesting a severe softening that could impact that (projected) 6% RevPAR growth. It would take a complete catastrophe to lose the gains we’ve made the last two years and I’m not sensing that. But I’m also not sensing the 6% to 8% RevPAR growth we’ve seen the last two years.”