3 Hotel Stocks to Buy Now

Nationwide revPAR jumped 13.2% to $57.98 in the week ended Aug. 28, according to Smith Travel Research, while revPAR among what is dubbed the "upper upscale" group rose 13% to $90.99. The midscale group saw revPAR grow 13% to $53. Occupancy was up by 580 basis points to 60.1%, including occupancy of 68.1% in upper upscale properties and 60.8% in the midscale group.

The best-performing city was New Orleans, with revPAR up 43% in the week. The worst-performing city was St. Louis, with revPAR down 8.2%.

Average daily room rates, another key metric measured by hotel industry watchers, was up 2.4% in the reporting week to $96.50, including a 3% jump in the upper upscale group to $133.67 and a 1.6% uptick in the midscale group to $87.23.

In terms of share price gains, China Lodging Group(HTHT) easily outpaced its peers Tuesday among hotel stocks with at least $100 million market cap, jumping 4% to close at $24.76. China Lodging is a Shanghai-based operator of an economy hotel chain in China.

American depositary receipts of 7 Days Group Holdings(SVN) pushed up 1.5%. The Guangzhou-based operator of limited service economy hotels in China said last month it returned to year-over-year profitability with quarterly earnings of RMB30.2 million, or $4.4 million at current exchange rates. Revenue surged 24.9% to RMB352.2 million, or $51.9 million.

Results were lifted by the addition of 18 net leased-and-operated hotels and 35 net managed hotels in the second quarter. RevPAR was RMB151.5, or $22.31, compared with year-earlier revPAR of RMB141.8, or $20.88.

The Vanguard Consumer Discretionary(VCR) and iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Services(IYC), exchange-traded funds that track the hotel sector and count Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt and Gaylord among their holdings, fell 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively, on Tuesday.

-- Written by Miriam Marcus Reimer in New York.

>To follow the writer on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/miriamsmarket.

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