RLJ Lodging Trust reported third-quarter comparable revenue per available room (RevPAR) of $153, up 9.7% year-over-year and 260 basis points ahead of the industry. Hotel EBITDA rose 17.5% to $93.9 million, and adjusted funds from operations per diluted share climbed 25.9% to $0.34. The company raised its full-year 2026 guidance, now expecting RevPAR growth of 5.75% to 6.25% and corporate adjusted EBITDA of $352 million to $358 million. RLJ sold seven Chicago Midway Airport hotels for $110 million, citing cost pressures in the city. It holds over $1 billion in liquidity and has no debt maturities until 2029. Chief executive officer Leslie Hale said less discounting and stronger business travel demand make the gains sustainable. The quarterly dividend stays at $0.15 per share.

Vishal Thakkar's Endeavor snags Midway hotels discount as RLJ Lodging sells for $68M. Bethesda, Maryland-based hotel investor last bought the portfolio for $139M, amounting to a 50% loss in property value Oakbrook Terrace-based Endeavor Hotels landed a major bargain near Midway International Airport this week. The Bethesda, Maryland-based hospitality investment firm RLJ Lodging Trust sold a portfolio of seven hotels and an adjacent restaurant property to Endeavor for $68 million, or about 50 percent less than the sellers paid for the real estate way back in 2006, public records show. Endeavor, whose principal is Vishal Thakkar, used a $90 million mortgage from Atlanta-based hospitality financier Access Point Financial to fund the acquisition, with the additional debt beyond the purchase price suggesting the buyer is planning to invest in property improvements as part of its business plan, Cook County property documents show. RLJ bought the properties, which include a Marriott, a Hilton Garden Inn and a Fairfield Inn, among others, for $139 million in 2006, public records show. The portfolio includes a combined 1,057 rooms across the following properties: * Chicago Marriott Midway, 6520 South Cicero Avenue - 200 rooms * Hilton Garden Inn Midway, 6530 South Cicero Avenue - 174 rooms * Courtyard Chicago Midway Airport, 6610 South Cicero Avenue - 174 rooms * Hampton Inn Chicago-Midway, 6540 South Cicero Avenue - 170 rooms (133 rooms + 37 suites) * Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 6500 South Cicero Avenue - 104 rooms (71 rooms + 33 suites) * Fairfield Inn & Suites, 6630 South Cicero Avenue - 114 rooms (88 rooms + 26 suites) * Sleep Inn Midway, 6650 South Cicero Avenue - 121 rooms * TGI Friday's restaurant property at 6600 South Cicero Avenue The hotels performed well prior to 2006, when owners the Weglarz family sold them to RLJ. The family developed the properties and also assembled the land for the recently completed Wind Creek Casino in the south suburbs. The casino developer, an affiliate of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, bought land from the Weglarz family for the casino project for $25 million in 2022. It's unclear what prompted the Midway portfolio's recent reduced sale price, but tourism and business travel have experienced a rocky recovery from the pandemic. Representatives of RLJ and Endeavor didn't respond to requests for comment. In 2020, visitors to Chicago fell by 73 percent to just 16 million tourists, according to the tourism board Choose Chicago. But since then, the city has seen a steady rebound in tourism. In 2025, about 57 million people visited Chicago, Choose Chicago reported. Visitor totals have significantly improved from pandemic lows but have yet to surpass the city's record-breaking 61.6 million visitors in 2019. Hotel values, however, haven't recovered with the rise in visitors, as business travel remains suppressed compared to the years before the health crisis. Elsewhere in the city, hotels to recently trade at large discounts from their previous sales include this month's $21 million purchase by Toronto-based Manga Hotel Group for the former Royal Sonesta Chicago River North. Plus, Ketu Amin's Vinayaka Hospitality earlier this month closed a $25 million purchase of the 520-room former W Hotel at 644 North Lake Shore Drive to quadruple down on his discounted Chicago hotel purchases. The former W property was rebranded by seller Park Hotels & Resorts last year as The Wade and is set to be rebranded again by Amin. It marks the investor's fourth deal in the sector, and last traded for $126 million in 2012. Amin last year started his streak with the Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites Mag Mile property for $28.3 million, and also purchased the Westin Michigan Avenue for $72 million, down from $156 million in 2018. Earlier this year Amin bought the Blackstone Hotel for more than $43 million, versus the $59.5 million it traded for in 2016.