Frist van Paasschen – CEO of Starwood Hotels:
On the hotel opportunity in India:
“To say that India today is under-hotel-ed relative to future demand is a massive understatement. New York City alone has almost as many hotel rooms as the entire country.”
On the improving economy:
“Things certainly have changed since we last spoke in January. As you may recall, rather than make predictions, we were looking at a range of scenarios for 2010. Of the many scenarios we considered, what we see today is without a doubt the good case scenario.”
The important caveat:
“To borrow a phrase from Warren Buffett, we should be fearful when others are greedy.”