Despite some of the best lodging fundamentals in years, hotels are checking out of hotel stocks in yet another development that could signal a broader industry downturn.
Lodging industry shares dropped 22% in 2015, and have tumbled another 19% since January, nearly doubling the broader market's drop, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The plunge comes in spite of solid industry performance across the board; occupancy's at 66%, an all-time high, while RevPAR projections for 2016 are expected to grow 5.5%.
Yet investors remain concerned about the long-term viability of the industry, especially in the current economic climate. Without long-term tenants (and revenue) locked in, lodging is often the first industry to feel the pinch of an economic downturn. [WSJ]
