Host Hotels & Resorts

Wells Fargo has cut price targets on lodging stocks under coverage due to concerns over regional banks and their impact on the hotel industry. The bank only downgraded two names - Park Hotels and Xenia Hotels - but reduced price targets on many others, including Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt. STR's global "bubble chart" update shows growing momentum in the Asia Pacific region and more than half of markets globally with better than 20% growth in RevPAR versus 2019. Israel, Switzerland, Singapore, the Dominican Republic, and New Zealand led in RevPAR on an actual basis. HEI Hotels & Resorts has taken over management of the Marriott Jacksonville Downtown Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida, which will undergo a comprehensive renovation in the planning stages with completion anticipated in the first quarter of 2024.

Hilton announces plans to double its hotel portfolio in Puerto Rico by 2027, with the addition of seven new properties. The expansion will create around 2,100 new jobs and contribute to the island's economic recovery following the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Hilton's investment in Puerto Rico's tourism industry is a sign of the company's confidence in the island's potential as a destination for both leisure and business travelers.

Truist said they have seen no noticeable changes to overall corporate booking and pricing trends in the first 10 days following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank . On March 20, Membership Collective Group commenced trading on the NYSE under its new name and ticker, Soho House & Co Inc. / SHCO. In a joint venture, NewcrestImage and Hospitality Capital Partners have acquired 16 hotels with a total of 2,155 rooms for $137.3 million from Service Properties Trust .

Despite the jitters and dire predictions we have been hearing for getting close to a year, lodging demand remains consistent with any concern of deterioration stemming from headline economic risk not yet manifesting in fundamentals. Baird reported on something we touched on recently, insider buying at lodging companies . A majority of the U.S. corporate travel buyers expect their company’s business travel to ramp up and return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2023

Earnings rolled out at a rapid pace with  Hyatt, Wyndham, Host and Hersha reporting results. Hyatt reported above expectations and sounded very confident on the conference call. The lodging stock star of the day was definitely  Service Properties Trust . SVC owns nearly 8% of Travel Centers of America and RMR has 1.67%. Travel Center agreed to be bought by BP for $1.3 billion. CBRE is raising its forecast for hotel performance on the heels of industry gains in Q4 2022 and the expectation of slightly positive GDP growth in 2023.

Lodging stocks were higher led by AHT, up another 10%. ABNB and PLYA were both up 7% on the day while VCSA was up 6% and HST rose 5%. Truist gave their 2023 lodging preview , saying they see a mixed bag for demand/pricing/supply trends for the lodging companies. Similar to the past nine months, they see “macro over micro” at the moment. DiamondRock Hospitality said their preliminary 4Q22 comparable revenue grew 23.4% year over year and 8.5% compared to 2019.

Jefferies downgraded both Marriott and Hilton to Hold , leaving only Wyndham with a Buy rating in their C-Corp coverage. They continue to favor Host Hotels and Hersha Hospitality. 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay is opening on February 15 on Kauai’s north shore. The resort will be the flagship hotel for 1 Hotels. The DJIA fell 113 points, Nasdaq was up 66, the S&P 500 was down 3 points and the 10-year treasury yield was down .05 to 3.52%. How was that for a mixed market?

The DJIA fell 350 points, Nasdaq was down 154, the S&P 500 fell 45 points and the 10-year treasury yield was up .01 to 3.72%. Mizuho cut their price target on Airbnb to $110 from $125. They maintained their Neutral rating on the stock. STR reported US lodging data for the week ended 12/31. US hotel RevPAR was up 4.2% year over year while up 35.6% versus the same week in 2019.

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust cut their guidance for 4Q , citing a demand impact from Hurricane Nicole in November and weaker business/leisure demand at the end of that month. STR said US hotel RevPAR the week ended 12/17 was up 12% year over year while up 35% over the week in 2019 . U.S. hotel occupancy for Christmas and New Years mirrors 2019 trends , with warm destinations proving popular according to Amadeus .

Lodging stocks were modestly lower. SOND fell -8%, the biggest mover in the group Friday. SLNA traded down to yet another new low. Both Hersha Hospitality Trust and Host Hotels announced special dividends. HT announced its board of trustees approved a special dividend of $0.50 per common share for the year 2022. Deutsche Ban k said 2022 was a year when the lodging recovery was swiftly realized.