Another observation corroborating our data dependent view that lodging is not yet in recovery mode:
In an interview on CBNC this morning, Expedia's CEO provided another data point on the state of the travel industry. Dara Khosrowshahi said that business travel remains slow and that Expedia hasn't seen any patterns to indicate there is a recovery in progress. As a reminder, Expedia is by far the largest online travel agency domestically. With over $21BN of gross bookings in 2008, Mr. Khosrowshahi certainly has the credentials to comment on these matters.