As tropical storm Gustav churns across the Gulf of Mexico, coastal hotels are fielding calls from worried vacationers while lodging farther inland is in hot demand as first-responders and contractors snap up rooms in anticipation of a disaster.

Wyndham Hotel Group announced Monday an exclusive agreement with a South Korean company to develop 20 Ramada Encore hotels throughout that country during the next six years. The move would nearly triple the brand's presence there.

Shares of most hotel companies were boosted with the broader market on Friday as oil prices retreated and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated the central bank is unlikely to soon raise interest rates.

Occupancy at hotels in the U.S. has continued to decline through the first half of August, a market research firm said Thursday, leading analysts to predict that the industry will begin reducing rates to fill rooms.

The hotel segment of Wyndham Worldwide Corp. said Wednesday it signed an agreement with Green Hospitality Management Co. of Tokyo to open nine hotels in Japan during the next five years under its Ramada and Days Inn brands.

Women-only floors in hotels are palatable once again — after a roughly 25-year drought, The New York Times reports.

The $109 billion lodging industry is facing a  triple  squeeze play-- weakening demand, higher operating costs and more supply coming on-line.