The
historical boom in the lodging industry will continue, but at a
slower pace.
That was the gist of
PricewaterhouseCoopers 11th annual U.S. Lodging Industry Briefing,
which was presented by Bjorn Hanson, a principal with the
firm.
During the
presentation in New York, Hanson offered a blizzard of
statistics.
Demand growth, for
example, which peaked at a 5.2% increase in the first quarter of
2004, had slowed to 1.6% in the first three quarters of this
year.
The last quarter of
2006 is a little scary, because there is more supply growth than
demand growth, he said.
Still, he said, the
6.8% rise in average daily rate for 2006 is the highest in decades,
surpassing the most recent peak of 6.4% set in 1996.
Among other stats,
Hanson noted that per capita Gen X demand for hotel rooms exceeded
that of baby boomers in both business and leisure. While we are
focused on the 49 million Gen X-ers, there are 73 million
Millennials coming along who now average 20 years old, Hanson said.
They will have a significant impact.