Hotels Staying the Course

Steady as she goes.

That's the conventional wisdom for the rest of the year regarding large hotel companies and casino operators, which -- Thursday's events notwithstanding -- have been riding robust cyclical recoveries that should yield solid second-quarter results.

Business and leisure travelers continue to check into hotels, keeping occupancy levels high and enabling hoteliers to lift room rates and bolster profits. And with the supply of new hotel rooms expected to remain low over the next couple of years, room rates should continue to rise. ...