The Session on the Opening Afternoon
The Lodging Conference held its 2026 edition from Monday 5 October to Thursday 8 October at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa. The general session The Dealmakers: Development ran on the Monday from 1:55 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. Sloan F. Dean, III, founder, chief executive officer and president of AI Hospitality Group, moderated it.
Five chief development officers sat with him: Matt Hostetler of Red Roof, David Pepper of Choice Hotels International, Mark Sergot of IHG Hotels & Resorts, Julienne Smith of Hyatt Hotels Corporation and David Wilner of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, whose title on the organiser's agenda is executive vice president and chief development officer.
The organiser's FAQ counts more than 3,000 attendees at the 2025 edition and more than 36,000 over 30 years, with over 85 per cent of attendees at president, chief executive or owner level.
The Margin Figure from the Stage
Dean put a number on owner profitability. In the United States, hotel net operating margins are down 20 percent since 2019, he said. The figure is his own comparison, and the published margin series use other bases.
Julienne Smith, head of Americas growth at Hyatt Hotels, described the cost side. "Nothing has ever gotten less expensive," she said. "But we, as brand leaders, what we can do is try to take out some of that pain."
Conversions and the Supply Position
CoStar and Tourism Economics cut 2026 net supply growth in the United States to 0.4 percent from an earlier 0.7 percent forecast, and conversions carry the growth for hotel brands.
Wilner said a brand's ability to deliver commercial performance is what drives owners and developers to a conversion. "Conversions will always outweigh construction until the cost of construction is aligned with the cost of acquisition," he said.
Mark Sergot, chief development officer for the Americas at IHG, called conversions a longer-term phenomenon because they can deliver on commercial performance. He put an owner's question in the room: what have I got, what was I sold, what was I getting, and is there an opportunity out there.
Brand Count and the Prototype
David Pepper, chief development officer at Choice Hotels International, said brands are building their own ecosystems to hold a customer and take the greatest share of that wallet. He pointed to Choice's $130 million acquisition of Harvest Hosts, agreed on 30 September 2026 and closed the next day, and said about 2 million members in Choice's loyalty program own an RV.
Wilner said owners and developers decide whether a brand lasts. "If you're still stuck at three, four or even five hotels, five years later, is there really a need?" he said. Wyndham launched Dazzler Select in October 2025, and it has opened 14 properties this year. Echo Suites extended stay, announced in 2022 with the first property open in 2024, has opened nearly 30 hotels.
Hyatt updated its Hyatt Place and Hyatt Studios prototypes this year, cutting the standard Hyatt Place key count to 127 from 140, shrinking the building by nearly 20 percent and moving to a wood-frame build the company expects to cost about 25 percent less.
Where the Travellers Stay
Dean called luxury the darling of the hotel industry for the past few years. Matt Hostetler, chief development officer at Red Roof, said luxury is outperforming while the majority of United States travellers stay in select-service hotels from upscale down to economy. Those travellers, families and workers, are the ones driving the economy, he said.
Sergot described leisure travel as a K-shaped economy, with luxury leisure at one end and leisure at the other, and said business travel including small and mid-sized businesses is balancing out. "The strength that we're seeing in corporate travel among the Fortune 500 companies, that feels like a more balanced environment," he said. Smith added that guests often take one tier down, so a luxury guest may book an upper upscale room.
Extended Stay at 38 Percent
Wilner put extended stay at 38 percent of the new construction pipeline in the United States. Lodging Econometrics measures extended-stay projects at 38 percent of United States projects under construction, 39 to 40 percent of pipeline projects and 34 percent of pipeline rooms. Less supply is entering the segment while demand rises from sources including a project-based workforce.
Smith said extended stay yields higher returns for owners on a lower labour model and lower construction costs. Sergot said the extended stay customer has changed over 10 years, with some guests staying longer, so hotels need amenities beyond full-sized kitchens. "While the sector is growing, the customer who's using it is also growing," he said, naming growth room across the country and in Canada.
The Outlook
Wilner predicted revenue per available room will increase and stay steady, and said new construction may return as a result. "Owners will see more profitability in the next 30 years to come than they have in the last 20," he said, tying that to money moving into deals, acquisitions and refinancing and then back into construction.
The development session held the Monday afternoon ahead of The Deal Makers: Owners, Investors, Operators Discuss Challenges and Opportunities, moderated by Stephanie Ricca, editorial director of hotels at CoStar News.
What the Session Did Not Carry
The margin figure rests on the speaker's own comparison, and the conference publishes no session paper. Choice Hotels' release on Harvest Hosts states that Choice Privileges members over-index among RV travellers, and it carries no member-overlap figure, so the 2 million count is Pepper's own.