Hotel Asset Managers Expect RevPAR Growth to Continue Into 2026

Hotel asset managers expect RevPAR to keep growing through full-year 2026, according to a survey of the profession reported by Hotel Dive. The forecast comes from the owners' side of the ledger — the people accountable for property-level net operating income — rather than from brands, franchisors or third-party management companies.

That distinction matters for how the number should be read. Asset managers do not run the front desk; they set the return targets that operators must hit. When this group anticipates revenue-per-available-room growth for the year ahead, they are signaling their underwriting assumptions for 2026 budgets, renovation capital and lender conversations.

What does the survey actually measure?

The poll captures forward-looking sentiment among hospitality asset managers — professionals who oversee hotel investments on behalf of ownership groups and institutional investors. Their expectations cover full-year 2026 RevPAR, the industry's core top-line metric combining occupancy and achieved room rate.

RevPAR growth can come from either lever: fuller hotels, higher rates, or both. For asset managers, the difference is not academic. Rate-driven growth typically flows more directly to the bottom line, because incremental room revenue carries far less variable cost than occupancy-driven growth, which adds housekeeping labor, laundry and utilities per occupied room.

Why asset-manager sentiment carries weight

Ownership-side forecasts tend to be more conservative than brand-side projections, because asset managers answer to investors and lenders rather than to unit-growth targets. A consensus expecting growth for 2026 suggests owners are planning from a baseline of continued demand rather than bracing for a downturn.

For operators, that expectation translates into practical pressure:

• 2026 budgets built on rising top-line targets rather than flat revenue
• Capital-expenditure plans sized against projected income
• Food-and-beverage and ancillary revenues scrutinized for their contribution to total property performance

What does this change for operators and owners?

If the optimism holds, hotel general managers should expect tighter revenue benchmarks in 2026 ownership calls and asset plans. If RevPAR growth disappoints, the gap between underwritten and actual performance will surface first in owner reporting — and asset managers will look to cost lines, including labor percentage and cost of goods in F&B outlets, to protect margins.

The survey's full-year 2026 horizon also gives the industry a shared reference point: this is not a quarterly read but a strategic planning assumption, the kind that shapes decisions on refinancing, brand-conversion evaluations and renovation timing taken this year for next.

Sentiment is a forecast, not a guarantee, and the reporting does not specify the magnitude of the expected growth. What it establishes is direction: the professionals closest to hotel investment returns enter the 2026 planning cycle expecting revenue to rise, not stall.