Contact:  Kathleen Hurley

Phone: +1 603-431-8740 ext. 12

Email: khurley@lodgingeconometrics.com

October 23, 2008

LE Reports a New Record High for The United States Lodging Construction Pipeline

at 556 Projects/164,259 Rooms

Pipeline Highlights at Q2

• The Total Construction Pipeline for the United States stood at 5,652 projects/740,272 guest rooms as of the end of Q3. Pipeline counts are down, quarter-over-quarter, 4% and 6% respectively.

• Declines were modest in the Under Construction and Early Planning stages. Declines were significant in the Scheduled Starts in the Next 12 Months. A number of projects actually migrated backwards into Early Planning.

• Construction Starts in Q3 were down for the second quarter in a row, while Cancellations and Postponements of projects already in the Pipeline increased for the third consecutive quarter.

• The Leading Companies and Brands in the U.S. have strong Development Pipelines. Including both New Construction and Conversions, Marriott, Hilton and InterContinental each have Pipelines in excess of 100,000 rooms.

• Not only has the financing crisis impacted development activity, it has seriously affected Transactions as well. Both Transaction volume and Average Selling Price per Room are significantly lower thus far in 2008.

To view the entire Executive Summary for LE's Lodging Construction Report for the United States, including the Forecast for New Hotel Openings and timely trend line graphics, please click here.