The stock values of public hotel companies grew faster than the S&P 500 in the first month of 2026.
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 1.7% in January from December.
The S&P 500 — an indicator of the health of the broader economy — increased 1.4% during the month.
“Hotel stocks started the year in positive territory, and both the global hotel brands and hotel REITs were up 2% and performed similarly to their respective benchmarks,” said Michael Bellisario, senior research analyst and managing director at Baird. “Within the hotel REITs, the full-service-focused stocks outperformed the select-service-focused stocks, while performance within the global hotel brands was divergent across chain scale exposures. Looking ahead to companies’ initial 2026 outlooks, investor expectations have been tempered a bit post-ALIS Conference, but the consensus view remains that industry-wide [revenue per available room] growth will be slightly positive in 2026.”
The RMZ, or MSCI U.S. REIT Index — which is a gauge of the overall real estate investment market — rose 2.9% in January.
The hotel brand sub-index rose 1.6% in January, while the hotel REIT sub-index increased by 2%.
Month over month, Choice Hotels International led the way with its stock up 7.9%, beating out several hotel REITs. Meanwhile, Summit Hotel Properties reported the sharpest month-over-month stock decline (-9.2%) in January.
Year over year, Hilton finished in first place with its stock up 16.6% in January. At the other end, Ashford Hospitality Trust's stock was down 50.7% year over year during the first month of 2026.
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.