In September, The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index increased by 5.2%

The Baird / STR Hotel Stock Index increased 5.2% in September to 5,167. The stock index was up 13.0% year to date over the first nine months of 2021.

“Hotel stocks returned sharply in September, finally breaking their six-month record of relative underperformance,” said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird.

“During the month, Delta variation worries generally faded, and hotel stocks benefitted from increased interest rates and a broader market rotation that supported other travel-related companies.”

 “The post-Labor Day season had been a cause of concern for the industry, but the early results delivered a nice surprise with group demand exceeding 1 million for two weeks in a row,” said Amanda Hite, President of STR.

“We did observe a drop in performance late in the month, but ups and downs are to be expected at this stage of the recovery cycle.” Overall, we expect September demand to be 93% off 2019 comparable, with notable gains in key cities and corporate-dependent hotels. With leisure demand being strong but business travel and groups moving at a considerably slower pace, we do not expect the recovery to accelerate until next year.”

The Hotel Brand sub-index jumped 6.7% from August to 9,077, while the Hotel REIT sub-index increased 1.0% to 1,233.