By TANIA KARAS

Play it Safe: Hotel Stocks

• Risk level: 25

After staying home during the recession, people are back on the move. Hotel bookings have rebounded, and some experts say they're exceeding prerecession peaks. But the safest way to play the uptick in travel, analysts say, just might be to invest in hotels that are catering to people traveling through Asia. An emerging middle class in China and other nations in the region means hoteliers are building and seeing increased demand, says Esther Kwon, a hotels analyst for S&P Capital IQ. For instance, there are nearly 1,400 new hotel projects under way in China this year, according to research firm Lodging Econometrics. Those with the best growth prospects in Asia, money pros say, include Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (HOT), InterContinental Hotels (IHG) and Marriott International (MAR) . It's not just pure-play hotels that are booming: Las Vegas Sands (LVS) opened a $4.4 billion hotel casino complex in Macau this spring.

Go for Broke: Time-Share Firms

• Risk level: 80

For truly intrepid investors, there is an area of the travel industry that is still lagging behind: time-shares. Financing for new developments all but dried up during the financial crisis in 2008, and so did the ability of many consumers to spend top dollar to buy into time-shares. Sales of new U.S. time-shares were $6.5 billion in 2011, well below their peak of $10.6 billion in 2007, according to the American Resort Development Association. Nevertheless, some pros have been betting on a rebound, buying stock of time-share-management firms, including Interval Leisure (IILG) and Marriott Vacations Worldwide (VAC), the leisure-centric company spun off from the Marriott hotel chain. Marriott Vacations posted a $178 million loss in 2011, but the company expects to be back in the black in 2012. It appears the company's boss thinks the firm is undervalued: CEO Stephen Weisz bought nearly $400,000 in stock over the winter.

risk level

80