What is the largest hospitality REIT?

Currently, Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) is the largest hospitality REIT, with a market cap of $16.3 billion. The second-largest is Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE:RHP), with a $7.88 billion market cap.

Is Apple Hospitality REIT owned by Apple?

No, Apple Hospitality REIT is an entirely different entity.

Is Apple Hospitality's dividend safe?

Apple Hospitality REIT has been paying a dividend since 2008, but it has not remained steady throughout that period. It stopped paying dividends in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then resumed sporadically in 2021. It rebounded in November 2022 to $0.08 per share and has been a steady payer ever since.

Do billionaires invest in REITs?

Yes, both billionaires and hedge funds frequently invest in REITs.

How are hospitality REITs affected by economic recessions?

In a true recession, hospitality REITs are likely to suffer not only from a decline in occupancy but also from downward pressure on room rates, which would cut into margins. Dividends may also be cut.

Are hospitality REITs safe investments?

Over the long term, hospitality REITs are as safe an investment as any other REIT. Like other REITs, they are often at the mercy of economic cycles. Some years will be great, others not so much, which is why it's important to invest with a long holding period in mind.

Are small-cap hospitality REITs more volatile than large-cap ones?

Small caps are almost always more volatile than larger ones, and this is especially true for hospitality REITs. They have to spend money to stay in business, but sometimes cycles are long and deep, and small caps may be unable to survive for years without consistent income. Treat them like you'd treat any risky stock -- buy a small amount and hedge it with something that's a much surer deal.

4 Best Hospitality REITs for 2026 and How to Invest

Have you ever considered buying a hotel? What if you could buy a share in a lot of hotels? Hospitality REITs make it possible.

By Kristi Waterworth – Updated Jul 16, 2026 at 2:42 PM EST | Fact-checked by Margo Winton Parodi

Key Points

Hospitality REITs focus on short-term hotel rentals, offering a unique real estate investment option.
Investors should prepare for the sector's volatility and consider diversification to smooth out cycles.
Top hospitality REITs for investment include Apple Hospitality, Summit Hotel Properties, and Park Hotels & Resorts.

If you've been curious about investing in the hotel business but have no idea how to get started, hospitality REITs may be for you. A hospitality REIT is a real estate investment trust that holds hotel properties and resorts. Unlike other REITs, they make their money with very short-term rentals. Hospitality REITs have been gaining popularity and are a unique type of real estate investing.

A hotel REIT is an option for investors interested in commercial real estate who have strong stomachs and are prepared to handle some wild swings 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 other real estate investment trusts, hospitality REITs invest in real estate and return profits 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 part of a hospitality REIT's regular business, 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.

4 top hospitality REITs to consider in 2026

There are plenty of well-managed REITs in the hospitality space, and those at the top change almost daily. But you can trust your money will be safe with an excellent financial steward who really understands their customers and industry.

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Ticker Information Table
Company name	Company ticker	Market capMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.	Dividend yield
Apple Hospitality REIT	NYSE:APLE	$3.7 billion	6.20%
Summit Hotel Properties	NYSE:INN	$616.9 million	5.59%
Park Hotels & Resorts	NYSE:PK	$3.1 billion	6.53%
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	NYSE:PEB	$2.0 billion	0.22%

Data as of Sep 16, 2026. Showing 4 of 4 total entries.

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1. Apple Hospitality REIT

NYSE: APLE

Apple Hospitality REIT

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

61/100

Today's Change

(-0.26%) $-0.04

Current Price

$15.44

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$3.7B

Day's Range

$15.36 - $15.57

52wk Range

$10.85 - $17.28

Volume

2.1M

Avg Vol

2.8M

Gross Margin

20.52%

Dividend Yield

6.20%

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The Apple Hospitality REIT (APLE -0.26%) contains a number of familiar names for anyone who has ever been on an inexpensive family vacation. Courtyard, Fairfield, and Residence Inn are brands in its portfolio, which stretches from coast to coast.

Apple Hospitality's management has been working to improve efficiency, reduce operating expenses, and replace older hotels with newer ones. Along with consistently improving occupancy rates, this dedication to efficiency will serve investors well.

2. Summit Hotel Properties

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NYSE: INN

Summit Hotel Properties

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

57/100

Today's Change

(0.35%) $0.02

Current Price

$5.74

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$617M

Day's Range

$5.67 - $5.79

52wk Range

$3.98 - $7.17

Volume

539.9K

Avg Vol

1.2M

Gross Margin

13.20%

Dividend Yield

5.59%

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Summit Hotel Properties (INN +0.35%) 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.

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3. Park Hotels & Resorts

NYSE: PK

Park Hotels & Resorts

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

51/100

Today's Change

(-0.65%) $-0.10

Current Price

$15.22

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$3.1B

Day's Range

$15.13 - $15.45

52wk Range

$9.84 - $16.20

Volume

Avg Vol

4.5M

Gross Margin

18.34%

Dividend Yield

6.53%

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Park Hotels & Resorts (PK -0.65%) is a hotel REIT holding middle-range hotel properties under the Hilton (HLT -0.91%), DoubleTree, and Hyatt Regency (H -2.15%) 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

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NYSE: PEB

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

57/100

Today's Change

(1.34%) $0.24

Current Price

$18.19

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$2.0B

Day's Range

$17.84 - $18.29

52wk Range

$9.99 - $19.93

Volume

1.8M

Avg Vol

2.5M

Gross Margin

10.90%

Dividend Yield

0.22%

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Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB +1.34%) 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. Even with its recent acquisitions, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has maintained a reasonable debt load.

How to invest in hospitality REITs

Open your brokerage account: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments. If you don't have one yet, take a look at our favorite brokers and trading platforms to find the right one for you.
Search for the stock: Enter the ticker into the search bar to bring up the stock'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 stock.
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.

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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 operations.

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 pricing environment. Since rooms are rented daily or weekly, pricing can change on a dime based on consumer demand. Hospitality REITs not only constantly lay out funds to find new tenants but also have to spend 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 these REITs, including:

Improved returns: Hospitality REITs give investors a chance to buy a piece of the lucrative hospitality industry, which can lead to higher returns and dividends than other investments.
Truly passive income: Unlike real estate purchases, REIT investors have no active involvement in the property. Professional management teams behind the REITs do all the heavy lifting.

Risks of investing in hospitality REITs

Hospitality REITs are not without risk, although these risks can hopefully be avoided or minimized with good management.

Interest rates: REITs tend to move in the opposite direction of low-risk interest rates, such as the 10-year Treasury note. REIT investors forgo the opportunity to earn interest with absolute certainty. As those safe investment yields rise, investors expect 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, vacancy rates can become so high that room prices fall, stimulating demand. A thoroughly diversified hospitality REIT can be a better choice, as a wide range of locations and property types will help spread risk.

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Hospitality REITs FAQ

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About the Author

Kristi Waterworth has been a contributing real estate and financial expert at The Motley Fool, covering real estate, investing, and personal finance topics, since 2020. Kristi has been interviewed by various TV media outlets and podcasts for her real estate investing expertise – from residential real estate to digital real estate and everything in between. Kristi’s journalist career spans over 25 years, and she has written about real estate investing, homeownership, and home construction specifically for the last decade. She was also previously a licensed Realtor and general building contractor before the Great Recession and housing market collapse. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from Columbia College in Missouri.

TMFMaldivesBlue

@MaldivesBlues

Kristi Waterworth has positions in Apple Hospitality REIT. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Park Hotels & Resorts. The Motley Fool recommends Hyatt Hotels and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

4 Best Hospitality REITs for 2026 and How to Invest

Have you ever considered buying a hotel? What if you could buy a share in a lot of hotels? Hospitality REITs make it possible.

Key Points

Understanding hospitality REITs

4 top hospitality REITs to consider in 2026

1. Apple Hospitality REIT

Key Data Points

2. Summit Hotel Properties

Key Data Points

3. Park Hotels & Resorts

Key Data Points

4. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

Key Data Points

How to invest in hospitality REITs

How hospitality REITs work

Advantages of investing in hospitality REITs

Risks of investing in hospitality REITs

Related investing topics

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Hospitality REITs FAQ

What is the largest hospitality REIT?

What is the largest hospitality REIT?

Is Apple Hospitality REIT owned by Apple?

Is Apple Hospitality REIT owned by Apple?

Is Apple Hospitality's dividend safe?

Is Apple Hospitality's dividend safe?

Do billionaires invest in REITs?

Do billionaires invest in REITs?

How are hospitality REITs affected by economic recessions?

How are hospitality REITs affected by economic recessions?

Are hospitality REITs safe investments?

Are hospitality REITs safe investments?

Are small-cap hospitality REITs more volatile than large-cap ones?

Are small-cap hospitality REITs more volatile than large-cap ones?

About the Author

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Hospitality REITs FAQ

What is the largest hospitality REIT?

What is the largest hospitality REIT?

Is Apple Hospitality REIT owned by Apple?

Is Apple Hospitality REIT owned by Apple?

Is Apple Hospitality's dividend safe?

Is Apple Hospitality's dividend safe?

Do billionaires invest in REITs?

Do billionaires invest in REITs?

How are hospitality REITs affected by economic recessions?

How are hospitality REITs affected by economic recessions?

Are hospitality REITs safe investments?

Are hospitality REITs safe investments?

Are small-cap hospitality REITs more volatile than large-cap ones?

Are small-cap hospitality REITs more volatile than large-cap ones?

How hospitality REITs work

Advantages of investing in hospitality REITs

Risks of investing in hospitality REITs

What to consider before choosing hospitality REITs

Future outlook for hospitality REITs

2. Summit Hotel Properties

4. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

How to invest in hospitality REITs

Key Data Points

Key Data Points

Key Data Points