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• How is the economy and budget sector unique and what is its appeal to investors?
• Recent supply and demand in the established markets – does maturity equal saturation?
• What’s the outlook for 2006 and beyond? How sustainable is current sector performance?

• The landscape of the French economy and budget sector
• How and why has growth slowed across France in recent years?
• Is France a benchmark for sector performance elsewhere?
• Addressing the challenges – how are operators and brands responding?
• The potential scale of change in the short, medium and long term

Benefit from this unique opportunity to listen to and put your questions to Barry Sternlicht. In a relaxed, “talk show” style format, Barry will give his overview of the economy and budget hotel sector, explain why Starwood has invested in Europe’s second biggest economy hotel group and how and where its brands may develop in the years ahead.

• The role of the urban centres as sites for economy-budget – Paris v London
•  Making the business case – how big do you need to think?
• Conversion or new build – is there a choice? 
•  Experiences and updates on Travelodge’s current London developments

• Why are operators exiting property ownership and becoming “asset light”?
• Who is buying and what is the long-term benefit of selling?
• Valuation methodology – the current rules and issues they raise
• Sale and lease-back or sale and manage-back - what works best?

• Why are operators exiting property ownership and becoming “asset light”?
• Who is buying and what is the long-term benefit of selling?
• Valuation methodology – the current rules and issues they raise
• Sale and lease-back or sale and manage-back - what works best?

• How and why has franchising developed so strongly in The Americas? How do brands appeal to owners?
•  How has this environment influenced overall strategy?
• Why franchise at all? What are the risks compared with owning the whole brand equity?

• Key characteristics of the market – established and existing players
• Creating value-how much capital can franchising generate for both sides?
• Do major economy-budget players have the option to expand organically?

• The benefits for a franchisee and the input required from them
• Specific expertise required by franchisees within the economy compared with full service sectors
• Brand selection – well established, new model or a mix?
• What criteria should you consider and what are the costs of brand standards?

•  Identifying the key drivers of Premier Travel Inn’s success to-date
• The UK market and growth opportunities
• How to maintain future market leadership

•  What should investors look for before opening their wallets?
•   What returns can be expected and how stable is the market?
• The performance of economy and budget operators in public equity markets
• How does the advent of REITS influence the flow of funds into the sector?

•  Keeping costs down but standards up
• Market reaction to YOTEL rooms thus far
• National and international opportunities for new budget hotel models
• A break from the norm - why have the IFA invested in such an innovative product?

• What made the French budget sector attractive to private equity investment?
• Due diligence, legal and tax challenges to acquiring an international hotel chain
• How and why did Galaxie’s performance improve after the DSC acquisition?
•  Exit strategies and the timing of the sale – why June 2005?
• The role of private equity and mezzanine finance in the sector going forward

•  Identifying core values and customer requirements
•  Price-positioning the brand in a busy market
• Keeping RevPAR on an upwards trend – what are the potential impediments
• Planning and regulatory issues facing the sector in France and Germany

What has prevented large-scale export of economy and budget brands to-date?

Recent successes and failures – what lessons have the sector learned?

Introducing the emerging markets – just how potentially lucrative are they?

The development of the Chinese hotel market

Opportunities and challenges for the economy sector – where does it fit in?

Financing challenges and partnership possibilities

This session consists of three 45 minute panel discussions exploring the opportunities and challenges of investing and operating within some of the most exciting emerging markets for branded economy and budget hotels.

Each panel will examine:

· The market – how large is it and how is it made up?

·   What investment opportunities and infrastructure already exist?

·   Risk and reward – insights into experiences and challenges direct from current operators in the region

· Who provides the capital for investment into these regions?

·    Joint ventures and local partnerships – creating the right investment structure

Moderator:

David McMillan, Chief Executive Officer, International Hotel and Restaurant Association

Panellists:

Karl Otto Skogland, Chief Executive Officer, Reval Hotel Management

Peter Haaber, Managing Director, Zleep Hotels

This opening session will explore the impact of the internet on the economy and budget sector. Consider the influence of the internet on consumer planning and purchasing of travel, as well as on your property and brand. How has the internet influenced online purchasing behaviour throughout the world in different travel markets? For travel suppliers, how does your online distribution compare in the direct and indirect distribution channel?

Build a direct, online distribution strategy by employing best practices in internet marketing,website optimisation, destination web strategies, search engine strategies, link creation, emailmarketing and the various paid search models.

Your property’s internet exposure and online channel utilisation are assets that are often underappreciated and under assumed. Turn the internet – your fastest growing revenue channel – into an asset. Start by determining what to look for in the purchase and then maximise it’s value when you sell.

Part 1 – What to look for when you buy a property, as far as internet exposure and online channel utilisation are concerned.

Part 2 – How to boost valuation for an existing property, using it’s internet presence and online channel exposure.