Daily Lodging Report Weekly Highlights

The Brookfield deal shows that investment interest in hotel portfolios remains strong. Analysts at Baird said that Xenia Hotels has a portfolio with similar characteristics to Watermark's.

Hotel developers can't overcome their fear factor as they put 73 percent of new projects on hold. They're waiting for the return of Chinese and Russian visitors. They may be waiting quite a while.

This year 762 U.S. hotels are forecast to open. Dallas has attracted the most development, with Atlanta and Los Angeles close behind.

Hilton is planning to grow its presence in Greater China from nearly 20,000 rooms to 270,000, while Accor has found partners to help build more than 1,300 hotels. It's wise for the giants to look beyond China's current pandemic crisis and plan for future growth.

Despite the worst of the pandemic being behind the hospitality industry, executives largely don't see a full recovery this year. It's hard for them to do so when the industry hasn't still solved its labor shortage problem.

While all signs indicate that the hotel industry will continue to make progress in its recovery this summer, the rebound may not be as large as expected as high gas prices could deter some travel.

Although the American Hotel & Lodging Association is adamant that companies should resume large-scale business travel, hotels can't rely on it to drive their recovery. Corporate executives don't see the sector making a full rebound anytime soon — if ever.

As the economy extended-stay segment tends to perform well during periods of both economic boom and bust, Wyndham's new brand should put the company in a prime position to continue posting profitable quarters.

China's national hotel performance sank amid an Omicron surge that is gripping major cities on the mainland as well as Hong Kong. But you wouldn't know that based on the development interest in the region from major companies like IHG.

Although several hotel executives don't view the war in Ukraine as a drag on European hotel performance at the moment, their tune could change if the conflict continues to makes travel to Europe more difficult.