The definition of "select-service" within the lodging industry may vary from person to person, but there is no doubt that properties in this segment are the most popular among developers. Using the broadest definition of select-service, this category comprised an estimated 85 percent of the total projects in the development pipeline according to the October 2012 U.S.
Hotel Pipeline Outlook report from Smith Travel Research.
While developers may be influenced by emotional and other non-economic factors, financial return is typically the main criteria considered when choosing to develop one type of hotel versus another. To gain a better understanding of the financial performance of select-service hotels, we compared and contrasted the operating performance of select-service and full-service hotels.
From the PKF Hospitality Research, LLC (PKF-HR) Trends® in the Hotel Industry database we pulled a sample of 319 select-service properties for which we had data each year from 2005 through 2011. For comparison, we identified a same-store sample of 79 "traditional" full-service hotels that operate under a brand within the same parent companies represented in the select-service sample. Resort and large convention hotels were excluded from the full-service cohort.