Did you miss the 2018 Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS)? Read hotelAVE’s 2018 Key Conference Takeaways to catch up on the latest insights.

ALIS Takeaway #1: Top Line Outlook. Unchanged despite tax reform-2018 RevPAR growth forecast ranges from 2.5% to 2.7%.

ALIS Takeaway #2: Margin Erosion. Rising labor costs, real estate taxes and insurance and slower RevPAR means bottom line margin pressure. Savvy revenue management and cost containment are key to maintaining margins.

ALIS Takeaway #3: Declining Revenue Capture % (or rooms revenue less third-party commissions). Went from 84.9% in 2015 to 83.8% in 2017 and is forecasted to be 83.5% in 2018. This reflects an industry revenue loss of $420M, and seems to contradict that brand.com revenue is growing faster than OTA, both reported by Kalibri Labs.

ALIS Takeaway #4: Reduced Concern About Airbnb Impact. Regulations are impacting growth (NYC & SF). Greatest impact remains for long term stays (+8 days) vs. luxury and upper upscale segments.

ALIS Takeaway #5: Transactions Down and Boring. US transaction volume declined -18.0% in 2017 and projected to be flat in 2018. Buyers were less enthused about current offerings on the market. Listings at ALIS were anemic vs. prior years. If you have an attractive asset, it is a great time to sell.

ALIS Takeaway #6: Buyer Profile Changed. Middle East capital has dried up and Chinese equity has been more limited. Broker-dealer raised capital also appears limited. Current buyers are looking for more yield, although 15-17% IRR is the new 20%+.

ALIS Takeaway #7: Love/Hate Markets. A recap of the various panels. Buy: LA, Miami, NYC, & SF: Sell: Chicago.

ALIS Takeaway #8: Debt Capital. Senior and Mezzanine Debt Capital is abundant for existing assets, and quickly thins for new construction, especially in NYC, Miami, Austin and Nashville. Cost of debt expected to rise with Federal Reserve rate hikes. Because of the continued transaction bid/ask spread, the debt markets are providing a synthetic “exit” for sellers without having to sell.

ALIS Takeaway #9: Tax Reform Impact. Positive for leisure travel and hopefully will contribute to a turnaround of corporate travel by 2H18. Tax act also favorable for real estate investment and could cause corporate relocations to more tax friendly states (such as from outside the U.S. or California to Texas).