Updated Mar 23, 2026
By Kristi Waterworth, Fact-checked by Robin Hartill, CFP
Key Points
- Hospitality REITs invest in hotels and resorts, offering the potential for high dividends, but they face cyclical risks.
- These REITs differ by having short-term leases, diverse pricing, and independent management teams.
- REITs offer the opportunity for truly passive real estate investing.
If you’ve been curious about investing in the hotel business but have no idea how to get started, a hospitality REIT may be for you. Hospitality REITs are real estate investment trusts (REITs) that hold hotel properties and resorts. Unlike other REITs, they make their money with very short-term rentals. Hospitality REITs have been gaining in popularity and are a unique type of real estate investing.
A hotel REIT is an option for investors interested in commercial real estate and who have strong stomachs and are prepared to handle some wild ups and downs as hospitality cycles run their course.
They’re not bad investments, but investors should know what they’re getting into before choosing lodging REITs since they differ from hospitality stocks and other stock market sectors. Depending on the REITs you choose, diversification can even out the bumps in hospitality cycles in a portfolio containing hospitality REITs.
Understanding hospitality REITs
Like all other real estate investment trusts, hospitality REITs invest in real estate, and profits on investments are returned to shareholders. Unlike other REITs, however, hotel REITs invest in extremely short-term leases — most commonly, a single night at a hotel. Consequently, they have some features that are unique within the REIT space.
Hotel REITs make their money in a very straightforward way: They rent rooms and conference spaces to the general public. Although real estate purchases and sales are also part of the regular business of a hospitality REIT, they’re not the primary driver of income.
Most income comes from tenants — one day, two days, or a week at a time. The sector obviously includes hotels of all sorts, but it also encompasses resorts and business lodging.
Top hospitality REITs to consider in 2026
There are plenty of good, well-managed REITS in the hospitality space, and who’s on top changes almost daily. But you can be sure that your money will be safe with an excellent financial steward who really understands their customers and their segment in the industry.
| Apple Hospitality REIT | NYSE:APLE | $3.1 billion | 7.38% |
| Summit Hotel Properties | NYSE:INN | $519.0 million | 6.71% |
| Park Hotels & Resorts | NYSE:PK | $2.3 billion | 8.76% |
| Pebblebrook Hotel Trust | NYSE:PEB | $1.6 billion | 0.29% |
Data as of Apr 19, 2026. Showing 4 of 4 tickers.
1. Apple Hospitality REIT
APLE
NYSE: APLE
Apple Hospitality REIT
Today’s Change
(3.09%) $0.39
Current Price
$13.00
APLE
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$3.1B
Day’s Range
$12.75 – $13.06
52wk Range
$10.85 – $13.27
Volume
6M
Avg Vol
3M
Gross Margin
20.02%
Dividend Yield
7.38%
The Apple Hospitality REIT (APLE +3.09%) contains a number of familiar names for anyone who has ever been on an inexpensive family vacation. Courtyard, Fairfield, and Residence Inn are brands listed among its portfolio, which stretches from coast to coast.
Apple Hospitality’s management has been working to improve efficiencies, reduce operating expenses, and swap out older hotels for newer ones. Along with consistently improving occupancy rates, this dedication to efficiency will serve investors well.
2. Summit Hotel Properties
INN
NYSE: INN
Summit Hotel Properties
Today’s Change
(1.06%) $0.05
Current Price
$4.77
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$519M
Day’s Range
$4.76 – $4.88
52wk Range
$3.72 – $6.00
Volume
946K
Avg Vol
1.3M
Gross Margin
12.85%
Dividend Yield
6.71%
Summit Hotel Properties (INN +1.06%) is a REIT that also holds economy hotels.
Although economy hotels sometimes have narrower margins, they’re also far more likely to weather economic storms when vacationers downgrade from more expensive rooms to save cash. Summit is investing heavily in major Sun Belt cities such as New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, and Oklahoma City.
3. Park Hotels & Resorts
PK
NYSE: PK
Park Hotels & Resorts
Today’s Change
(2.06%) $0.23
Current Price
$11.41
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$2.3B
Day’s Range
$11.26 – $11.49
52wk Range
$9.51 – $12.39
Volume
5.6M
Avg Vol
4M
Gross Margin
15.15%
Dividend Yield
8.76%
Park Hotels & Resorts (PK +2.06%) is a hotel REIT holding middle-range hotel properties under the Hilton (HLT +3.22%), DoubleTree, and Hyatt Regency (H +5.12%) brands. The REIT has a portfolio of solidly performing properties in locations such as Honolulu, Chicago, and Key West.
The company’s leadership has been keeping a close eye on the balance sheet. Even with hotel closings throwing off occupancy rates and incomes, the REIT has been able to strategically sell properties and pay off hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and establish significant liquidity.
4. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust
NYSE: PEB
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust
Today’s Change
(1.12%) $0.15
Current Price
$14.01
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$1.6B
Day’s Range
$13.90 – $14.18
52wk Range
$8.46 – $14.23
Volume
111K
Avg Vol
2.3M
Gross Margin
8.74%
Dividend Yield
0.29%
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB +1.12%) owns both high-end hotels and resorts, but its resorts really make it stand out. From multiple beach resorts in Key West to the newly acquired (and legendary) Jekyll Island Club Resort, Pebblebrook has an eye for this particular space.
The REIT has also made progress toward sustainability and social responsibility goals that are appealing to investors who want to do more good while doing well. Even with its recent acquisitions, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has been able to maintain a reasonable debt load.
How to invest in hospitality REITs
- Open your brokerage app: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments.
- Search for the stock: Enter the ticker or company name into the search bar to bring up the REIT’s trading page.
- Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this REIT.
- Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you’re willing to pay.
- Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
- Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.
How hospitality REITs work
Hospitality REITs own hotels but, due to various laws, cannot directly receive rent from tenants. They typically hire an independent management team to run the hotel portion of the business.
So, before you even get to the pricing models or cyclic nature, you’re dealing with a very different kind of owner and management structure than a typical office, industrial, or residential REIT, since those generally own the property and lease it to companies that want to occupy it.
With a hospitality REIT, you’re also facing a very dynamic and changeable pricing environment. Since rooms are rented daily or weekly, in the case of some business hotels, pricing can change on a dime based on consumer demand. Not only are they constantly outlaying funds to find new tenants, but they’re also having to spend money regularly to update and refresh the units to stay competitive.
Hotel REITs can be cyclical, moving in years-long cycles of growth, oversupply, underutilization, and recovery. Some performance metrics to watch include occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), and revenue per available room (RevPAR).
Advantages of investing in hospitality REITs
REITs in general tend to be fairly stable, solid long-term investments when managed properly, and hotel REITs aren’t much different when times are good. There are some distinct advantages of this special kind of REIT, including:
- Improved returns: Hospitality REITs give investors a chance to buy a piece of the lucrative hospitality industry, which can result in higher returns and higher dividends than other types of investments.
- Truly passive income: Unlike real estate purchases, REIT investors have no active involvement in the property. They never have to evict anyone or clean up after a messy tenant; professional management teams behind the REITs do all the heavy lifting.
Risks of investing in hospitality REITs
Despite their significant rewards, hospitality REITs are not without risk. These risks cause many REIT investors, especially those who want a smoother and less heart-clutching ride, to choose other REIT classes.
Hospitality REITs come with four major risks, many of which can be avoided or minimized with good management. Risk factors include interest rates, oversupply, economics, and financing:
- Interest rates: REITs tend to move in the opposite direction of low-risk interest rates, such as the 10-year Treasury note. Investors who choose REITs are forgoing the opportunity to earn interest with absolute certainty. As those safe investment yields rise, investors expect their REIT yields to rise as well. However, higher REIT yields can translate to lower stock prices.
- Oversupply: If there are too many hotels in one place competing directly with a particular hotel REIT, vacancy rates can become so significant that room prices fall to stimulate demand. A thoroughly diversified hospitality REIT can be a better choice since a wide range of locations and property types will help to spread the risk.
- Economics: Because hotels are so often a discretionary expense, they don’t do great when times are tough. However, hotel REITs also include properties that are popular with business travelers and luxury vacationers who travel regardless of the economy. Also, because hotels offer what are essentially daily leases, they can respond quickly to an upturn and increase rents without any hesitation when the tide turns back in their favor.
- Financing: As with all types of REITs, financing plays a crucial role in the expansion and upkeep of hotel REITs. Hospitality REITs may require lines of credit to get through tough economic times, acquire new real estate, or upgrade properties. Because of how quickly they can suffer in difficult times, it’s important for hospitality REITs to maintain a low debt-to-capitalization ratio to avoid being dragged under if rents dry up.
What to consider before choosing hospitality REITs
When choosing hospitality REITs, you have to understand that these are not investments for the faint of heart. The daily operations are challenging, the environment ever-changing, and the cycles long and mentally exhausting. Here’s a short list of things to consider before jumping in.
Hospitality REITs are long-term investments. There is no world in which a hospitality REIT is a functional short-term investment. Hotel industry cycles run too long and can take a lot of money to move a hotel from point A to point B. If you can’t hold for the long run, don’t buy these stocks.
Hotel economics are ever-changing. Hotels are in the business of renting rooms, but what it takes to get someone in the door one day may be very different from what it was a week ago. Today, you might need good prices and a pool; next week, it could be updated furniture in the official blue of the year and breakfast that’s more than just passable. These expenses can’t always be anticipated, so you’ll have to trust the management of your hospitality REIT.
Hospitality REITs are constantly spending money. If you prefer investing in companies with a lot of assets and few expenses, this may not be the kind of investment you’re after. Hotels and other hospitality REITs are part of the greater experience for travelers and, thus, require constant refreshing, renewing, and reimagining. That all costs money, but it can also create a dangerous spending cycle. Keep a close eye on financials with these kinds of investments.
Future outlook for hospitality REITs
With so much uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment, it’s hard to say what the future holds for hospitality REITs, except that it may be a difficult business in the short term. With a decline in foreign visitors, uncertainty for middle-class vacationers, and ongoing labor issues, hospitality REITs could struggle — but this can also spell opportunity to get good businesses at bargain prices.
In the longer term, there’s a lot of potential for hospitality REITs to reposition themselves, including finding ways to package their rooms as parts of all-in-one experiences or developing more mixed-use properties on or near the same facilities, which can be attractive to guests.
An increased use of technology in hospitality and travel can help compensate for missing hotel workers and create efficiencies in the longer term. Vacations have been popular since the Roman Empire, so there’s no reason to think the hospitality REIT as a concept is done and dusted.
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