Hotel Investors Pack Up

Worries about the credit crunch and an economic slowdown are lodged into the minds of hotel investors. The credit crunch has pressured the companies' asset values, and a weakening economy may cut profits over the next year. That has led real estate investors to wonder just how much profit power hotel owners and operators will have over the next year. Arabia says the market is concerned about how much the broader economy's weakness - particularly within financial services firms -- will affect the hotel industry. Financial firms, in particular, are major business-travel customers that have absorbed hotel room rate increases in recent years.