Hotels and the financial crunch

Here's one of the best roundups I've seen yet about how the credit crunch will affect the U.S. hospitality industry. Written by hotel legal eagle Jim Butler, it includes thoughts both optimistic and pessimistic. For planners, I thought this was a key note:

In public we say "Hold the rate." That makes sense as long as we can do it. However, I may have courage to hold the rate in New York or Washington, DC, but I may not have courage to do so in Milwaukee when my competitors start cutting.

If it's not happening already, I expect to see rates slipping in second- and third-tier cities any day now. I'm also hearing more and more talk about the return of the buyer's market overall. We'll see.