Political Risk Watch: Hotels

WASHINGTON - Economically, the U.S. lodging business has nice momentum. The industry sold a billion room-nights last year, which meant $134 billion in revenues. Investors have been enthusiastic too--hotel and cruise stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 are up 14% in the past year, six points ahead of the broader market.

Yet could politics prove a problem? The industry's standard bearers in Washington admit a mixed forecast, given the new policy priorities on Capitol Hill.

"Many of them are good for our industry," says Joseph A. McInerney, chief executive of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). "Some of them are not that great."

Full story at Forbes.com