At the end of December when we published THE ADVISOR, one of the newest additions to the HOTEL & MOTEL MANAGEMENT family of publications, we wrote about trends that management companies among our readership could expect in 2008. "Management companies expect to grow quietly," was the headline.

In fact, this year is shaping up to be one of positive growth for this segment of our industry. Most of the management company execs I spoke with at Americas Lodging Investment Summit in January in Los Angeles said they were optimistic about this year and next because they had taken the time to build good teams, invest in marketing and make strong partnerships.

In this issue, for the first time in several years, we've expanded our annual coverage of third-party management companies. More companies than ever before responded to our survey (see Page 26), and we've supplemented the survey with coverage from ALIS on brands such as Hotel Equities and Pyramid.

Of course, the topic of the day at ALIS was that we can't expect entirely clear skies ahead. Associate Editor Jason Freed asked management company execs about this for his story starting on Page 24. How are these companies planning for a possible looming recession? It's a good question to ask.

Going green

As you no doubt noticed from the front page of this issue, HOTEL & MOTEL MANAGEMENT continues to tackle the green issue. Sustainable business practices are nothing new; what's new is how mainstream they're becoming. Take a look at the presidential primary issues the candidates are raising about green issues, for example. This clearly isn't a fringe topic anymore, and as it becomes more widespread, hoteliers need education. Like most education after you've left college, it's up to you to find out the information for yourself, and then train your people.

We want to help you be that resource. A few months ago H&MM's editors debuted the "Going Green" logo, which designates articles and columns that deal with sustainable business practices. Look for that logo in this issue and more in 2008. In particular, we're looking forward to sharing information from the JMBM Hotel Developer's Conference this month. Jim Butler has gathered a great group of experts who are ready to roll up their sleeves and really get to work tackling green operations.