The stock values of public hotel companies stayed up midway through the second quarter.
The Baird Hotel Stock Index — which comprises 20 of the largest hotel brand companies and real estate investment trusts publicly traded on a U.S. stock exchange by market capitalization — rose 4.4% in May.
The S&P 500 — an indicator of the health of the broader economy — jumped 5.1% during the month. Year to date, the S&P 500 is up 10.7%.
The Baird Hotel Stock Index is up 17.6% year to date. The index has risen in every month in 2026 except March.
“Hotel stocks continued their positive momentum in May, particularly the hotel REITs, given solid weekly RevPAR trends throughout the month,” said Michael Bellisario, senior research analyst and managing director at Baird. “Hotel REITs gained more than 9% — and significantly outperformed their real estate benchmark — as RevPAR growth continued to exceed both expectations and management team’s guidance, especially within the higher-end chain scales; the global hotel brands increased 3.6% but lagged the S&P 500 by approximately 160 bps due to the technology sector’s significant relative outperformance during the month.
“Investor optimism has increased given the more favorable RevPAR backdrop, but skepticism still exists regarding the sustainability of domestic demand strength (some of which is due to recency bias and still-present global macroeconomic uncertainties, in our opinion); the number of conversations about 2027 and difficult year-over-year growth comparisons are increasing.”
The RMZ, or MSCI U.S. REIT Index — which is a gauge of the overall real estate investment market — fell 0.3% in May but is up 12.6% year to date.
The hotel brand sub-index increased by 3.6% in May, while the hotel REIT sub-index jumped 9.2%.
Month over month, Chatham Lodging Trust's stock price was up 25%, leading all other companies on the index. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts' stock was down 1.4% month over month.
Year over year, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust led the way with its stock up 66.1%. At the other end, Ashford Hospitality Trust's stock value was down 45.6% year over year.
For more information about the Hotel Stock Index, email hotelstockindex@rwbaird.com. The Baird Hotel Stock Index and sub-indices are available exclusively on CoStar News Hotels. The indices were created by Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird). The market-cap-weighted, price-only indices comprise 20 of the largest market-capitalization hotel companies publicly traded on a U.S. exchange and attempt to characterize the performance of hotel stocks. The Index and sub-indices are maintained by Baird and hosted on Hotel News Now, are not actively managed, and no direct investment can be made in them. As of 30 June 2021, the companies that comprised the Baird Hotel Stock Index included: Apple Hospitality REIT, Ashford Hospitality Trust, Chatham Lodging Trust, Choice Hotels International, DiamondRock Hospitality Company, Hersha Hospitality Trust, Hilton Inc., Host Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International, Park Hotels & Resorts, Inc., Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, RLJ Lodging Trust, Ryman Hospitality Properties, Service Properties Trust, Summit Hotel Properties, Sunstone Hotel Investors, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, and Xenia Hotels & Resorts.