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JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa – Image Credit Marriott International
Excerpt from CoStar
This year hasn’t quite gone the way hoteliers expected, with performance coming short of expectations and the transaction market remaining relatively quiet as a couple of examples. With 2026 right around the corner, executives at The Lodging Conference hope that next year will bring better results as the industry wades through choppy waters.
There’s been no shortage of uncertainty this year, as factors such as the U.S.’s tariff policy and rhetoric toward other countries having an impact on the hospitality industry could not have been planned for. This uncertainty certainly hasn’t waned, but hoteliers are hopeful that their experience this year will have them primed for whatever comes next.
If the U.S. hotel industry is optimistic at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in January and pessimistic at the NYU IHIF conference in June, the mood at The Lodging Conference in the fall is typically realistic.
This year, hotel executives speaking at the conference are honestly acknowledging that the uncertainty of the last 12 months is still there and having real impact on hotel valuations and budgeting. Lackluster performance, in the form of underwhelming average daily rate and revenue per available room growth, hasn’t helped.
But the clouds are parting on hotel transactions, as brave buyers are confronting the bid-ask gap and making moves. Speakers this week talked about increased competitiveness for smaller hotels at lower price tags. These aren’t trophy assets fetching record pricing, but making hotel deals at this level is the right move for this point in the cycle, especially with overall supply still so low, economists said.
“The tide is changing,” said Rod Clough, president of the Americas at HVS. “We are going to be a more active deals market over the next 12 months. Maybe now is the time to sell your stabilized asset. There are plenty of buyers out there; there will be more buyers out there.” Stephanie Ricca, editorial director
Click here to read complete article at CoStar.
