Despite all the gnashing of teeth earlier this spring, it appears gas prices actually won’t be much of a factor in many travel decisions. Those who do still fear the price of a gallon of gas may decide to downgrade some part of their vacation experience—perhaps moving down one price category of hotel—but my hunch they will still take to the road for family fun.

In recent summers, the buzzword was staycation—the notion that consumers would forego traditional car or airplane trips for a week of barbequing in the backyard coupled with day trips and visits to local museums, amusement parks, etc. Despite the chatter in the media about this concept, I get the feeling not many families went this route back in 2009 and ’10, and many fewer will do so this summer. The latest wrinkle in this non-trend is the nearcation, a concept mostly being promoted by the indoor waterpark hotel industry to spur travel this year. Great Wolf Resorts has been promoting the term as a way for families to get a vacation without worrying about high gas prices. The company says 42 million people live within 300 miles, or just about a tank of gas, of the company’s 10 resorts. It may not be the most innovative marketing hook I’ve seen in the hotel industry, but it may work for them.

The best news for hoteliers this summer is part of a much larger trend in the industry. It’s that staple of economics: supply and demand. Since new additions to the industry’s supply of hotel rooms are scarce and will remain scarce for the foreseeable future, and demand this summer appears to be robust, hotels will have the best opportunity in a long time to raise rates. It’s already happening. According to STR, during the week of May 6-12, occupancy was flat but rates were up more than 4%. That’s a very healthy sign.

I anticipate a strong summer for the industry, so it’s time to make sure your rate structure is positioned for maximum profitability.

The move by Accor is no surprise. The French-based company had publically stated its goal of moving toward the asset-light model favored by most hotel companies and CEO Denis Hennequin last September announced the company would listen to offers for its North American brands. At that time, Jim Amorosia was promoted to CEO of Motel 6 and Studio 6 and in an interview with Lodging Hospitality, he discussed the brands’ growth here and the challenges of working through those rumors.

Of Motel 6’s 1,016 locations, 556 are corporate owned. With less than 100 locations, Studio 6, the extended-stay economy chain, has never really taken off.

It was business as usual for Motel 6 just a few weeks ago when I spoke to Accor’s Bernard Rudler, executive vice president of franchise development, and Dean Savas, senior vice president, franchise, in Atlanta at the AAHOA convention. Both were excited about the brand’s 50th anniversary this year and talked about plans to grow Motel 6 in Canada, Mexico and even into South America and possibly India. To celebrate the 50th milestone, Motel 6 was offering a 50% discount off royalty fees for 50 months for new deals with existing franchisees. This October, Motel 6 has plans for a brand-wide convention in Las Vegas to celebrate the anniversary. Certainly the agenda will need to change some as the new owners and potential new leaders will want to reiterate the brand is in good hands and the strategy will remain.

Motel 6 debuted an innovative new prototype called Phoenix in 2008 and has been renovating existing properties since. More than 100 properties a year are being upgraded and the entire chain should be renovated by 2015, said Rudler.

Could there be big changes coming to Motel 6? Certainly it’s possible, but if Blackstone’s past is any indication, Motel 6 will continue to be operated as an independent company much like Hilton and La Quinta and major changes shouldn’t be expected.

“We are excited about the opportunity to acquire Motel 6 and we look forward to working with its employees and franchisees,” said Jonathan Gray, the global head of real estate at Blackstone, in a press release. “Although Motel 6 will be operated on a stand-alone basis, similar to other lodging investments we have made on behalf of our investors, we plan to invest significant capital in the company’s properties and to accelerate the expansion of the franchise base.”

Looking at La Quinta as an example, Wayne Goldberg remained after Blackstone’s acquisition of the midscale chain in 2005. Just this January, Goldberg and Chief Development Officer Raj Trivedi told me how happy they’ve been with the backing and support of Blackstone. La Quinta has never been in a better position or better hands, they said, in response to questions about the ongoing rumors of La Quinta (and Hilton) possibly going public.

A more recent example, and maybe not a good one for Amorosia, is with Blackstone and its joint-venture partners Centerbridge Partners and Paulson & Co.’s purchase of Extended Stay America out of bankruptcy in 2010 for $4 billion. Long-time CEO Gary DeLapp was replaced by former Starbucks CEO Jim Donald this February.

Blackstone has shown no inclination to connect its lodging chains and kept La Quinta, Extended Stay and Hilton separate. Each has been run independently, and both Hilton and La Quinta have flourished. Before this acquisition, Blackstone’s portfolio had climbed to 829,510 rooms worldwide and 5,463 hotels in the U.S. and Canada, with 798,070 rooms.

A survey from TripAdvisor indicates 86% of U.S. travelers are planning a leisure trip this summer, up from 81% a year ago. A third of the 1,800 survey respondents said they planned to travel for Memorial Day, up 8% from last year. Gas prices, now declining, weren’t a factor in summer travel planning, according to 86% of respondents.

Deloitte’s summer travel survey yielded similarly positive results: 31% of the 1,000 consumers surveyed said they planned a Memorial Day trip, up from 24% a year ago. Beyond next weekend, 54% say they will take a trip from June 1 through Labor Day, up slightly from 52% last year. The survey said the cost of travel remained a concern, and many (66%) noticed increases in airfare, but only 16% altered their destinations or travel method as a result. The good news? Only 24% of the expected travelers said they’d spend less on lodging, down from 35% last year.

AAA projects 34.8 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more during Memorial Day weekend, up slightly (1.2%) from 2011. The survey found gas prices weren’t a deterrent for hitting the roadways, but only 7% of holiday travelers planned to fly, down from 12.5% last year. And like Deloitte, AAA’s Leisure Travel Index indicated hoteliers would be getting a boost from room rates. AAA’s Three Diamond lodgings should expect an 8% increase in rate, up to $160 a night, and Two Diamond properties can expect a 10% boost to $120.

The national average price of gas had declined 28 straight days as of earlier this week, according to AAA, and is now 22 cents lower than the April 6 peak average of $3.94 a gallon. Gas a year ago at this time was just under $4 a gallon. (One word of note for readers out West, prices on the Left Coast are going in the other direction, according to this USA TODAY story. California’s average price per gallon is $4.37, almost a full dollar ahead of Florida’s ($3.59).)

It’s not time to dance in the streets, but falling gas prices and consumer feedback like this are certainly positive signs as summer approaches.

As colorful Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says, the nation is “one big pothole.” Put another way, the nation’s roads, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure are slowly, but surely falling apart, and there’s little appetite among members of Congress to raise the funds to turn the tide before the nation’s road system resembles the one in Nicaragua (I’ve been there, and believe me we don’t want that country’s roads.) Repairs and updates to the national infrastructure have traditionally been funded through an 18.4 cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline. As people drive less and drive more fuel-efficient cars, these revenues are falling and, as mentioned previously, hardly anyone in Washington seems prepared to increase that tariff. The last major transportation bill passed Congress seven years ago and since then, it’s only been a series of stopgap measures that have continued to sustain the Highway Trust Fund. And given that it’s a presidential election year, no omnibus legislation likely will pass until the new President and Congress take office.

No matter your political affiliation or how you weigh in on the guns versus butter debate, you as an executive in the hotel industry need to make sure the candidates you support have a clear vision on how to repair and improve our transportation system. One study of the problem says the country needs to spend $225 billion annually for the next 50 years to improve and maintain the transportation infrastructure. Yet, legislation languishing in the Senate to address the problem only calls for expenditures of $109 billion over two years.

No hotel can survive if guests can’t get to the property. As there is increasing fear about the safety of roads, tunnels and bridges (remember the bridge collapse on I-35 in Minneapolis in 2007?), an increasing number of families will be less inclined to take that 10-day automobile vacation each summer. Or, if lawmakers decide the answer is more toll roads and higher charges on existing ones, other travelers will forgo car trips or find other ways to conserve their vacation dollars.

Transportation should be a national priority, but for the tourism business it must be near the top of the list of priorities.

Yes, you read that right. Room Key — the brands’ meta search-engine answer to online travel agencies — worked out a deal with the big, bad wolf. And it was a smart move, and one that shows CEO John Davis is running Room Key, not its founding (and funding) partners.

“Are we going to do what’s right for us or for our consumers,” Davis says was the question to the board. “We want to take care of the customers, we’re too new to the game and we came to the conclusion we needed the added inventory. There was some gnashing of the teeth, but it was a quick resolution.”

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK AT ROOM KEY

The white-label agreement with Travelocity provides all of the OTA’s inventory to Room Key, so consumers today have a choice of approximately 100,000 U.S. hotels compared to just the 30,000 properties from Room Key’s founding and newer commercial partners.

Consumers won’t know they’re booking via Travelocity, and a prominent note on Room Key’s site makes it clear that “A hotel logo means you book directly on that hotel’s website and enjoy these great benefits [lowest rates, loyalty points and others are listed].” If consumers choose to book one of the hotels from Travelocity’s inventory, Room Key offers a “book it” button versus “book at [brand logo]” and takes them to the white-label reservation page that appears to be from Room Key.

The boost in inventory brings Davis the hotels he hasn’t been able to secure directly from Starwood, Carlson Rezidor, La Quinta and other independents and small chains. He says it’s a “long-term contract” with Travelocity, but hopefully an “interim solution” allowing customers the breadth of choice needed to make Room Key viable now and give Davis the time he needs to add those other brands directly.

“As we bring hotels to direct connect, we take them off private label,” says Davis about the revenue-sharing agreement with Travelocity. “It’s s fair deal for both of us, a great tradeoff.”

Davis also has contracts with CRS providers Sabre, TravelCLICK and Trust International that will bring another 20,000-plus rooms of direct inventory to Room Key by this summer, including smaller chains like World Hotels, Leading Hotels, Kimpton and Rosewood. Now that the consumer launch has passed, he also says the focus will shift to adding the larger brand companies and some announcements could be coming within the month.

Other new features unveiled with the consumer launch on May 9: a new Facebook page with consumer contests, a short-list tool for trip planning and social-media sharing, and consumer reviews and ratings from TripAdvisor.

Room Key drew 1.9 million visitors in March and although not official yet, Davis expects closer to three million in April. “I am a little surprised to be knocking on the door of three million in the third month,” he says of the early results since the beta launch in January. The most important number: 25% of those are repeat customers. “That’s the win. … The strategy we’ve laid out with exit traffic is working.”

Davis says there will be some traditional online and print advertising, but the focus will remain on social networking and the exit-traffic pop-under windows from the partner’s brand.com sites. “There’s no use swerving the car, we’re getting the numbers, let’s not get crazy and spend a bunch of money on advertising when the initial plan is working.”

As executive director of the South Carolina Hospitality Association, Sponseller was the executive in charge of the group’s finances. As many overworked, overstressed executives do, over time he placed confidence and trust in an employee, Rachel Duncan, to handle the association’s books. She betrayed that trust and over five years embezzled close to $500,000 from the group to support an online gambling habit. Just days before Sponseller disappeared, she confessed her crime to him. Distraught and full of remorse, Sponseller took his life. Duncan recently pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud and tax evasion and will undoubtedly spend years in jail. It was a tragedy for everyone involved, including the families, friends and associates of Sponseller and Duncan.

But, as I said, the tragedy could have been avoided and it provides a tale of caution for all of you. As a columnist for the Chicago Tribune recently noted, anyone who sits on a organization’s board of directors needs to remember one phrase: “trust, but verify.” And while groups such as state and local hotel associations must rely on paid staff to handle daily operations, including the handling and accounting of funds, the board members have the ultimate responsibility to fulfill their fiduciary obligations to the group.

According to the Tribune story and other news accounts, the chairman of the South Carolina association said he couldn’t remember when an audit of the group’s books was performed. “We made mistakes,” he told the reporter, seemingly with no trace of the understatement involved in the comment.

As respected business leaders in their communities (both geographic communities as well as communities of fellow hoteliers), it’s important hotel owners and operators volunteer to serve in leadership roles. Presumably, you have the business savvy, strong moral code, enthusiasm and creativity to help groups thrive and grow. But showing up periodically for meetings and accepting as true whatever staff members report is an abjuration of your responsibilities. Get involved, stay involved but remember: trust but always verify.

For proof of that, you didn’t need to look any further than yesterday’s opening general session that included an industry leaders panel with moderator Buggsi Patel of BHG Hotels, Navin Dimond of Stonebridge Companies, Bharat Patel of Sun Development, Vinay Patel of SREE Hotels, D.J. Rama of JHM Hotels and Mit Shah of Noble Investment Group. The panelists, and their companies, represented 35,000 hotel rooms, said Buggsi Patel, adding that “you can see the power of the people in our association.”

“Who ever would have thought we’d get to 10,000 members,” asked Vinay Patel. “The biggest challenge and opportunity for this organization is how do we involve the second and now third generation that may have been disenfranchised with what AAHOA has been?”

The leaders discussed the future of the association and how to keep it moving forward and attracting new members. Navin Dimond suggested tweaking the mission statement as the group’s reason for being has changed through the years.

Bharat Patel was the most outspoken, saying the focus had to be on education and the association had to do a better job of attracting the younger generation he sees at all the brand conferences, but not at AAHOA’s annual event. “As long as we’re a political association and not a business association, those kids won’t be here,” he bluntly said. “We’ve made strides in recent years, but the entire board is a political circus. That needs to stop.”

“We’re not going to change that,” said Mit Shah. “Politics is an innate part of our culture … Instead, we need to be relevant for those 11,000 members. We’re not going to make everyone happy, but we need to make it as good as it can be for those owners.”

Both hotel brand companies and ownership groups posted solid numbers in the first quarter. Wyndham said RevPAR at its domestic hotels rose 9%. Starwood, whose profits quadrupled from a quarter earlier, saw North American RevPAR increase by 7.1%. For Marriott, the RevPAR gain was 6.8%, while its group bookings for the remainder of 2012 are up 11%.

Hotel REITs performed equally well in the quarter. RevPARs increased 8.8% for DiamondRock, 8.4% for Pebblebrook and 6.7% for Ashford’s hotels, excluding those in the Washington, DC market. There’s no way to know for sure, but it’s highly probable private hotel companies have had similar success so far in 2012.

Even more heartening is yesterday’s news from Pegasus Solutions showing a sharp increase in hotel rates in recent months, especially for leisure business. In March, said the distribution technology supplier, leisure ADRs in North America rose a record 8.5%, beating the previous record of 7.3% set a month earlier. Corporate rates improved an equally impressive 6.5% in March. This is particularly good news because as every hotelier knows, increased rate means increased profits.

Of course, the wet blanket thrown on all this good news is the continued softening in hotel financing. By all accounts, few banks or other lenders are ready to jump back into the hotel sector of the real estate market, despite the indisputable improvement in lodging operating performance. Even institutions with money to lend still seem to view hotels as a risky play, even though all demographic and long-term economic trends point otherwise. At some point—perhaps after the fall elections and perceived political certainty crystallizes—lenders will be more comfortable to once again finance the expansion of an industry that seems assured to be the success story of U.S. business for years and decades to come.

Even though financing is generally scarce, there are a few lenders still active in the lodging arena, and a number of them will be featured in the new Lenders Pavilion at the upcoming Midwest Lodging Investors Summit. In the Pavilion, delegates will be able to meet with representatives of eight firms that are active lenders in the hotel industry. Delegates can pre-arrange appointments to see lenders or simply stroll through the Pavilion to chat with representatives from the firms. Go to the MLIS website for more information on the event, which will be held July 16-18 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago.

The 1,001-room Omni Dallas was one of the biggest hospitality projects to open in 2011, a $550-million public-private development designed by BOKA Powell, 5G Studio and waldrop+nichols studio. The final result is a massive convention center hotel that reflects the dichotomy of Dallas, its commerce contrasted with glamour and glitz. The project earned LEED Silver certification.

Click here for the full results of the poll, and take a last look at the three projects and find photo galleries of each.

Of course, nearly every conversation about Caribbean tourism begins and ends with airlift. Since no one has figured a way to drive to the Caribbean or from island to island, air service is the most critical issue and, disturbingly, the one that is out of the control of the hotel industry and other businesses reliant on tourism. American Eagle, which for many years was the dominant inter-island carrier for the Caribbean, is on shaky financial ground and reportedly will abandon its hub in San Juan that has served for decades as the gateway to the rest of the region for both tourists and residents. As the carrier has slowly ratcheted down its Caribbean service in recent years, other airlines, notably Jet Blue, have stepped in to add flights. It’s still a precarious situation.

The other airlift-related issue is the price of oil. Rising jet fuel prices mean higher airfares, particularly for flights to some of the smaller islands. Couple that with the financial pinch consumers are feeling due to higher gas prices at the pump, and it’s easy to see why some tourists may skip a Caribbean vacation this year. And rising energy costs make it more expensive to operate resorts in the Caribbean, which means operators will need to raise their room rates and perhaps even add the dreaded energy surcharges.

Even though many consumers look at the Caribbean as one place, it’s actually a collection of more than 30 independent countries and territories of other nations. And while potential visitors see it as one entity, nationalistic and economic factors seem to prevent the countries from cooperating on many issues, in particular developing a cohesive, integrated marketing effort that promotes the entire region as a prime destination. Several attempts have been made, but so far the results have been mostly lackluster and not long lasting. This is one challenge the region can solve on its own, but so far no country or leader has shown the skills, charisma and moxie to make it happen.

The other 800-pound elephant in the Caribbean tourism room is Cuba. At some point—tomorrow, next month, next year or five years from now—the walls between the U.S. and Cuba will finally crumble and American tourists will be able to openly and easily visit the country and U.S.-based hotel companies will be able to further develop the country’s tourism infrastructure. How that event will affect the rest of the Caribbean tourism industry remains to be seen, but it’s a worry for every tourism minister and hotel owner in the other 29 or so countries nearby.

So, as you can see, the delegates to this week’s CHTIC and the other Caribbean-focused conferences this year will have plenty to discuss. Unfortunately, if this year’s meeting is anything like the ones before it, very little will be accomplished to solve the significant challenges ahead.

I’ll be reporting from CHTIC on these issues and others discussed at the conference. Follow me online at www.LHonline.com or on Twitter @LHMagazine #CHTIC.