In the Asia Pacific region, Construction Starts are at a five-quarter low and will continue to trend downward, closely tracking development trends in the US. Because accessing financing is so difficult, many projects already in the Pipeline cannot migrate forward towards Construction, but are stalled in the Scheduled Starts in the Next Twelve Months and Early Planning stages.

Project Cancellations are at an all-time high, reflecting the unavailability of financing and heightening developer concerns about a global slowdown. The fall-off in international travel, guestroom demand and attendant pricing pressures are accelerating and expected to continue to trend downward well into the next year as the full impact of the economic crisis in the region takes hold.

New Project Announcements into the Pipeline have declined sharply since Q4 2007 and will continue at low levels for the foreseeable future. Many developers have withdrawn to the sidelines, as they wait to see how future New Openings will be absorbed, how operating performance will react and when the economy might right itself.