03-04-2025
Hotel Stocks Hit By Tariff Turndown
Major U.S. hotel and hospitality stocks—having already dropped 11% this year— were hit Thursday by Trump's tariff rollout, amid already declining travel demand squeezing the industry.
The Dow Jones Hotel Index shows shares of major hospitality companies are down 6%, on average, Thursday afternoon, following President Trump's tariff rollout Wednesday.
Shares of Marriott and Hyatt are both down 7%, while Hilton stock tumbled 5%.
Hilton, Marriott and Choice Hotels are the 'most exposed to U.S. construction and development headwinds,' wrote Baird senior research analyst Michael Bellisario in a note to investors Thursday, noting 'however, Hilton and Marriott could gain relative share given their strong brands and benefits of size, scale, and distribution versus peers.'
Tariffs are also lowering consumer confidence, which in turn is causing a drop in Americans' discretionary spending on airlines, hotels and other trip components.
Sébastien Bazin, CEO of the French hospitality giant Accor told Bloomberg his company's U.S. properties were seeing a 25% drop in bookings by European travelers this summer due to 'bad buzz' and the anxiety of traveling to an 'unknown territory.'
The hotel industry is fueled by expansion, and tariffs are going to throw a monkey wrench into the new-build pipeline. Among the biggest hotel brands—Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton—new construction represents about 70% of annual gross openings and, 'construction costs will be higher as a result of the bigger-than-expected reciprocal tariffs, and the ROI on development (and renovation) projects, which already had been under pressure, will be lower,' wrote Bellisario, who estimated tariffs would push the cost build a hotel about 5% to 10% higher, 'on top of the 20% tariff that was already in place for goods sourced from China.' At least some of those extra costs will get passed to consumers, say analysts.
'More key money could help fill some of that gap for developers to make the math pencil, but the more likely outcome is that fewer projects will get signed and started over the near term,' wrote Bellisario for Baird.
Airline stocks are also getting pummeled in the tariff maelstrom. The industry has been dogged for years by supply-chain challenges and as Americans pull back on discretionary spending, they are thinking twice about nonessential expenditures like vacations. Shares of airline stocks were down about 10%, on average, Thursday afternoon, per the Dow Jones U.S. Airlines Index.
Trump Doubles Down On Tariffs Amid Economic Chaos: 'The Patient Lived, And Is Healing' (Forbes)
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