LAS VEGAS—Ten to 15 years ago, a brand was almost a requirement to secure financing for a hotel development or renovation. But how important is it now? At the third annual InnDependent Lodging Executive Summit, held at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, a panel of five investors and industry specialists took a swing at the independent space, and hitting on the point that there is more interest in these hotels from an investment standpoint than at any other moment in history

The term “modular construction” once conjured images of small construction trailers or antiquated mobile home clusters just off the highway—not the most alluring draw for high-end developers and top-tier hotel companies, nor for their gentried clientele. Today, however, the concept of modular construction has evolved, with developers across the U.S. adopting a modular approach to building 2- to 4-star select-service, full-service, and even boutique hotels. This article gives

A 7.7% increase in total revenue was converted to a 29.4% increase in profit per room at hotels in Abu Dhabi in February as hoteliers successfully slashed costs, according to the latest data from HotStats. There was a mixed performance for hotels in the UAE capital as, despite a 22.4% increase in revenue per available room (RevPAR), declining non-rooms revenues moderated the rise in total revenue per available room (TrevPAR) to US $237.09. The data showed that thanks to cost