When you're travelling, you naturally look for a hotel with the services and amenities you expect at a price you can afford.

Good value is what U.S. private equity firms are also looking for when they shop for a hotel — and they're getting it.

Buoyed by high returns and rising demand in the hospitality real estate market, these firms have been closing deals at such a rapid pace that some investors are beginning to worry that the market might soon be tapped out. Foreign investors are scrambling to get in on the action as well.

What's more, all of this M&A activity has been accompanied by a dramatic transformation in the hospitality business as traditional hotels give way to hybrid condo-hotels, private residences and destination clubs. Aging baby boomers are having an impact on the hospitality market, too, which is why so many hotels are springing up in such desirable locations as Hawaii and Las Vegas.

The whirlwind of hotel M&A is inspiring optimism among leading hospitality chief executive officers and executives who believe that we are approximately "two to three innings into a nine inning game."

In this Deloitte Insights podcast, Guy Langford, principal in Deloitte & Touche LLP's M&A Transaction Services practice, and Mark Diamond, partner in Deloitte Tax LLP's M&A Transaction Services practice, co-leaders of the National Real Estate M&A practice, discuss the hot new hospitality market.

To hear the podcast, please click on the below link:

www.hotelbenchmark.com/Resources/relatedarticles/27062007Global-EN.aspx