PHOENIX- Time and again, executives and brokers alike in thehotel sector of the commercial real estateindustry have sheepishly cited the “wait and see”ethos that seems to be surrounding the presidential electionof 2012. And why not? Two very different candidates have verydifferent policies, and nothing will be certain until we are allpresented with the concrete knowledge of who will be leading thecountry for the next four years.

The hotel sector is not immune to these speculations – if yourecallfrom the NYU International HospitalityIndustry Investment Conference in June, eventhat far from the election, people preferred to pause rather thanoffer solid answers about where the industry would go for theremainder of 2012. As the Lodging Conference gets under way here,Driftwood Hospitality Management’s EVPBrian Quinn offered up a bit of insight into hiscompany’s strategy and what he expects from the event thisyear.

“We’re excited to get the view from the top at the conference,”he says, “Having attended in election years, we’re looking at theend to the holding pattern now.” Quinn further explains that he is“interested” to hear about other executives’ experiences this year,and what they have to say about the next. Overall, the hospitalityindustry is going out on a good – if not great – note; Quinn citesincreased demand and solid revPAR figures as excellent indicatorsthat things are at least on the right track.