PHOENIX-There’s always a little risk in opening newhotel properties - but then there’salso risk, wholly deserving to be italicized. Somewould say the latter is associated with opening a hotel propertyabroad but, as panelists at the Lodging Conference’s GlobalHospitality Insights panel revealed, taking a brandoverseas is not as scary as some might think. In fact, theassembled speakers talked candidly about how they’re looking to newmarkets and that technology has helped this to become easier thanever before.

Interestingly enough, the discussion kicked of answering thequestion: How do you get into foreign markets? And is it worth it?Even though each representative hailed from a different companywith a different agenda, they all concurred that global expansioncan be a win – as long as you do it the right way.

Chris Port, head of development Caesars GlobalLiving was direct: “We want to own that global customer,”and he feels this can be achieved through the unique incentives andoffers that his company provides.