U.S. Hotel Stock Tracking Index Remains Flat in January

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According to STR, the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index closed January 2017 out at 3,723, up 0.5% from the end of 2016.

"Hotel stocks were mixed in January after significant absolute and relative gains were realized during the post-election risk-on trade," said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and vice president at Baird. "Recent industry-wide RevPAR growth has been positive but still sluggish, and we expect management teams in the coming weeks to provide relatively cautious 2017 guidance ranges that mirror the moderate year-to-date growth trends."

"The uncertainty about the election outcome has been substituted with uncertainty over the new administration's policies that could impact travel and tourism," said Amanda Hite, STR's president and CEO. "The outlook of a perceived pro-business sentiment led us to slightly increase our previous RevPAR forecast to +2.5% in 2017 and +2.6% in 2018. This sentiment was echoed by many during the ALIS conference in January."

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index for January outperformed the MSCI REIT (RMZ) (-0.9%) but lagged behind the performance of the S&P 500 (+1.8%).

The Hotel Brand sub-index reported a 2.4% increase to 5,028 from December to January. The Hotel REIT sub-index fell 2.7% to 1,595 during the month.