U.S. hotel sales volume climbs 20% as luxury outpaces midmarket

The United States hotel transaction market recorded a double-digit increase in deal volume during the second quarter of 2026, though average property values continued to compress in a sign of uneven recovery across hospitality segments.

LW Hospitality Advisors released findings from its midyear survey showing that 107 hotel properties valued above ten million dollars changed hands between April and June, representing a year-over-year gain of one-fifth in the number of completed transactions. The combined consideration for those deals reached approximately three-point-eight billion dollars, according to the advisory firm's analysis.

Despite the uptick in deal count, both the median transaction size and the per-room pricing metric declined compared to the same period in 2025, a pattern the consultancy attributed to what it described as a bifurcated market recovery. Luxury-tier properties continued to attract premium valuations and stronger investor interest, while economy and select-service assets faced pricing pressure and slower absorption.

The findings underscore a stratification that industry observers have characterized as a K-shaped trajectory, in which high-end hospitality assets recover more quickly from pandemic-era disruptions than their budget-oriented counterparts. That divergence has implications for both developers seeking financing and institutional investors recalibrating portfolio allocations in the lodging sector.

LW Hospitality Advisors conducts quarterly surveys of major hotel sales across the United States, tracking properties that meet a minimum transaction threshold to provide benchmarking data for stakeholders in the hospitality investment community.