The Precautionary and Transaction Motives for Cash Reserves : The Unique Case of Hotel REITs

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the precautionary and transaction motives play important roles in explaining cash holdings for hotel REITs. In order to examine these roles empirically, this study investigates the effects of firm size, leverage, investment opportunities, cash flow, and cash-flow volatility on hotel REITs’ cash-holding levels. By developing a weighted least square(WLS) regression model with a panel data set of twenty publicly traded hotel REITs in the US capital markets between 2005 and 2014, this study finds that hotel REITs with lower cash reserves tend to be larger and have higher levels of cash flow from operations, while hotel REITs with higher levels of leverage, better investment opportunities, and greater cash-flow volatility were shown to hold more cash and marketable securities. The findings identify the precautionary and transaction motives as the key drivers of cash-holding behavior within hotel REIT sector.