Source: STR

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index was up 1.6% in November to 4,447. Year to date through the first 11 months of 2018, the stock index fell 9.0%.

"Hotel stocks experienced modest gains in November, but the hotel REITs underperformed their broader real estate benchmark, while the hotel brands were slight relative outperformers," said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and VP at Baird. "Stock market volatility moderated in November, but interest rates moved lower and macroeconomic growth concerns remained. As a result, investors positioned more defensively, which negatively impacted the hotel stocks' performance during the month, particularly the hotel REITs."

"There is chance that we will see a period of disconnect between underlying lodging industry fundamentals and hotel stock performance," said Amanda Hite, STR's president and CEO. "Record-breaking demand continues, and RevPAR growth returned in October after a one-month hiatus. However, macroeconomic jitters, fears of a trade war with China and uncertainty about the Brexit deal all seem to be weighing heavily on investors' minds. Our assessment of the industry remains unchanged though—U.S. hotel performance is healthy, and we expect that to continue in 2019."

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index's performance lagged both the S&P 500 (+1.8%) and the MSCI US REIT Index (+4.4%).

The Hotel Brand sub-index increased 2.0% from October to 6,520, while the Hotel REIT sub-index jumped 1.0% to 1,613.

As of 3 December 2018, Chatham Lodging Trust replaced LaSalle Hotel Properties in the Hotel Stock Index and the REIT Sub-Index.

About STR

STR provides premium data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 15 countries with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, an international headquarters in London, and an Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. STR was acquired in October 2019 by CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP), the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. For more information, please visit str.com and costargroup.com.