NEW YORK CITY—Global economic crisis? What global economic crisis? Leaders of some of the top hospitality firms gathered for their annual “Coffee Talk” with press at the NYU International Hospitality Conference Monday morning in a Q&A that ranged from the impact of European fiscal troubles to mounting CMBS fears. The session was moderated by Loews Corp. co-chairman and president Jonathan Tisch. Tisch is also chairman of the annual conference.

“Each dog has its day,” said Wyndham president and CEO Eric Danziger. “Part of being global is that you can mitigate the problems of one region by focusing on building profitability elsewhere.” He added that there is an inevitability to such crises, though maybe not carrying the threat of severity the current Euro trouble is engendering. “When the Euro crisis ends, there’ll be something else.”

Diversification however can be a double-edged sword, as Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott (fresh from their Gaylord acquisition), attested. During the last downturn, Marriott’s foray into luxury timeshare was admittedly a less-than-stellar showing. “We thought we would do timeshares for rich people,” he said. “It ended up being second homes,” not a business model they targeted and “today, we are purely lodging.”

Considering the current European mess, he admitted that Marriott is insulated because it has only one asset in Athens and he is seeing continental RevPAR increasing by as much as 4%. “Why? London and Paris. The demand there from outside Europe will grow and counteract,” the ill effects of the crisis.

But Tisch was a little less enthusiastic due to the power—for good or ill--of consumer confidence. If that dwindles , trouble will ensue because it is “vital to our success. If consumers are continually bombarded by bad news, they will retrench.”

Debt problems are very real to the executives but they addressed the mounting CMBS coming due with a sense of optimism. “It could be a potential opportunity to acquire or recapitalize properties,” said Hyatt chief Mark Hoplamazian. But he admitted that Marriott is in the catbird seat without “a material amount of properties about to enter balance sheet stress.”