Today would be a bad day to visit your local lender to ask for a loan. The entire nation remains spooked following yesterday’s dramatic Wall Street sell-off in the wake of Standard & Poor’s downgrading of the U.S. credit rating. Lodging stocks, and lodging REITs in particular, took it on the chin yesterday. Felcor Lodging Trust dropped 72 cents, or 18.5%. Ashford Hospitality Trust fell 10.9% and Sunstone Hotel Investors 8.5%.

Hotel brand companies fared a little better but not much. Wyndham was down 8.2%, Hyatt slipped 2.8%, Starwood declined by 5.2% and sector bellwether Marriott tumbled 5.8%. Investors and analysts typically run from the leisure business when the economy looks gloomy. The line of thinking goes this way: A bad economy leads to less business travel and fewer meetings, while pessimistic economic news discourages leisure travel.

While that line of thinking may seem rational, it doesn’t necessarily stand the test of time. The Great Recession we just endured, and may get to endure again if a double-dip emerges, was less harsh on the hotel business than on many other industries. Business travel fell initially but rebounded quickly, and leisure travel maintained a fairly steady pace even during the worst of times. Yesterday held some good news for the hotel business as the price of crude oil dipped under $80 a barrel. Oil prices, and more specifically retail gasoline prices, are a prime driver of leisure business. Perhaps irrationally, even a 10- or 20-cent rise in gas prices will provoke many leisure travelers, seniors in particular, to revamp or even cancel their travel plans. Lowering of gas prices has the opposite effect.

And while the luxury segment of the lodging business took a nosedive at the onset of the recession, it has bounced back the strongest. As the New York Times reported last week, sales of all luxury goods and services are nearly back to pre-recession levels.

Still, yesterday’s market tumble and whatever happens today is a reason to worry. If the economy tanks for an extended period, the lodging industry is bound to suffer and financing for acquisitions or development will dry up. However, when the economy shakes this malaise (and we all must believe it will) and inflation rates rise (as we all know they eventually will), hotels will again be a favored sector among real estate investors due to its unique ability to reprice its product daily.

Today, I suspect we’ll all have our eye on the Dow and will be holding our collective breath, hoping for a calming of the market. My hunch is it will, perhaps not today but sometime soon.

“Demand is back, trust the numbers.” That was the message of Smith Travel Research’s Jan Freitag to more than 300 attendees at the opening session of the third Hotel Data Conference in Nashville. Demand, up 5.8 % through June year-over-year comparisons, and occupancy (up 5%) are still outpacing average daily rate (up 3.3%) during the industry’s recovery.

On the transient side, the industry is selling more rooms than ever before, but group business continues to lag slightly. So why has rate been so slow to follow? “It turns out we didn’t learn our lesson from (the) 2001 (downturn),” Freitag told the audience about the industry’s quick turn to discounting in 2008. “A lot of people are traveling, we just have to take their money.”

On the group side, Freitag said there was little that could be done to improve rate this year, but hoteliers now negotiating rates for next year and beyond needed to be far more aggressive. He said shorter booking windows make it harder, but demand has and will continue to come. “Hold out and trust Randy (Smith),” he said.

The event from STR was held at Gaylord Opryland, where it was scheduled to be last year before major flooding closed the massive resort.

The country is breathing a big sigh of relief since the dysfunctional government in Washington seems to have finally come to terms on the debt ceiling debate. I won’t share my personal views on the outcome, but it must be a good compromise since no one seems to like it. We all hope this storm has passed and Congress and the White House can get back to more pressing issues—namely the sorry state of the economy and the miserable outlook for employment.

It’s sad the tens of thousands of hours spent in the past few weeks and months on the debt ceiling issue weren’t put to better use solving these much larger, more threatening issues, as well as ones less dramatic but equally important to many people, including hoteliers. For the lodging industry, that includes a host of issues like labor law, online travel agency taxation, visa restrictions and more. Unfortunately, hardly any other legislative business was conducted during the drawn-out debt ceiling negotiations. And I suspect the President and the leaders of Congress are all now so pooped they would like to take a two-week vacation instead of getting back to the business at hand.

Of course, even when Congress gets back into legislative high gear the looming 2012 election cycle will likely prevent much innovative, creative or mildly controversial legislation from hitting the floors of either chamber. Everyone’s attention will be focused on the elections, not the important business at hand.

Most members of Congress will be heading home this week to recharge and regroup. This would be a great time to invite the legislator representing your district to come to your hotel for lunch or coffee or a drink. And that’s the perfect time to remind him or her of the important work they have ahead of them, despite the most recent distraction and the one ahead of them in the form of next year’s election.

If you missed the fourth annual Midwest Lodging Investors Summit at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago from July 17-19, don’t fret. Check out this photo gallery of the event, with images from the opening general session to the last, and all the fun, networking and education offered in between. Read below for links to all the coverage from MLIS, produced by Lodging Hospitality, with HVS Hotel Management and academic partner The School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University.

A Convention of Lodging Optimists

Extended Stay Searches For Rate Growth

Sound Bites from MLIS: ‘Hotel Investing Is Not For Choir Boys’

Dealmakers Try to Make Sense of Hotel Investment Market

Steve Marcus Honored as MLIS Game Changer

MLIS 2011: Shifting From Optimism to Opportunity

Also, here are a few videos from Jones Lang LaSalle on topics they discussed at MLIS:

• REIT run on hotel investments
• Hotel transactions jump up by more than 180% in H1 2011
• Dialing in market potential
• Big ticket in hotels: yield management

The conversations at most industry conferences in the past couple of years have centered on bad news: lower occupancies, declining rates, falling values, distressed hotels. That seems to be changing, at least that’s what I’ve seen during the first day of the Midwest Lodging Investors Summit, which is underway at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago. Lodging Hospitality is sponsor and producer of the 4th annual event.

At the opening night reception on Sunday, I participated in or overheard multiple conversations among owners, operators and lenders looking to do deals. They weren’t wringing their hands or crying in their beer over the sad state of the industry. Rather, they were looking forward to new opportunities in selling, buying and repositioning hotels or even building new hotels.

In one instance, I met the owner of a midscale property looking to refinance. I introduced him to one of the lenders in attendance, and the two of them proceeded on a 30-minute conversation I hope leads to a deal. Another attendee said he’s looking to invest in some limited-service, exterior-corridor hotels. Some say that segment is dead, but he believes there’s still a market for these kinds of properties. Who can bet against him?

No one at this year’s MLIS believes the hotel industry is completely out of the woods, or that a lot of owners still don’t feel a lot of pain, but the prevailing mood is one of optimism. I can’t wait until next year’s conference, when I fully expect this year’s optimism to be even more of a reality.

There’s a very healthy and positive debate among the three alphabet companies—STR, PwC and PKF—that keep track of hotel industry performance. The question is exactly how fast the lodging industry is recovering, at least judged by forecasted 2011 growth in RevPAR.

All three firms recently revised their outlooks and unveiled them at this week’s ALIS Summer Summit in Dallas. The results: PKF says RevPAR will improve by 6.9% this year; PwC pegs the increase at 7.6%; while the usually conservative STR says this key industry measure will rise a very healthy 8.0% this year.

Of course, while these rosy forecasts are music to the ears of hotel owners, developers, lenders and operators, there is one disturbing trend buried in the data: Despite record demand for hotel rooms and low levels of new hotel openings, average rates are barely inching up. But even here there’s some good news.

STR’s Senior Vice President Jan Freitag said more transient rooms will be sold in 2011 than in the pre-recession high-water-mark year of 2007. And although rates remain far below that peak year, hoteliers can change them quickly if they have the will to do so. Group demand is nearly back to 2007 levels, too, but rates will remain low until customer-friendly contracts signed during the downturn burn off. Of course, hoteliers still need to muster the courage to negotiate tougher deals as meeting clients look for future space.

Dr. Jack Corgel, Cornell University professor and senior advisor to PKF Hospitality Research, had an optimistic take on the state of leisure business. He says leisure business has held up, and should continue to do so, because while unemployment among unskilled workers is around 25%, it’s only 4% among consumers with college degrees, a group that tends to travel a lot more for pleasure.

Once again, it’s a great time to be in the lodging industry, and lots of opportunities are available for owners, developers, operators, marketers and lenders in this exciting environment. A good place to track down those opportunities is at this month’s Midwest Lodging Investors Summit, a relaxed but down-to-business event that will enable you to make new contacts for future business and renew old acquaintances. The 4th annual Summit will be held July 17-19 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago.

Lodging Hospitality and Penton’s Commercial Real Estate Network are sponsors of the event in association with HVS Hotel Management. The School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State is the Summit’s academic partner.

The three-day Summit will feature a mixture of general session panels, breakout discussions and networking events, all geared to helping you improve your bottom line. The conference pace is lively, and audience involvement is encouraged in every session.

This year’s Summit has some new features:

• HVS founder and valuations guru Steve Rushmore will present his outlook for hotel investments, including his takes on cap rates, transaction volumes, when to buy and sell and where and when to build.

• The conference inaugurates the Game Changer Award, an honor given to a hospitality industry leader who has constantly innovated while growing a business. This year, Steve Marcus, chairman of Marcus Corp., will be saluted for his firm’s many accomplishments, including the pioneering mid-1970s launch of Budgetel, one of the first limited-service hotel chains.

• Following a Sunday evening reception, the conference kicks off Monday morning with a state of the industry panel moderated by Jeff Higley of STR and HotelNewNow.com. The panel will combine stats and anecdotal conversation to explore the opportunities in today’s lodging sector.

• Tuesday morning features two general sessions. The first will look at the hotel financing landscape in which a panel of lenders and owners discuss the sources of debt and equity for refinancings, new construction and more. A second panel, led by industry veteran Scott Anderson, will feature a group of lodging industry innovators who will share their secrets for growth and success.

• Lunch on Monday will feature a panel discussion among Joe McInerney of the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Bill DeForrest, current chairman of the IAHI, in which they discuss the current legislative battles in Washington and how they effect the hotel and tourism industries.

• The Summit also features eight breakout sessions that will take in-depth looks at a number of key investment, operational and marketing issues. Topics include extended stay hotels, brand development strategies, the outlook for transactions, successful revenue building, development opportunities, soft brands and more.

• Two cocktail receptions and numerous coffee breaks will allow attendees to mingle with each other and visit representatives of the Summit’s sponsoring companies and association partners.

Visit the Summit website for more information and to register for this important event.

No matter your personal opinion on the subject, if you’re a hotelier in New York State, and New York City in particular, you should be thrilled the state last week became the fifth in the U.S. (plus District of Columbia) to legalize gay marriages. Civic and tourism officials believe the law, which takes effect July 24, will create a wave of gay couples who come to the state for their ceremonies, receptions and honeymoons.

New York City jumped on the bandwagon immediately after passage by the legislature, announcing plans for a “NYC I Do” ad campaign to sell the city as a destination for gay weddings. The city’s tourism website already has an FAQ section to help couples plan their weddings in the city. And several hotels, including Le Parker Meridien and the four W Hotels in Manhattan, are promoting wedding packages. More will certainly follow.

How much this law will add to the city’s $31 billion tourism business is unknown at this point. (One report says the state will earn $400 million over the next three years from increases in tourism, sales tax revenues and wedding license fees.) However, it is bound to help thousands of businesses, hotels included, in the city and state at a time when everyone needs as much extra revenue as possible.

So, no matter your viewpoint on the matter, you should consider putting pressure on your local legislatures to enact similar legislation. The momentum is building throughout the country toward recognition of same-sex marriages, and those states, like New York, that jump on board early will be the ones that reap the economic benefits.

The keynote address from Peter Leyden Tuesday morning at HITEC in Austin was titled “The Next Tech Paradigm Shift,” but the former managing editor of the original Wired magazine said there are actually multiple shifts happening at once: the explosion of mobile devices, tablets and Apple’s i-offerings; the growth of video (90% of all web content will be video by 2015, he said); and the aging and emerging millennial generation and its fondness for social media. It all adds up, he said, to a global digital revolution.

Much of what he talked about was on display Tuesday through Thursday on the trade show floor. Technology really is moving at a higher rate of speed than ever before, and hoteliers and vendors are doing their best to keep up. From HDTV to 3D, from RFID to NFC (near field communication) technology, from email to Facebook and Twitter, vendors are adapting and evolving. Computers, Leyden said, were 10,000 times more powerful in 2007 than the first supercomputers in 1977, and that growth is continuing exponentially.

What’s next is an impossible question to answer, but savvy hoteliers know there is a next coming. That’s why vendors across different spectrums told me their best advice was to be looking and thinking three to five years out.

Ron Snaidauf, vice president of commercial displays for LG Electronics USA, said some hoteliers may not be interested in TVs right now with all the offerings like LG’s interactive Pro:Centric features or IPTV video decoding, and they may not be next year, but what about in four years when those features have become industry standards? TVs can last 10 years or longer, and by not keeping your eyes and options open, you could be locked into an outdated product or face a costly changeout sooner than later.

I heard the same theme in booths like Vingcard and Onity, where the emerging NFC technology, now only a blip on the radar in this country, is expected to take off in the next few years allowing guests to easily use their mobile devices to open locks. Installing a door lock without this capability now may limit your options in the near future when most guests will have cell phones with NFC chips.

My first HITEC was a whirlwind adventure of meetings, educational sessions and after parties, but that was my takeaway. It’s now more important than ever to look ahead as these tech paradigm shifts are happening before our eyes. The smart hotelier understands that and is focused not just on today, but also what may be ahead.

Check back next week for a more complete report on HITEC.

Randi Zuckerberg, taking a short break from being a new mom, kicked off HITEC in Austin, TX Monday evening with an opening keynote address touting the “extreme opportunity” social media, and in particular, Facebook, provide for the hospitality industry.

“Recommendations and negative information are traveling faster than ever,” said Facebook’s director of market development, thanks to the social media site created by her brother, Mark Zuckerberg. “Traveling is one of the most social purchases someone can make.”

She cited several personal examples of how she has used Facebook to keep her friends and family updated on her recent travels. She said some of her followers are now taking trips to the same places and staying in the same hotels based on her pictures and posts.

Zuckerberg said hotels couldn’t afford to ignore social media because “every guest has a megaphone now.” She offered several tips on how she thought hotels could take advantage of Facebook, from offering unique and personalized promotions to tracking keywords and the analytics of the people following the property’s Facebook page.

Zuckerberg, who gave birth to her son seven weeks ago and is currently on maternity leave, headed home immediately following the speech. HITEC, the largest hotel technology gathering in the industry, continues through Thursday with exhibits and educational sessions.