March 30, 2012 - Approximately 300 top lodging professionals, including investors, major hotel brands representatives and over 50 lenders will be meeting in Boston at the Hotel Equity & Lender Perspectives (“HELP Conference”) in a collective effort to spur transaction activity within the hotel sector. The inaugural event, taking place May 2nd and 3rd at the Westin Waterfront Boston Hotel will offer a forum for lenders and investors from across the country to actively discuss opportunities for financing existing hotels, as well as new construction, something that hasn’t been seen for almost five years. Investors from across the country are attending this inaugural event. “The performance of the U.S. hotel industry has steadily improved and we need to demonstrate that the dynamics are firmly in place for continued recovery and profit growth to boost lender confidence in hotels. Anticipated yields on hotel investments are far superior to that of office or multi-family sectors”, said Jim O’Connell, Co-Chairman of the “HELP” Conference.

An estimated $2 billion of lending power specifically directed at hotels will be on hand. HELP Conference Co-hosts, Ken Wilson and Chad Crandell of Capital Hotel Management and Jim O’Connell of O’Connell Hospitality Group have assembled representatives from many of the top public and private equity groups such as Hospitality Properties Trust, Chatham Lodging REIT, Cornerstone, AEW, Square Mile and Cerberus Capital as well as lenders such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Starwood Property Trust, Washington Mutual and Rockbridge Capital. Highlighting the critical role that brands play in transactions, the program will also feature hotel executives from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Hyatt, Carlson and Choice Hotels. This informative transaction oriented program, including a heavy emphasis on networking, is the ideal platform for initiating deals and it is fully expected that several hotel transactions will be traced right back to the HELP Conference.