The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index declined 2.6% in May to a level of 5,287. 
“Hotel stocks were mixed in May – the Hotel REITs increased slightly and outperformed the real estate benchmark by 400 bps, while the Global Hotel Brands declined and underperformed the S&P 500’s marginal gain by 380 bps,” said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird. “While macroeconomic concerns have subsided recently, investors are incrementally focused on normalizing customer and geographic demand trends and slower year-over-year RevPAR growth, particularly related to last year’s strong summer travel season domestically.”“While small, demand was back up in May with a lift from graduations and concerts, setting the stage for a solid summer,” said Amanda Hite, STR president. “We upgraded the forecast in our most recent revision despite expectations of a mild recession and recent banking woes. In line with earlier projections, however, year-over-year growth has slowed with tougher comparables. Any growth is noteworthy though considering the underlying economic uncertainty.”In May, the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index fell behind the S&P 500 (+0.2%) but came in above the MSCI US REIT Index (-3.2%). The Hotel Brand sub-index fell 3.6% from April to 9,815, while the Hotel REIT sub-index grew 0.8% to 1,053.
