Hotel stocks surged with boost from brands

The stocks for hotel industry C-corps had a banner year in 2017, drastically outpacing both the broader markets and hotel real estate investment trusts.

According to data from the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index, hotel stocks broadly grew 32% for full-year 2017. The S&P 500 was up roughly 20% for the same period.

Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and VP at Baird, said those overall numbers obscure the strength of C-corps and the relative underperformance of hotels REITs.

“It was the year of the hotel brand,” he said. “You look at the subindexes, and it was all the hotel brands. Wyndham, Choice, Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton—all the big-cap names just ripped. For the most part, it was just over 2% growth for the REITs, but there was a wide range of performance in there.”