Hospitality Design - December 2011 - 12

from the editor

cautious optimism
Editorial and Executive Of ces: 770 Broadway, New York, New York 10003 646.654.4410
MICHAEL ADAMS Editor in Chief 646.654.7621 madams@hospitalitydesign.com JONATHAN MARSLAND Creative Director 646.654.4472 jmarsland@hospitalitydesign.com STACY SHOEMAKER RAUEN Executive Editor 646.654.4411 sshoemaker@hospitalitydesign.com ALIA AKKAM Managing Editor 646.654.4419 aakkam@hdmag.com ASHLEIGH VANHOUTEN Associate Editor 646.654.4410 avanhouten@hdmag.com GRACE CASEY Production Manager 646.654.7293 grace.casey@nielsen.com DOUG HOPE Vice President/Content 770.291.5453 doug.hope@nielsen.com JOE RANDALL Senior Vice President joe.randall@nielsen.com SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES 800.697.8859; Fax 847.291.4816 nhd@omeda.com For reprints contact the YGS Group: 800.290.5460 x136 HD@theygsgroup.com BACK ISSUES 800.697.8859 LIST RENTAL Bart Piccirillo 845.731.2768 bart.piccirillo@eraepd.com ADVERTISING PAUL BIENKOWSKI Publisher 860.644.3861; Fax 860.644.0700 pbienkowski@cox.net MELANI BEATTIE Marketing Manager/Midwest and West 312.218.5691; Fax 781.431.1968 melani.beattie@gmail.com PHYLLIS VISCIDI Marketing Manager/East 781.431.1320; Fax 781.431.1968 phyllis@viscidi.com LILIANA CONNOLLY Marketing Representative/East 781.431.1320; Fax 781.431.1968 lil@viscidi.com

As part of this issue, where we cast a sober (and hopefully helpful) eye toward the near future, we asked our Platinum Circle honorees—all of them sage veterans of this industry—to offer their perspective on the near future. Their responses, as expected, were far-ranging and fascinating, and spanned from the quite speciﬁc to the general. The word that struck me most, however, used by Sven Van Assche, was “caution.” There is a great deal to be optimistic about, as reported by Stacy Shoemaker Rauen in our Industry Outlook on page 89. And there is no diminution of talent and energy among the creative side of the business, as is evidenced by the projects on our pages in every issue. But no one is ready to pull out the party hats right away. There is still too much turmoil in the current economy here and abroad to declare a celebration. In my mind, there is no better cure for anxiety—however mild or high yours may be—than information. That’s why we’ve decided to forego our usual format of ﬁlling our feature well with new projects and replacing it with articles that offer a broad look at issues and statistics that deﬁne where we are today and what is likely to happen in the Photo by Clodagh near future (no guarantees). Futurists weigh in, as do numbers experts such as Lodging Econometrics’ Bruce Ford, and hoteliers and designers. We look at a few key areas of development, both domestic and international, and even take a look back at a decade ago to ﬁnd out what HD was marking as hot topics in 2001. So caution is the key. Based on the buzz we feel at our tradeshows and the reports we offer to you here, we end this year as an industry in considerably better shape than last, but no one would be foolish enough to insist that the dark days are past. We hope we’ve given you food for thought and enough factual material to help alleviate some of that nagging anxiety. Here’s to an even better forecast for 2013. But let’s not jump the gun. For now we wish you a wonderful holiday season and a terriﬁc and prosperous 2012.

Michael Adams Editor in Chief madams@hospitalitydesign.com

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - December 2011
