Here is another insightful analysis of hotel industry performance and forecast. But unlike many industry analysts, Mark Woodworth and his team at PKF Hospitality Research forecast the effect of how Washington deals with the "fiscal cliff" deadline and related budget issues.

What happens if the automatic budget cuts currently the law of the land kick in because Congress can't agree on an alternative course of action? What happens if they "kick the cliff down the road."?

The results may surprise you. One scenario likely leads to a recession in the first half of 2013, but in any event Woodworth and his PKF team say " Under all scenarios considered, 2014 will be a great year for the industry. It remains a great time to be investing capital in the industry."

PKF presentation and highlights on US Lodging Outlook

We asked Mark Woodworth to summarize a few of the key thoughts he presented at The Lodging Conference in Phoenix a few days, ago and here is what he said:

  1. Industry fundamentals will continue to move in a positive direction, although the pace of improvement has begun to moderate. This will persist through most of 2013; unless
  2. The fiscal cliff becomes a reality. In this case, recession hits in Q1 2013 and industry RevPAR for the year will be flat (see slides in the attached deck that address the "Fiscal Cliff" and "Kick the Cliff" scenarios.
  3. If our leadership in Washington "Kicks the Cliff" down the road, 2013 will actually be better than our expected case scenario, although the longer term outlook for the overall economy is diminished.
  4. Under all scenarios considered, 2014 will be a great year for the industry. It remains a great time to be investing capital in the industry.

For a full copy of Mark's presentation, please see www.HotelLawyer.com/Resource Center/Hotel Industry Presentations, or click here.


Mr. Woodworth is an Executive Vice President of PKF Consulting ("PKF/C"), and President of PKF Hospitality Research, an affiliate of PKF/C. Mr. Woodworth is based in the Atlanta office of PKF/C. Mr. Woodworth is responsible for all of PKF/C's activities in the Southeast and Caribbean.

Mr. Woodworth is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a lecturer at Cornell University and Georgia State University, among others. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Finance Committee of the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta and the Council at the Henderson Mill Elementary School. He also recently completed a three-year term on the Board of Advisors for the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University.

Mr. Woodworth holds both a B.S. and Master's Degree from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. He also served on the faculty of the Center for Professional Development at Cornell for 12 years, where he continues to guest lecture. He and his wife Mary Kay, along with their children Harry, Will, Sam and Savannah, reside in Atlanta.

For more information, please contact Mark Woodworth at [email protected] or
+1 (404) 842-1150.


This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. We've done more than $60 billion of hotel transactions and have developed innovative solutions to unlock value from hotels. Who's your hotel lawyer?

About the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

The hospitality attorneys in the Global Hospitality Group® of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP comprise the premier hospitality practice in a full-service law firm, and the most experienced legal and advisory team in the industry. Our team of seasoned hotel lawyers has helped clients with more than 4,600 hospitality properties located around the globe valued at more than $123 billion, and have worked on more than 2,700 management and franchise agreements. Our experience provides one of the most extensive virtual data bases of market terms for deals and financings. The hospitality lawyers of our team are not just great hotel lawyers—we are also hospitality consultants and business advisors, dealmakers and facilitators of the flow of capital. We help our clients find the right operator, joint venture partner or capital provider. We know who to call and how to reach them.

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