Investments Worth Checking Into

Hotels may be attractive investments right now because room rates have risen a great deal and that increase is not slowing down. Both business and vacation travel are growing while relatively few hotels are being built.

According to Morningstar, average nightly hotel room rates have surged 17% since 2002. Revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key number to look at when evaluating hotels, rose by more than 8% in both 2005 and 2006, the fastest rate in 20 years.

Helping to keep RevPAR above par, the supply of hotel rooms grew by a mere 0.5% annually over the last three years, well below the historic average rate.

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