International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin, Germany Draws Record Number of Delegates

The 8th International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF), held 15-17 March 2005 at the InterContinental Berlin, Germany drew a record crowd of over 1,100 top hotel industry leaders from around the world, says co-host Jonathan Worsley of CB Richard Ellis Hotels. According to Worsley, attendance has steadily increased each year since IHIF was launched in 1998.

In his opening remarks to IHIF delegates, Worsley cited statistics from a recent delegate poll that show an increasing level of confidence in the European lodging sector. Nearly ninety percent of those polled indicated either a positive or very positive confidence level in the state of the hotel industry. “The operators are going through a seismic shift in the attitude to holding real estate, and the industry has never seen the likes of such investment activity,” Worsley said.

In other delegate survey results, eighty-two percent believe that Europe will see the emergence of powerful groups of dedicated hotel owners in the next ten years. Forty-two percent see China as the most attractive region for expansion opportunities, while twenty-five percent are looking to Eastern Europe as the likely location for expansion. According to Worsley, “Hotel companies are looking further a field to expand their brand presence, and those that have are finding increasingly interesting development opportunities.”

The annual IHIF is one of Europe’s largest and most important conferences for hotel investment professionals. Dates and location of the 2006 IHIF are still to be confirmed.

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