Where Capital Meets Hospitality’s Next Chapter
There’s a particular kind of energy in a room full of people who understand exactly how the market is evolving, and that’s what LendingCon 2026 delivered. Over two days at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld, our team sat in on sessions covering everything from reinsurance with Lloyds of London, to legislative issues with congressional representatives, to the basics of hotel financing. The bigger story of our time there wasn’t any single session. It was the people. In the Lender Networking Lounge, the Deal Room, hallway conversations between sessions, and over meals, we built new relationships and reconnected with people we hadn’t caught up with in a while. It’s something truly valuable to be in the room with like-minded people who are genuinely willing to share what they know and introduce you to the right person. With so many industry professionals in attendance, that spirit was everywhere at LendingCon this year.
The Numbers in the Room
Now in its sixth year, this year’s conference carried the theme “Legacy in Motion: Reshaping the Future of Hospitality Investment,” a fitting way to describe an industry going through real change on a lot of fronts at once. The conference provided over 1000 attendees two days of learning, networking, and dealmaking. More than 40 banks, lenders, and other capital providers took part, with a dedicated networking lounge built specifically to connect people working on real projects with the people who could help finance them..
What the Market’s Actually Telling Us from Those Who Know
One of the sessions we found most useful for our own work was the market update from Chantal Wu, Senior Director of Hospitality Market Analytics at CoStar Group. Her numbers backed up patterns we’ve been noticing ourselves, in the deals we’ve been evaluating and in conversations with owners. We found it validating to see their data confirm what we’ve been tracking.
There was a positive narrative on the deal-making side. Hotel sales volume in the first half of 2026 hit $13 billion, up 30% from last year, and more than three-quarters of those deals were under $50 million, which means the rebound is showing up broadly across smaller and mid-sized deals, not just in a handful of top-of-market transactions. The underlying demand also looks healthy. Weekday and business travel occupancy grew for five straight months through the first half of the year. And since new hotel construction is staying limited (about a quarter of existing U.S. hotels are now over 50 years old), renovating and updating older properties is turning into a more practical opportunity for owners looking to capture more market share, with a little help from a slowing stream of new supply.
At the same time: economy and lower-midscale hotels in secondary and tertiary markets are facing some headwinds. More broadly, independent owners outside of the luxury segment are dealing with a tough combination: rising operating costs paired with flat to negative RevPAR growth. That pressure isn’t spread evenly across the industry; it’s landing hardest in exactly the segments where a lot of independent owners operate.
This also matched what we’ve been hearing directly from our capital markets partners, several of whom have told us it’s genuinely challenging right now to line up financing for new hotel construction, and underwriting to higher debt service coverage ratios is pushing owners toward tighter operations and more rigorous financial reporting. Hearing that echoed in the data, not just from individual conversations, was a helpful confirmation as we think about how to advise owners and developers navigating this stretch. It reinforced that renovating what’s already there, rather than building new, may be the right move for a lot of economy to midscale buyers right now.
Recognizing the People Behind the Industry
LendingCon also took time to recognize a few people who’ve done real work for the hospitality industry this year: Carol Dover of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association received the Hospitality Advocacy Award, and Jonel Hines of the U.S. Small Business Administration received the Hospitality Community Outreach Award. The conference also announced plans for a new hospitality insurance program built with Lloyd’s of London, aimed at giving qualifying owners and operators access to better coverage and risk management options. More details are expected over the coming months, and it’s something we’ll be keeping an eye on.
Our Takeaway
Conferences like LendingCon are so valuable because they combine real data with real human connection, and this year gave us plenty of both. We’re grateful to the organizers Jan Guatam and team, the speakers, and everyone who took the time to connect with our team over those two days. We came away with a clearer read on where things stand, a stronger network, and a few relationships we’re genuinely looking forward to building on.
By Matt Lawrence/DSH Hotel Advisors