October 20th, 2006
Hotel/motel construction action sprints early, then fizzles.(Brief Article)
Hotel/motel construction activity got out of the gate fast last year, but by mid-year was spent and limped home. After four consecutive years of strong double-digit increases, the hotel sector did manage to grow at a healthy rate again during 1999, but now it looks to be in for several years of spending declines.
As recently as May, year-over-year growth was 25 percent higher. By October 1999, however, activity had faded to the point where it was less than 17 percent its year-earlier total. For 1998, construction spending increased by 15.6 percent, while 1997 was up by 18.2