With the tremendous emphasis in recent years on the deal making or transaction side of the business as an industry we have lost focus on the customer, the employee and the underlying business fundamentals of operating hotels. The employee - employee turnover for the industry as a whole is also at an all time high. Underlying Business Fundamentals - there continue to be substantial opportunities for many hotels to improve both revenue and expense performance. For many hotels there are untapped revenue and yield management opportunities. And on the expense side, promotion and distribution costs and labor management represent areas for further improving performance.
Technology currently represents one of the largest capital investment areas.
We can anticipate that the issues of the ownership of data along with other proprietary as well as interface issues will continue to evolve as potential major areas of concern. Additionally, with advances in technology along with the significant increase in merger and acquisitions activity in recent years, new areas of potential conflicts have also emerged that will need to be addressed in the future. Delegations of authority and control, indemnifications, default and termination provisions etc. will be expanded and further defined to provide for better alignment of operator accountability with delegations of authority and control and to better address potential conflicts of interest. We can also anticipate that greater focus will be placed on managing transition and exit strategy issues and concerns. TEN - Capital Asset Preservation Historically, the hotel industry has lagged far behind other industries in managing the physical assets underlying a hotel investment.