A Buyer’s Market? Or Are Sellers Still in Control?

Early in July, the hospitality industry was rocked by Marriott International’s announcement that second-quarter profits fell by 24 percent and that revenue per available room, or RevPar, would decrease by 1 percent in the United States in 2008. Two weeks later Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide lowered its annual revenue projections and announced its second-quarter profits had fallen by 16 percent.