HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee, and MILWAUKEE — The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index rose 3.2 percent in April to a level of 5,297. Year-to-date through the first four months of 2021, the stock index was up 15.8 percent.
“Hotel stock prices increased in April, but they were relative underperformers on a monthly basis for the third time this year,” said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird. “The broader reopening trade has lost some momentum recently as investors continue to rotate into more defensive and value-oriented sectors despite the progress that is being made on the vaccination front and the sequential monthly improvement in hotel fundamentals being realized. The hotel REITs have outperformed the hotel brand stocks each month this year.”
“The first quarter of the year produced stronger room demand than expected as American consumers, emboldened by ongoing vaccinations and plenty of savings, are buying the experiences they had to forego for the last year,” said Amanda Hite, STR president. “This translated directly to higher occupancies, especially on weekends. Luxury hotels actually showed a higher March ADR than in March of 2019, pointing to the resilience of the offerings at the highest end of the market. STR and Tourism Economics will likely revise our new forecast upward, not because demand will exceed expectations for the remainder of 2021, but because of the strength of the first quarter.”
In April, the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index fell behind both the S&P 500 (+5.2 percent) and the MSCI US REIT Index (+7.9 percent).
The Hotel Brand sub-index increased 2.8 percent from March to 9,060, while the Hotel REIT sub-index grew 4.4 percent to 1,362.
