Article Excerpt:
TWST: Give us an introduction to Royal Host Real Estate Investment Trust.Mr. Royer: Royal Host Real Estate Investment Trust is a Canadian trust that is devoted to the hospitality industry. Our main source of revenue is the ownership of hotels, although we also participate in management and franchising of hotel operations, and we have a very small timeshare component, which we have been, over the years, decreasing in size to the point where now it is a miniscule part of the overall trust. Our hotels are varied in nature and range from limited service Super 8 hotels all the way up to five-star full service resort convention hotels. In addition, we run a limited service division, which owns and manages hotels throughout Canada, the United States as well as a full service division, which operates only in Canada at this time.
TWST: Give us an overview of how the hotel hospitality industry is
performing today and what you feel are the performance opportunities
that you have in this area?
Mr. Royer: In Canada, the hotel industry has shown steady growth since
2003, which they called the year of the perfect storm. We had SARS in
Toronto and we had forest fires and the mad cow disease out west. Those
were just very difficult years for the hospitality business, but since
then, we have seen a steady increase. We haven't gotten back up to
previous highs, but each year, we have moved closer and closer to them.
Tickers included in this excerpt: RYL:TSX
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