Condo-hotels, or condotels as some call them, aren't regulated by the Division of Florida Land Sales, Condominiums & Mobile Homes even though the state leads the nation in the number of condo-hotel units.
"It's a mess," said Raphan, an assistant ombudsman for the state agency.
Raphan's view mirrors that of many who watched the novel craze begin and crash almost as quickly.
Highlights of the report point out that 2007 was a mixed bag, ranging from mega-deals, such as the Blackstone Group's purchase of Hilton Hotels Corporation, valued at $26.3 billion, to transactions below $5 million. Transactions in the under $15 million category were particularly plentiful in 2007, with 426 reported sales. "Industry-wide, we tracked 736 transactions last year, with the average hotel sold having 196 rooms and generating an average price per key of a record $117,000, up from $110,000 a room in 2006 and up from the decade low of $52,000 in 2000," said Brandt Niehaus, CHB, HBI president and president of Louisville-based Huff, Niehaus & Associates. "The trend toward higher pricing reflected the operating strength of the industry in 2007, which produced a 5.7 percent improvement in RevPAR, according to Smith Travel Research."
Forbes has an article headlined "Dollar's Drain Is Hotel Industry's Gain". New York City hotels (and real estate), in particular, seem to have reaped the most benefits from the declining dollar as Europeans seem to have a relentless appetite for the sights and sounds of the Big Apple.
This seeming inverse correlation (as the dollar gets "smaller" hotel rates seems to get "bigger" or at least help keep Revpar constant given some softness in occupancy) appears to be driven by both European and Asian markets.
