HST vs RHP: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Last updated October 2026

Short answer

HST is the larger of the two ($15.69B market cap): the incumbent the market prices for continued execution (21.40x forward earnings, beta 1.10). RHP is the smaller challenger ($8.39B), actually pricier on forward earnings (25.49x): more room to run, but more to prove. The real question is which set of drivers you believe, and whether owning one (or both) leaves you over-concentrated.

HST vs RHP: the tie-breaker metrics

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Metric	HST	RHP	What it tells you
Market cap	$15.69B	$8.39B	Size. The larger name is the incumbent; the smaller has more room to grow and more to prove.
Forward P/E	21.40	25.49	Valuation on next year's expected earnings, the same yardstick for both. Lower is cheaper for that growth; higher means the market is paying up.
Trailing P/E	15.16	29.65	Valuation on the last 12 months. A big drop from trailing to forward means the market expects earnings to jump, so more growth is already in the price.
Beta	1.10	1.19	Volatility vs the market. Above 1 swings harder than the index; below 1 is steadier. Higher beta means bigger drawdowns to hold through.
Price vs 52-week range	69% of range	70% of range	Where today's price sits between the 52-week low and high. Near the high is momentum with less margin of safety; near the low is out of favor or a discount, depending on why.
Price / book	2.42	10.14	How much you pay over book value. Very high can signal an asset-light, high-return business or a rich price.

Reading it: HST is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

Before you buy: how HST and RHP affect your concentration

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. HST and RHP share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined HST and RHP exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

What does Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (HST) do?

Host Hotels & Resorts owns 75 hotels, 70 in the United States and five abroad, covering roughly ~41,300 rooms in the luxury and upper upscale tiers. The properties fly flags such as Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, Hilton and Four Seasons, and third party managers run day to day operations while Host supplies the buildings, the capital and the renovation decisions. Because these are big convention and resort hotels, rooms are only part of the income: second quarter comparable total RevPAR of ~$417.58 against room RevPAR of ~$251.53 means food, beverage, banquets and other services generate close to ~40% of revenue. Trailing twelve month revenue is ~$6.23 billion, and the structure is a REIT, so most taxable income has to go out as distributions.

Full HST guide

What does Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP) do?

Ryman owns seven large resorts and two small adjacent hotels, ~12,364 rooms in total, alongside more than 3 million square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space. Five of those properties carry the Gaylord Hotels flag (Opryland in Nashville, Palms in Kissimmee, Texan in Grapevine, National at National Harbor outside Washington, and Rockies in Aurora), and five of the seven largest non-gaming convention hotels in the country are Ryman's. Marriott manages the entire portfolio under long-term agreements, so Ryman is the owner and capital allocator rather than the operator. The revenue mix explains the business better than the room count does. In the second quarter of 2026 the hotels produced $232.4 million of rooms revenue against $296.4 million of food and beverage and $76.2 million of other hotel revenue, so banquets, catering and audiovisual services out-earned the beds. Consolidated Total RevPAR of $537.69 against RevPAR of $206.52 is the same fact expressed per available room. A second segment, Opry Entertainment Group, holds the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, WSM 650 AM, Ole Red, Category 10, Block 21 in Austin and a majority of the festival promoter Southern Entertainment.

Full RHP guide

HST vs RHP: how do they differ?

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

HST drivers: Rate led RevPAR growth in luxury and resort hotels; Group pace and returning business travel.
RHP drivers: Forward bookings at record rates; Grande Lakes and a second Orlando footprint.

Which fits which kind of investor

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Lodging reprices every single night, which makes it the most economically sensitive form of real estate, and a downturn reaches Host's income statement in weeks instead of at lease renewal. For RHP, the concentration is unusual for a REIT of this size.

HST or RHP: which should you pick?

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick HST if you believe its drivers more; RHP if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the HST and RHP guides.

HST vs RHP: the full fundamentals

HST. Host guides to ~$2.15 to ~$2.18 of adjusted FFO per share for 2026 and ~$1.82 billion to ~$1.84 billion of adjusted EBITDAre, which places a ~$22.90 share price near ~10.5x FFO. Trailing net income of ~$1.03 billion and the resulting ~15x reported P/E are inflated by roughly ~$242 million of gains on hotel sales, so FFO and EBITDA multiples describe the operating business more honestly. Enterprise value of about ~$19.6 billion works out near ~11.6x trailing EBITDA and closer to ~10.7x the guided number.

RHP. At ~$128.50 the shares sit at roughly 14 times the $9.13 AFFO midpoint and, using June 30 debt and cash with the post-offering share count, an enterprise value near $12.5 billion against $894 million of guided Adjusted EBITDAre. Ryman itself just agreed to pay 12.5 times trailing property EBITDAre for Grande Lakes, so the public multiple and the private-market print for comparable group assets are not far apart. The trailing P/E of ~31 is a depreciation artefact and does not describe the cash the REIT distributes.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): HST shows revenue (ttm) ~$6.23B, adjusted ffo per share (2026 guidance) ~$2.15 to ~$2.18, adjusted ebitdare (2026 guidance) ~$1.82B to ~$1.84B, enterprise value / ebitda ~11.6x trailing, ~10.7x on guidance; RHP shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.74 billion for the twelve months to June 30, 2026, against $2,577.1 million in fiscal 2025 and $2,339.2 million in fiscal 2024. Second-quarter 2026 revenue of $749.0 million was an all-time quarterly record, up 13.6%, split ~81% Hospitality and ~19% Entertainment. First-half revenue reached $1,413.6 million, up 13.4%, with JW Marriott Desert Ridge (acquired June 10, 2025) contributing $134.5 million of that., earnings, ffo and affo per share Trailing twelve-month diluted EPS is ~$4.11 on net income available to common stockholders of ~$272 million. Fiscal 2025 diluted EPS was $3.77, down from $4.38 in 2024, even as revenue grew 10.2%, because depreciation and interest both rose. The REIT measures tell a different story: fiscal 2025 FFO was $7.93 per diluted share/unit and AFFO $8.46, versus $8.05 and $8.54 in 2024. Second-quarter 2026 FFO was $2.54 and AFFO $2.77 per diluted share/unit, up 18.7% and 17.9%., operating metrics Consolidated second-quarter occupancy was 72.7%, ADR $284.05, RevPAR $206.52 and Total RevPAR $537.69. On the same-store basis that excludes Desert Ridge, occupancy was 72.8% (down 1.2 points), ADR $277.19 (up 6.9%) and Total RevPAR $524.05 (up 6.5%). Consolidated Adjusted EBITDAre was $258.3 million at a 34.5% margin; excluding the OEG noncontrolling interest it was $241.9 million. Segment Adjusted EBITDAre: Hospitality $223.0 million, Entertainment $43.9 million, Corporate and Other negative $8.6 million., 2026 guidance (raised august 6, 2026) Same-store RevPAR and Total RevPAR growth of 3.50% to 4.50%, both midpoints lifted 100 basis points. Consolidated operating income of $543.8 million to $557.0 million and consolidated Adjusted EBITDAre of $878.0 million to $910.0 million, a midpoint of $894.0 million against $794.7 million in 2025. Net income available to common of $270.5 million to $273.5 million, or $4.10 to $4.11 per diluted share, and AFFO of $8.98 to $9.28 per diluted share/unit on ~68.8 million weighted diluted shares and units. Guidance predates the Grande Lakes agreement and the August share sale..

The bottom line: HST vs RHP

HST and RHP are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined HST and RHP exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.

Wondering how HST or RHP fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.

Investing in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. with AI

Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how HST fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.

Does HST fit me?

FAQ

What is the difference between HST and RHP?

Host Hotels & Resorts owns 75 hotels, 70 in the United States and five abroad, covering roughly ~41,300 rooms in the luxury and upper upscale tiers. Ryman owns seven large resorts and two small adjacent hotels, ~12,364 rooms in total, alongside more than 3 million square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space. They show up together because they share investment themes, but they are different businesses, so the better fit depends on which thesis you are expressing.

Is HST or RHP the better stock?

Neither is universally better. HST is the larger incumbent; RHP is the smaller challenger and looks pricier on forward earnings. Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Compare what each does, the tie-breaker metrics above, and the risks, then decide which fits your thesis and what you already own.

Which is cheaper, HST or RHP?

On forward P/E (as of October 2026), HST trades at 21.40x and RHP at 25.49x, so HST is the cheaper of the two on next year's expected earnings. A lower multiple is not automatically the better buy: a richer valuation can be justified by faster growth, and a lower one can reflect real risk. Weigh the multiple against how fast each business is compounding.

Should you own both HST and RHP?

Because they share themes, owning both concentrates you in that theme. That can be intentional (a focused bet) or accidental (less diversification than it looks). Walnut can show your combined exposure across both, and whether adding either over-concentrates you, before you buy.

What are the risks of HST vs RHP?

HST: Lodging reprices every single night, which makes it the most economically sensitive form of real estate, and a downturn reaches Host's income statement in weeks instead of at lease renewal. The 2026 figures also set a hard comparison for 2027, since the World Cup contributed roughly ~160 basis points to second quarter RevPAR and Maui's rebound cannot repeat at that pace forever. Ownership is capital hungry, with ~$550 million to ~$630 million of annual capex against ~$6.23 billion of revenue, and Hawaii storm damage alone was put at ~$27 million to ~$32 million before insurance recoveries. Host does not operate its hotels, so margins depend in part on Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton managers and on labour costs the company does not set directly. Distribution policy is the other variable: the regular payout is ~$0.20 a quarter, and the eye catching yields come from special dividends funded by asset sales, which are discretionary and by definition do not recur. RHP: The concentration is unusual for a REIT of this size. Seven properties generate nearly all hotel revenue, and a single manager, Marriott International, runs all of them, so operating execution is outsourced to one counterparty across the whole portfolio. Gaylord National at National Harbor depends heavily on association and government-adjacent Washington demand, and it earned a 32.1% Adjusted EBITDAre margin in the second quarter against 45.9% at Gaylord Rockies, a spread that shows how uneven the assets are. Renovation displacement is live rather than theoretical: JW Marriott Hill Country posted a 5.8% RevPAR decline during its rooms project, which runs until March 2027, and the Gaylord Texan renovation held that property's revenue slightly negative. Leverage is the second issue. Debt stood at ~$3,969.5 million on June 30 against ~$6,191.8 million of total assets, and first-half interest expense rose to $128.0 million from $112.8 million. The March 2026 refinancing swapped $700 million of 4.75% notes due 2027 for 5.75% notes due 2034, adding roughly $7 million of annual interest and booking a $2.2 million extinguishment loss. Capital spending guidance was raised to $400 million to $500 million for 2026 against first-half operating cash flow of $321.9 million, and the REIT distribution requirement (minimum dividends of 100% of REIT taxable income) limits how much can be retained, so external capital funds growth. The Grande Lakes purchase adds closing risk, integration risk and a $50 million escrow at stake, and it deepens Florida exposure alongside Gaylord Palms. Finally, the diluted share count includes ~4.9 million equivalent shares tied to the Atairos put rights on OEG, a claim that can be settled in cash or stock at the company's option.

Walnut is informational, not investment advice. This page is descriptive and not a recommendation to buy or sell HST or RHP; figures are approximate and dated (as of October 2026). Verify current data before investing.