During one of the several networking breaks, we found (up from Atlanta) Winter Construction's Ken Smith and Bill Hill, who tell us they're seeing a lot of hotel action in Southeast markets like Nashville, New Orleans, and even the Florida Panhandle.

Speed networking had one of the Marquis' rooms rocking, too. Here's BR Judis Consulting's Brian Judis, who just started his own capital planning and project management firm after a long career at Marriott and Host Hotels. Brian says it's feast or famine right now when developing hotel projects, echoing Richard's worries about the difficulty of financing.

The Eric Felton Trio provided some cool old-school jazz at our BLIS Bash following the day's panels. (We could've afforded the Eric Felton Quartet if RevPAR was a little better.)

At the bash, we found Cooper Carry's Tanne Stephens and Amanda D'Luhy with Sundance Development prez Roxanne David. Cooper Carry, which helped design the Marquis with TVSDesign, is working on another hotel design right behind it on L Street, a dual-brand concept.