The Hotel Times - March 2008 - (Page 6)

CONFERENCE PREVIEW » BY JONATHAN WORSLEY IHIF 2008: Changing gears New speakers, exciting topics on tap for Berlin event C Jonathan Worsley is the co-organizer of the International Hotel Investment Forum. hanging gears. What an appropriate theme for the 11th International Hotel Investment Forum, set for March 3-5 at the InterContinental Berlin. The question leading up to IHIF 2008 has been, “What gear are we in and is the industry seeing a dramatic shift in the landscape going forward?” There is little consensus among industry consultants when it comes to forecasting supply and demand growth for 2008. At IHIF, we’ll address the topic head-on. Conference Chair André Martinez, managing director and chairman, Global Lodging, Morgan Stanley, will share his views on the current investment climate. Roger Bootle, one of the U.K.’s leading economic commentators and advisor to Deloitte, said, “I suspect when the full consequences come home to roost, not only will many fortunes shrink, but several high-ﬂown investment ideas will bite the dust and many reputations will have been irreparably damaged.” Perhaps now is the time to invest? On a subsequent panel, Expedia president Paul Brown will provide insight into what clients are booking from the click of their mouse for 2008 and beyond. Jamie Chappell, managing director of The Bench, will give a tour of industry revenue per available room trends; and Chris Day, managing director of Christie + Co., will reveal the current state of the investment market. Leaders such as Sir David Michels, Frits van Paasschen, Reto Wittwer and Sarmad Zok will face the consultants in one-to-one interviews during the Hard Talk series. For the ﬁrst time, the conference will feature a half-day summit on green issues. Global warming is an enormous challenge to our conventional business methods, and we hope the Green Summit will shed light on the industry’s best practices. The c.e.o.s certainly are coming to grips with the importance that faces them, and Scandic Hotels’ Frank Fiskers, Marriott International’s Ed Fuller, Starwood Hotels and Resorts’ Roeland Vos and Hilton Hotels’ Wolfgang Neuman will address some of the key issues in their session, “The Business Case for Being Green.” The Summit also will tackle “Demystifying Carbon Offsetting,” with a panel that includes representatives from the WWF, Native Energy, Atmosphere, Rezidor and WTTC discussing the issues surrounding carbon trading. These are just a few of the topics the IHIF will tackle. A signiﬁcant presence of new speakers, who are investing in the industry for the ﬁrst time or launching new brands, is exciting. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ Arthur de Haast will interview c.e.o.s from Hard Rock, GuestInvest and Yotel on a plenary session; and serial entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou will discuss the rollout of his EasyHotels on a breakout session. To conclude the conference, the BBC’s John Simpson will speak on “Is the world a more dangerous place?” Simpson will walk us through world issues and how they might impact us as an industry. To those attending IHIF 2008: Challenge the industry leaders with your views and together we can learn from each other and make the industry a better place. hmm@questex.com 6 The Hotel Times March 2008 www.TheHotelTimes.com http://www.TheHotelTimes.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Hotel Times - March 2008

The Hotel Times - March 2008 Business Outlook Editorial Outlook Contents Conference Preview Capital Outlook What's Driving Growth? European Outlook Development Outlook Fractional Outlook Branding Source List Insurance Outlook Brokers Update Brokerage Outlook Lodging's Balancing Act Transactional Facts Lending Outlook Lenders Source List In Closing

The Hotel Times - March 2008

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