St. Louis

Jefferies said the looming recession and stabilizing credit market could be positive for the prospects of timeshare, but with a harder landing not off the table, they see stocks trading at rich valuations. Truist said with earnings season about to kick into gear for the lodging sector, they continue to see macro over micro. Park Hotels and Resorts Inc. closed on the sale of the 508-room Hilton Miami Airport , located in Miami, Florida , for $118.25 million.

Lodging stocks were higher. SLNA topped the list with a 10% gain followed by AHT and VCSA, both up 6%. We start today’s newsletter on a sad note as many of you probably heard that Bruce White , the founder and chairman of White Lodging , passed away at the age of 70. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust gave a January operations update and include an update on 4Q preliminary results. Remember they roiled the Lodging REIT stocks when they preannounced weaker than expected 4Q results.

Lodging stocks were mostly lower. VCSA was down -12%, SOND was down -8% but MCG was up 5% on a new Buy rating. Northland Capital Markets initiated coverage on Selina Hospitality Group with an Outperform rating and $4.50 target price. The scheduled auction of the downtown Hilton Hotel Minneapolis , previously slated for Friday, has been postponed.

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 .

JP Morgan said they see more compelling value and better risk-rewards in gaming versus lodging , given better values and differing sets of investors’ expectations for fundamentals. Barclays gave their US Gaming, Lodging & Leisure outlook, saying their preference is the Cruise Lines out of the sub-sectors. Highgate has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Viceroy Hotels & Resorts.

For a change, the markets went up when Fed Chief Powell spoke. They interpreted his commentary and body language as blinking, that the bulk of the interest rate hikes are over. STR said  US hotel RevPAR  the week ended November 26 was  down -0.1% year over year . Cambria Hotels  announced the  opening of its six-story, 121-room location in downtown Minneapolis  to complete the newly constructed dual-hotel building.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Dream Hotel Group announced an agreement for a Hyatt affiliate to acquire Dream Hotel Group’s lifestyle hotel brand and management platform. Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced the opening of Rancho Pescadero , the first Hyatt branded luxury resort to debut in Todos Santos in Mexico . The Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa , located in South Carolina , has embarked on a $10 million renovation.

Airbnb saw its rating cut at Baird to Neutral from Outperform. Baird lowered their price target to $100 from $120. The U.S hotel industry reported higher performance from the month prior but weakened comparisons with 2019 , according to October 2022 data from STR . Through Q3 2022 , the U.S. hotel industry exceeded 2019 RevPAR levels by 6.4%, based on data from STR.

The equity indexes have really calmed down while treasuries get really volatile. Lodging stocks were higher. AINC was the big mover, up 11%. SMBC Nikko cut its rating on Park Hotels & Resorts to Neutral from Outperform. Its price target is $16. The CBRE Hotels Research State of the Union showcases current demand trends, as well as fundamentals by segment, location type and chain scale.