Hotel Outlook Buoyed by ‘Trump Trade’

Host Hotels’ Marriott Marquis in New York City. Most lodging REITs have outperformed this year.

PHILADELPHIA—For all that 2016 is supposed to have been the year in which the bloom came off the rose for hotels, that perception isn’t reflected in the stock performance of lodging REITs. Canaccord Genuity said Monday that hotel REITs have been the second best performing subsector of the REIT space, up 16% vs. the RMZ index, which is up just 1% year to date. Lodging C-corps have also strongly outperformed, up 23% YTD.

“Lodging’s relative outperformance came in a year where RevPAR growth decelerated amid uncertainty surrounding economic growth, supply growth acceleration, FX headwinds and fears created by home-sharing services,” according to Canaccord’s outlook report for the hotel sector. In the new year, the financial services firm expects improving US macro conditions to eventually lead to improving RevPAR trends.