Richard Stockton, president and CEO of Braemar Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BHR), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITworld: 2018 Annual Conference in San Francisco.
Stockton said the company looks at three economic indicators when making investment decisions: consumer confidence, GDP growth, and revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth.
“[Consumer confidence] tends to be a precursor to strong economic demand, [and right now it’s] at an 18-year high, so that’s very good for the lodging industry,” he said.
He added that GDP growth is highly correlated to RevPAR growth within the industry, and that Braemar has been happy with how GDP growth has been trending recently. He also said that within the luxury hotel segment, RevPAR growth has been higher than all other tenant segments since the fourth quarter of 2014.
He also said that Braemar is very excited about its recent acquisition of the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota, Florida, calling it “the quintessential luxury property.”