This study investigates the role of the asset-light strategy in shaping the stock performance of hotel firms across the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 periods. By comparing publicly listed asset-light hotel C-corporations and asset-heavy hotel REITs from 2017 to 2019 and from 2020 to 2022, the research assesses whether structural differences in asset ownership influence hotel stocks’ risk exposure and return characteristics. The analysis first constructs Markowitz mean-variance frontiers to evaluate whether asset-light firms exhibit more favorable risk-return profiles than their asset-heavy counterparts. It then conducts panel regressions to examine whether such differences in performance are statistically associated with the degree of asset-light structure, as measured by a composite asset-light score. Results show that stocks of asset-light hotel firms consistently outperformed asset-heavy peers in both periods. Regression results further indicate that firms with higher asset-light scores experienced smaller increases in market beta during the pandemic, suggesting stronger downside protection.