FelCor Reports Third Quarter Results - Continues to Accomplish 2009 Goals

FelCor Reports Third Quarter Results - Continues to Accomplish 2009 Goals

Felcor Loding - FCH continues to impress as they are some of the victors in the Hotel Industry Trade-Down sell-off. With a portfolio primarily consisting of Embassy Suites Hotels, Doubletree, Hilton, Sheraton/Westin, Holiday Inn, and Crown Plazas.

Felcor Lodging is positioned perfectly in the current market for Hotels. As perfect as something can be in the Hotel Industry these days. With continued declining RevPAR's 13 months in, and no end in sight, these upscale hotels have nestled themselves in the perfect mix. They have been making huge leaps in Market Share (RevPAR Index) and flow-through by cutting expenses only 11.6%. I say only as I believe this is where Felcor can make even further gains, as my belief is, that many companies cut MORE than 11.6% in expenses, and as the market begins to recover this will only hamper the others as it will take longer for them to recover and give Felcor the edge as the market regains balance.

Another key factor helping Felcor is that by being a Upscale not luxury hotels, they have the flexibility to pick off higher rated "Trade-Down" business who was previously staying with higher rated business and is looking for a similar product but at cheaper rates. (Which are still higher than traditional Upscale rates) And the flexibility to continue to dominate the mid-range corporate business.

Some highlights from their Third Quarter Results:

Even though RevPAR decreased 17.8 percent for the third quarter at their 85 consolidated hotels. Market share increased approximately two percent for the third quarter.

“Once the economy begins to improve, we expect the lodging industry will lag behind the broader recovery. As such, there has not yet been a widespread improvement in demand trends and the shift of the customer mix continues to pressure rates." Richard A. Smith, FelCor’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

"We will continue to benefit from our high-quality portfolio, the renovations we completed in 2008 and the redevelopment of the San Francisco Marriott Union Square. As a result, we expect our hotels will continue to gain market share from their competitive sets and RevPAR at our portfolio to outperform our peer group and the upper-upscale segment."

Best of luck to Felcor with those RevPAR gains!