Apple Hospitality REIT reports resilient demand amid macroeconomic headwinds, adjusts guidance, and emphasizes strategic asset management for long-term growth.

OPERATOR - (00:00:00)

Welcome to the Apple Hospitality REIT third quarter 2025 earnings call at this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press 0 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Kelly Clark, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin. Thank you and good morning. Welcome to Apple Hospitality REIT's third quarter 2025 earnings call. Today's call will be based on the earnings Release and Form 10Q which we distributed and filed yesterday afternoon. Before we begin, please note that today's call may include forward looking statements as defined by Federal Security Fraud. These forward looking statements are based on current views and assumptions and as a result are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and the outcome of future events that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to materially differ from those expressed, projected or implied. Any such forward looking statements are qualified by the risk factors described in our filings with the SEC, including in our 2024 Annual Report on Form 10K and speak only. As of today, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements except as required by law. In addition, non GAAP measures of performance will be discussed during this call. Reconciliations of those measures to GAAP measures and definitions of certain items referred to in our remarks are included in yesterday's earnings release and other filings with the sec. For a copy of the earnings release or additional information about the company, please visit applehospitalityreit.com. this morning, Justin Knight, our Chief Executive Officer, and Liz Perkins, our Chief Financial Officer, will provide an overview of our results for the third quarter 2025 and an operational outlook for the rest of the year. Following the overview, we will open the call for Q and A. At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Justin.

Justin Knight - Chief Executive Officer - (00:03:08)

Good morning and thank you for joining us today for our third quarter 2025 earnings call. While the fundamentals of our business remain strong, with supply growth continuing to be well below historical norms and overall demand proving resilient, policy uncertainty, expense pressure and a continued pullback in government travel all weighed on operating performance during the quarter for our portfolio and for the industry broadly. With many of these factors outside of our control, we have focused with our management teams on ensuring that we are growing market share and managing expenses to maximize the profitability of our hotels. From a capital allocation standpoint, we continue to see an opportunity to take advantage of the current disconnect between public and private market valuations by selectively selling assets and redeploying proceeds to buy our own stock. At the same time, we are leaning into future investments that we feel will ensure our portfolio's continued relevancy and allow us to achieve strong results for years to come. Together with our management companies, our asset and revenue management teams have done a tremendous job shifting the mix of business at our hotels to strengthen market share and tactically adjust the changing demand trends driven in part by the pullback in government travel transient leisure. Demand for our portfolio remained resilient during the quarter and our property teams have successfully targeted group business which has helped to offset slightly softer midweek business transient. For the quarter we achieved comparable Hotels occupancy of 76% down 1.2% ADR of $163 down only 0.6% and RevPAR of $124 down 1.8%. Impacted by the recent government shutdown, comparable hotels RevPAR was approximately 3% lower in October 2025 versus October 2024, based on preliminary performance data. The hotel teams have also been diligent in their efforts to mitigate cost pressures and operate as efficiently as possible while delivering the high level of service and quality our guests expect. As a result of these efforts, variable expense growth for our portfolio has moderated with the higher growth in fixed costs largely coming as a result of challenging year over year comparisons. Though slightly down versus prior year, our portfolio continues to produce industry leading margins with comparable hotels ebitda margin of 35.2% for the quarter. In addition to the day to day efforts with our management teams to maximize the performance of our hotels through the implementation of systems and effective management practices. We also look for structural ways to drive overall performance. Over the coming months we will be transitioning our Marriott managed hotels to franchise and consolidating management in these markets with existing third party management companies to realize incremental operational synergies. We are confident these transitions together with a select number of additional market level management consolidations will help to further drive operating performance at our hotels. In the case of the Marriott managed assets, the transition away from brand management will also provide us with additional flexibility in the future as we consider select dispositions. The Marriott transitions align with Marriott's publicly stated goal to drive incremental efficiencies in their own business and we appreciate their willingness to work with us in pursuit of a mutually beneficial outcome. We have always been disciplined in our approach to capital allocation, balancing both near and long term allocation decisions to capitalize on existing opportunities while securing the long term relevance, stability and performance of our platform through all phases of the economic cycle. We seek transactions that enhance the quality and competitiveness of our existing portfolio, drive earnings per share, create value for our shareholders and and ensure we are well positioned for future outperformance in the current environment. We have strategically executed select dispositions and forward commitments on new development to manage our near term capex needs and to ensure we are exposed to markets with strong growth profiles. At the same time, we have been able to take advantage of near term opportunities that exist because of the disconnect in public and private market valuations, using proceeds from dispositions and cash from operations to fund share repurchases. We will continue to adjust tactical capital allocation strategy to account for changing market conditions and to act on opportunities at optimal times in the cycle to maximize total returns for our shareholders. Since the beginning of this year we have completed the sale of three hotels for a total combined sales price of $37 million, including our full service Houston Marriott, which we sold during the third quarter for $16 million. We currently have four hotels under contract for sale for a total combined sales price of approximately $36 million, including the previously announced pending sale of our Hampton and Homewood Suites in Clovis, California as well as the contracted sale of our Hampton and Homewood Suites in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We anticipate closing on the sale of these hotels during the fourth quarter of this year. While the overall transaction market continues to be challenging. We have successfully executed on select asset sales in ways to optimize our portfolio concentration, manage capex and Free Capital which we have been able to accretively redeploy at a meaningful spread. Pricing for the individual hotels varies, however. As a Group, the three hotels we sold this year together with the two Clovis hotels and the two Cedar Rapids hotels will trade at a 6.2% blended cap rate or a 12.8 times EBITDA multiple before CAPEX and a 4.7% cap rate or a 17.1 times EBITDA multiple. After taking into consideration the estimated $24 million in capital improvements. Proceeds from these well timed dispositions have been used primarily to fund share repurchases. Since the beginning of the year through October, we have repurchased approximately 3.8 million of our shares at a weighted average market purchase price of approximately $12.73 per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $48 million. Shares repurchase year to date have been priced at around a 3 turn spread to recent dispositions and around a 7 turn EBITDA multiple spread after taking into consideration estimated capital improvements. While our long term goal is to grow our portfolio when our stock trades at an implied discount to values we can achieve in private market transactions, as it has for the past several months, we will opportunistically sell assets and redeploy proceeds primarily into additional share repurchases, preserving our balance sheets so that at the appropriate time in the cycle we can act quickly on attractive acquisitions opportunities. Since May of last year we have invested nearly $83 million in our own shares. In June of this year we acquired the Homewood Suites Tampa brandon for approximately $19 million and we are on track to acquire the modern Nashville Downtown which is nearing completion of construction in December of this year for a total of approximately $98 million. While it is still several months out, we will also be converting our residence in Seattle, Lake Union to a home with suites beginning in the fourth quarter of next year. The transition will happen as the hotel reaches the end of its current franchise term with the determination to change brands, being informed by competitive supply within the market and brand incentives. Upon conversion, the hotel will be one of only two Homewood Suites in the downtown Seattle market. The hotel will continue to operate as a residence inn through the renovation and conversion which will be completed during the second quarter of 2027. This hotel sits on incredibly valuable real estate and we are excited about the opportunity to reintroduce it under a new flag. While our primary near term focus has been on dispositions and share repurchases, we entered into agreements for the development of three hotels during the quarter, each located in a key dynamic market that will further enhance our portfolio positioning in the years to come. We entered into a fixed price forward purchase contract for the purchase of an AC hotel to be developed in Anchorage, Alaska with an anticipated 160 rooms for a total of approximately $66 million. Anchorage has consistently been one of our top performing markets with both strong leisure and business demand driving overall performance while early in the development process. The hotel is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2027. Also during the quarter we entered into a fixed price forward purchase contract with a third party developer to develop a dual branded property that will include an AC hotel and a residence inn in Las Vegas, Nevada on the land we own adjacent to our Spring Hill Suites Las Vegas Convention center for a total of approximately $144 million. It is our expectation that the hotel will be completed and open for business in the second quarter of 2028. The AC Hotel is expected to have 237 guest rooms and the Residence Inn is expected to have 160 guest rooms. The Las Vegas market continues to expand as a top destination for sports, entertainment and conventions and while recent market performance has been negatively impacted by lower international inbound travel, we have strong conviction in the future growth and long term viability of this dynamic business friendly market and are excited to expand our presence there. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have completed approximately $354 million in hotel sales with an additional 36 million under contract and expected to close in the coming months. These sales represent a blended cap rate prior to taking into consideration estimated capex of approximately 5% and a 4% cap rate after capex and have allowed us to forego significant renovation expenditures in markets where we see limited upside preserving capital for higher yielding investments. Over the same period, we have invested more than $1 billion in acquisitions and purchased 6.9 million shares of our own stock while maintaining the strength of our balance sheet. These transactions have further enhanced our already well positioned portfolio by lowering the average age, lifting overall portfolio performance, helping to manage near term capex needs, increasing exposure to high growth markets and position us to continue to benefit from economic and demographic trends. Consistent reinvestment in our portfolio is a key component of our strategy and ensures that our hotels maintain their strong value proposition for our customers. Our experienced team is focused on leveraging our scale ownership to control costs, maximize impact on reinvested dollars and optimally schedule projects during periods of seasonally lower demand to minimize revenue displacement. Our ability to renovate our hotels efficiently is a meaningful differentiator which combined with effective portfolio management, helps us to achieve consistent strong returns for our investors over time. During the nine months ended September 30th, capital expenditures were approximately $50 million and for the year we expect to reinvest between 80 and 90 million dollars in our hotels with major renovations at approximately 20 of our hotels. Supported by strong cash flow from our portfolio of hotels, we continue to pay an attractive dividend which is meaningfully additive to total returns for our investors. During the third quarter, we paid distributions totaling approximately $57 million or $0.24 per common share based on Friday's closing stock price. Our annualized regular monthly cash distribution of $0.96 per share represents an annual yield of approximately 8.6%. Together with our Board of Directors, we will continue to monitor our distribution rate and timing relative to the performance of our hotels and other potential uses of capital. Although macroeconomic uncertainty has continued to weigh on year over year growth and fueled capital market volatility. Travel demand for our portfolio has remained resilient, further reinforcing the merits of our underlying strategy and we are confident we remain well positioned to drive profitability and maximize long term value for our shareholders. 63% of our hotels do not have any new upper upscale, upscale or upper mid scale product under construction within a five mile radius. This historically low rate of supply growth is unique to this cycle and we believe materially improves the overall risk profile of our portfolio by reducing potential downside while enhancing potential upside as lodging demand strengthens. Our hotels, which are broadly diversified across markets and demand generators, operate efficiently and produce strong cash flow while simultaneously providing guests traveling on both business and leisure with compelling value proposition. We have historically outperformed during extended periods of economic uncertainty and we believe we are well positioned for upside should we see reacceleration in broader economic growth. While we are early into our budget process for 2026, we are encouraged by airline and hotel brand commentary related to improvements they are seeing in demand as well as lapping the pullback in government demand we have seen this year and with hotels in each of the US markets that will host the 2026 FIFA World cup, we are well positioned to take advantage of additional demand created by the events. Throughout our 25 year history in the lodging industry, we have refined our strategy, intentionally choosing to invest in high quality hotels that appeal to a broad set of business and leisure customers, diversifying our portfolio across markets and demand generators, maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet with low leverage, reinvesting in our hotels and closely aligning efforts with associates and management teams who operate our hotels. Our differentiated strategy has been tested and proven across multiple economic cycles with the strength of our broadly diversified portfolio, the overall resilience of our business, our low leverage and the depth of our team. I am confident we are well positioned to drive profitability and maximize long term value for our shareholders in any macroeconomic environment. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Liz for additional details on our balance sheet financial performance during the quarter and outlook for the remainder of the year.

Liz Perkins - Chief Financial Officer - (00:17:59)

Thank you Justin and good morning. While the travel industry has faced macroeconomic headwinds this year, we are generally pleased with the overall performance and resilience of our portfolio. Comparable Hotels Total revenue was $365 million for the quarter and $1.1 billion year to date through September, both down approximately 1% to the same periods of 2024 comparable hotels. Adjusted Hotel EBITDA was approximately $129 million for the quarter and $375 million year to date through September down approximately 7% and 6% as compared to the same periods of 2024, respectively. Third quarter Comparable Hotels RevPAR was $124 down 1.8%, ADR was $163 down only 60 basis points and occupancy was 76% down 1.2% as compared to the third quarter 2024. For the nine months ended September 30th. Comparable Hotels RevPAR with $122 down 1.4%, ADR was $161 up 10 basis points and occupancy was 75%, down 1.4% to the same period of 2024. Our portfolio continues to outperform the industry where Star reports RevPAR of $102, ADR of $160 and average occupancy of 63% for the first nine months of the year, highlighting the relative strength of our portfolio demand. Despite year over year decline. Our teams have done a tremendous job adjusting strategy to re optimize the mix of business at our hotels where there were meaningful shifts in government and other demand segments as well as maximizing revenue around special events to strengthen market share and performance for our overall portfolio. July was the strongest month of the quarter with comparable hotels, RevPAR growth of 1% while August and September turned negative as anticipated, with September impacted by the unfavorable calendar shift of Rosh Hashanah from October into September. Even with the pullback in August and September, we are generally pleased with the performance of our portfolio and the resilience of travel broadly. Despite elevated macroeconomic uncertainty and the pullback in government travel specifically, market performance varied significantly during the quarter with a mix of strong RevPAR gains in several markets and ongoing headwinds impacting others due to demand shifts and challenging year over year comparisons, our team remains focused on hotel and market specific strategies as well as operational execution to maximize performance. Top performing hotels during the quarter included our South Bend Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn and suites, both with RevPAR gains over 20%. Our Richmond Marriott saw RevPAR increase almost 17% year over year during the quarter and other top performers included our Denton Homewood Suites, Lafayette Spring Hill Suites, Medawa Residence Inn, Boca Raton, Hilton Garden Inn, Salt Lake City Residence Inn and our Austin Round Rock Homewood Suites. Hotels with significant year over year RevPAR declines included our Arlington Hampton Inn and Suites, Houston Park Row Residence Inn, Austin Fairfield Inn and Suites, Tucson Town Place Suites, San Bernardino Residence Inn and our Phoenix Homewood Suites based on preliminary results for the month of October, Comparable Hotels RevPAR declined by approximately 3% as compared to October 2024, which was impacted by incremental pullback in government demand as a result of the government shutdown which began on October 1st. While we expect the shutdown to continue to weigh on demand until the government reopens, we are optimistic that we will benefit from the near term pent up demand upon reopening. Turning back to the third quarter Weekday and occupancy trends softened as the quarter progressed together, driving overall portfolio occupancy declines for the quarter. Weekend occupancy was strong at 81% but declined 120 basis points, slightly outperforming weekday occupancy which declined 160 basis points. Weekend ADR was approximately flat for the quarter, turning negative in September after being positive in July and August, while weekday ADR was softer, declining 80 basis points for the quarter and contributing to overall RevPAR decline. Highlighting same store room night channel mix brand.com bookings were up 110 basis points year over year at 40%. OTA bookings were up 70 basis points to 13%, Property Direct was down 120 basis points at 23% and GDS bookings were down 20 basis points to 17%. Looking at third quarter same store segmentation bar was up 40 basis points at 33% of our occupancy mix. Other discounts grew 30 basis points to 29%. Corporate and local negotiated declined 70 basis points to 17% of our mix and government declined 40 basis points to 5.2% of mix group business mix improved 50 basis points to 15% and continues to be a focus area for our property teams. In response to demand shifts in other segments, we continue to see growth in other revenues which were up 4% on a comparable basis during the quarter and up 6% year to date, driven primarily by parking revenue and cancellation fees. Turning to expenses, comparable hotels total hotel expenses increased by 1.7% in the third quarter and 2.2% year to date through September as compared to the same periods of last year or 2.9% and 3.6% on a CPOR basis. On a same store basis, total hotel expenses increased by only 1 1/2% over for both the third quarter and year to date through September. Total payroll per occupied room for our same store Hotels was $40 for the quarter, up less than 2% to the third quarter 2024, an improvement compared to first quarter growth of 4% and second quarter growth of 3%. We continue to achieve reductions in contract labor, which decreased during the quarter to 7% of total wages, down 140 basis points or 16% versus the same period in 2024. Comparable hotels variable hotel expenses increased by only 0.7% in the third quarter or 2% on a per occupied room basis. Occupancy declines and cost control efforts resulted in rooms expense decline of 1% versus third quarter of 2024, driven by same store rooms wages decline of 0.8%. Comparable hotel administrative and repair and maintenance costs grew slightly higher at just under 4% and 3% respectively, while sales and marketing expense as well as utilities were more muted at just 1% growth consistent with the first and second quarters, fixed expense growth remained elevated, growing 12% in the third quarter, driven by increases in real estate taxes in several markets as well as general liability insurance premium increases. Despite a softer top line, our comparable hotels adjusted hotel EBITDA margin was strong at 35.2% for the third quarter as well as year to date through September, down 200 basis points and 190 basis points as compared to the same periods of 2024, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA RE was approximately $122 million for the quarter and $350 million year to date through September, both down approximately 5% as compared to the same periods of 2024. MFFO for the quarter was approximately $100 million or $0.42 per share, down approximately 7% on a per share basis as compared to the third quarter 2024. Year to date through September, MFFO was approximately $288 million or $1.21 per share, down 6% on a per share basis as compared to the same period of 2024. Looking at our balance sheet as of September 30, 2025, we had approximately $1.5 billion of total outstanding debt, approximately 3.3 times our trailing twelve month EBITDA with a weighted average interest rate of 4.8%. At quarter end, our weighted average debt maturities were approximately three years. We had cash on hand of approximately $50 million, availability under a revolving credit facility of approximately $648 million, and approximately 68% of our total debt outstanding was fixed or hedged subsequent to the end of the third quarter. We repaid in full one secured mortgage loan associated with two of our hotels for a total of approximately $29 million, bringing the number of unencumbered hotels in our Portfolio as of October 31 to 210 as previously disclosed. In July, we entered into a new unsecured $385 million term loan with a maturity date of July 31, 2030, enabling us to stagger our maturities as we approach our main credit facility in the coming months. Turning to our updated outlook for 2025 provided in yesterday's press release, the adjustments made to full year guidance reflect performance year to date as well as the potential negative impact of prolong uncertainty and the government shutdown on the remainder of the year. For the full year, we expect net income to be between 162 million and $175 million. Comparable Hotels RevPAR change to be between negative 2% and negative 1% Comparable Hotels Adjusted Hotel EBITDA margin to be between 33.9% and 34.5% and Adjusted EBITDA re to be between 435 million and and $444 million. As compared to the midpoint of previously provided 2025 guidance, we are decreasing Comparable Hotels RevPAR change by 100 basis points while increasing comparable Hotels adjusted hotel ebitda margin by 20 basis points and increasing adjusted EBITDA RE by approximately $300,000. As a result of strong cost control measures year to date a more favorable general liability insurance renewal than anticipated and lower G and A expense, we have assumed for purposes of guidance that total hotel expenses will increase by approximately 2.1% at the midpoint, which is 3.4% on a CPOR basis. We continue to assume these increases are driven primarily by higher growth rates for certain fixed expenses, including real estate taxes and general liability insurance, than those experienced last year. This outlook is based on our current view and does not take into account any unanticipated developments in our business or changes in the operating environment. Nor does it take into account any unannounced hotel acquisitions or dispositions. While economic uncertainty remains elevated and the ongoing government shutdown continues to weigh on government demand and travel more broadly, we remain confident in our team's ability to successfully navigate shifting market conditions. Our experience, discipline, and agility enable us to adapt dynamically, maximize profitability, and capture value through opportunistic transactions. The strength of our differentiated strategy has proven resilient across economic cycles, allowing us to preserve equity value in challenging environments and position ourselves to capitalize on emerging opportunities. While we have faced economic headwinds this year, favorable supply demand dynamics persist, our recent capital allocation decisions and portfolio adjustments have driven shareholder value, and our solid balance sheet continues to provide meaningful flexibility. Importantly, we remain focused on the long term despite near term volatility. We are committed to executing our strategy with discipline and patience, ensuring our portfolio is well positioned to deliver growth and value creation over time. That concludes our prepared remarks and we'll now open the call for questions. Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two to remove yourself from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. First question comes from Cooper Clark, who's Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Cooper Clark - Equity Analyst - (00:31:13)

Great. Thank you for taking the question on expense reductions. Curious how your full time employee count has shifted over the quarter and how much of that is driving some of the cost improvements. And then any color on some of the momentum and cost improvements into 2026 would also be great.

Liz Perkins - Chief Financial Officer - (00:31:31)

Absolutely. Good morning. So for, you know, wages and payroll overall, you know, in my prepared remarks I shared some improvement for the quarter and that is largely driven by, you know, managing labor in a way where we are adjusting to the top line from an occupancy decline perspective. And so while we have seen less wage pressure year over year in hourly associates, really it is an improvement from an FTE perspective relative to top line performance. And as we think about that relative to both Q4 and going forward, I think we just want to emphasize the efficiency of our hotels in general. A select service asset can be managed with very few FTEs. And as the top line adjusts both up and down, we have some flexibility with FTE counts. And so we were able to materialize some of that benefit in the third quarter and anticipate that whether we're seeing increases or decreases in occupancy, that we'll be able to manage overall labor expenses well going forward.

Cooper Clark - Equity Analyst - (00:32:52)

Great. Thank you. And then on the acquisition front, it seems like some of the newer additions you're making to the portfolio with the two new AC hotels are shifting your OR portfolio on a relative basis to a higher chain scale. Wondering if this is just where you're seeing the best opportunity or if this represents a slight shift in portfolio strategy longer term. Technically, from a chain scale standpoint, AC sits squarely in the upscale segment and from an operating model you know, is comparable to other hotels that we have within that same space. Our leaning into the AC brand specifically, both from an acquisitions and development standpoint, is really driven in large part by the efficiency of the model and our ability to drive incredibly strong margins with that brand. We've found an ability, especially in markets that have higher, where we have an ability to drive higher rates, that that particular hotel brand competes incredibly effectively with higher chain scale product with an operating model that's meaningfully more efficient and that allows us to bring much more of the top line dollars to the bottom line. Great, thank you. Absolutely.

OPERATOR - (00:34:22)

Next question, Austin Werschmidt with Keybank Capital Markets, please.

Austin Werschmidt - Equity Analyst - (00:34:27)

Hey, good morning everybody. I just was curious, Liz, going back to the guidance change, how much of the change would you attribute to the government shutdown directly or indirectly? And historically, how quickly does that demand typically return, you know, once the government reopens and things are, you know, operating a little bit, you know, more normal course?

Liz Perkins - Chief Financial Officer - (00:34:50)

Yeah, absolutely. Happy to give some additional color and I'll first give you some background as to how we're thinking about quantifying the government impact on October specifically relative to what we saw as we rounded out the third quarter. So first I want to ground everyone in the fact that Q4 was our strongest revpar growth quarter of last year. We were up 2.8% on a comparable basis. That was in part benefited by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. So October and October specifically was up 4% last year. So we've got some tough comps we have to overcome. As we think about what actualized in September and August and September, it's important to remember that some of that is likely due to the comps I mentioned specifically in September and that non repeat business. But also, you know, as we rounded out August and September, we do, we did see some transient pickup sort of soften as we ended the third quarter. So while it's hard to quantify specifically, we do believe there was some softening and transient pickup before we even entered the government shutdown. Had, you know, we had assumed in guidance for August and September that we would be down about 2%. We actualized down a little over 3% on deteriorating transient pickup. And so that was roughly 120 basis points of deterioration from our prior expectations for August and September relative to where we finished. And if you apply that to the 330 basis point adjustment we made to the fourth quarter at the midpoint, about a third of that change to expectations is driven by fundamentals coming into the fourth quarter and two thirds of that change is related to the government shutdown. But again, when we talk about the fundamental, the fundamentals or even the government shutdown, there is just the backdrop of tough comps year over year as we're comparing what we're seeing real time.

Austin Werschmidt - Equity Analyst - (00:36:58)

And then the second part of your question historically. So going back or unfortunately, we do have a comparison time period as we look at the last government shutdown. We did see a meaningful pickup in business following the shutdown, implying we think that there was some business pent up during that period of time that didn't materialize upon coming out of the shutdown. That's helpful, I guess. Where is the government segment as a percent of your business over that last month or so? You know, when you, when you saw the disruption versus I think you were in the 5 to 7% range historically. And any changes in terms of, you know, your exposure or strategy around government business just given the volatility that you've seen over the past year?

Liz Perkins - Chief Financial Officer - (00:37:51)

That's an interesting question. You know, when you think about government over the long term and over as long as we've been in the space, it's historically been stabilizing to the portfolio, this is unique, you know, what we've been experiencing this year. So the latter part of your question, I think goes to one of the reasons that we believe in diversification broadly, both from a geographic perspective, but within individual markets, making sure that there's a broad range of demand so that we don't see, you know, meaningful fluctuations with one segment of demand falling off. You know, I, when, when you mentioned the 5 to 7% historic range, you know, last year for government we were five and a half percent of our occupancy mix. We have been trending and I said in my prepared remarks for the third quarter we were still at 5.2 of our occupancy mix for last quarter. It did drop in October to slightly under 4%. So you definitely saw the impact of the shutdown.

Austin Werschmidt - Equity Analyst - (00:38:58)

Thanks for taking the questions. Excellent.

OPERATOR - (00:39:02)

Next question. Ari Klein with CMO Capital Markets, Please go ahead.

Ari Klein - Equity Analyst - (00:39:07)

Thanks. And good morning. Justin, was hoping you could talk a little bit more about the strategy of doing more of these development deals versus maybe acquisitions where there's a bit more of a track record and what type of returns are you targeting and maybe how you're balancing the acquisitions with share repurchases, which were maybe a little lighter in the quarter. Thank you. Absolutely. And there's a lot to unpack there, so have a little bit of patience with me. But as I highlighted in my prepared remarks, we have been working to balance a desire to take advantage of the short term arbitrage between where we can sell assets and where we're able to buy our stock with a desire to maintain the long term relevance of our portfolio, which includes factors such as Age, market positioning, and product type. You know what we. And part of your question spoke to experience that we have with development deals. Historically, development has represented roughly 25 to 30% of our total acquisitions. I mean, so we do have extensive experience with that particular type of acquisition. As we think about capital allocation and target yield for future development deals, we use an average weighted cost of capital, which takes into consideration a longer period of time. And certainly our expectation is between now and delivery of those assets, which would be two to three years from now, that we will be in a better position from a cost of capital standpoint. Those acquisitions, again because there's some time off, do not preclude us from being active in acquiring our own stock from a balance sheet preservation standpoint. I've highlighted on past calls that it is our intent to fund share repurchases largely with proceeds from sale. To date, our share repurchases have exceeded closed sale transactions and we do, as I highlighted, have four more assets under contract they have not yet sold. And our expectation would be, as those transactions close to use, proceeds, you know, especially to the extent we're trading at values at or around where we're currently trading to make additional share repurchases. So, you know, to clarify, it is our intent to be active in both spaces, both to take advantage of the near term opportunity to drive incremental, you know, value for our shareholders through these selective sales and share repurchases and to use forward commitments on development deals to ensure that the long term, that over a longer period of time, our portfolio remains relevant and positioned to drive strong returns for investors. Thanks. And maybe I could just follow up. Is there a limit to how many of these deals you're willing to take on at any given time? You're nearing the completion of the motto. Now you'll have these three. Should we expect more over the next year or two ahead of these deliveries or is this kind of it? I suppose for the near term, given the scale of these developments, it's generally been our intent to have no more than one or two close in any given year. You know, I think from our perspective, that gives us the maximum amount of flexibility from an ability to close on those assets, you know, and barring, you know, a really exceptional deal, I would anticipate that as we look at, you know, out years with 27 and 28, this would represent the entirety of the forward commitments we were likely to make. Any additional commitments would likely be for assets anticipated to be delivered further out. Got it. Thanks for the color.

OPERATOR - (00:43:31)

Next question. Ken Billingsley with Compass Point, please go ahead. Ken. Your line is live. We'll move on to Jay Cornreach with Cancer Fitzgerald, please go ahead.

Jay Cornreach - Equity Analyst - (00:43:56)

Hi, good morning. Thank you. I guess just first I wanted to follow up on one of the previous government related questions. As we look towards 2026, if government demand does remain soft, are there any, I guess initiatives or maybe new strategies you can employ to fill some of the gap in the government and related travel? Should it continue to be slow? Just having, you know, this past year of experience and more maybe visibility intent into what could transpire next year.

Liz Perkins - Chief Financial Officer - (00:44:24)

I think the team has done an exceptional job pivoting very quickly to build additional base business through group, which is both represented by leisure and corporate group business. I think the team will continue to lean into that as well as, you know, exploring other demand opportunities within those respective markets. The team again, we felt the incremental burden of the pullback in March and April and certainly from a market share perspective realized that. And very, very quickly the team has been able to pivot and maximize based on what's available in market to regain share and be back in a market share growth position. So I think we'll continue to lean into that. And you know, each market is different but the team, the team is certainly mobilized and working very hard to maximize in the current environment.

Jay Cornreach - Equity Analyst - (00:45:28)

Okay, thanks for that. And then just as a follow up, any curious or what are, I guess the updated thoughts as to how we should think about the mix shift going forward with, you know, some of the corporate occupancy potential lift and some potential deceleration on the leisure side. So we're actually seeing the opposite in our portfolio. So when we look at recent performance in part driven by the pullback in government, we've seen greater strength in leisure for our portfolio than we have in midweek corporate where we saw some weakness partially offset as I highlighted in my earlier comments, by improvement in group. You know, I think to the comments that Liz just made, every market's a little bit different and we will work, you know, in each market to maximize on the opportunities that are available to us, you know, and I think continue in many markets to see potential, especially as the government shutdown resolves, which has impact both on government travel directly but also adjacent businesses, you know, to begin to build back some of the corporate demand that has softened for us.

Liz Perkins - Chief Financial Officer - (00:46:55)

Which we were asked earlier about. Jay, just as a follow up, we were asked earlier about the rebound, you know, when the government reopens and what we've seen in the past, we believe that part of the negotiated pullback from a corporate standpoint is related to just general uncertainty or you know, potential travel implications with the government shutdown. And that if we saw the government reopen and we did see a return of some of that pent up demand, that that would not only benefit us from a government perspective, but also for from a corporate transient perspective.

Jay Cornreach - Equity Analyst - (00:47:33)

Got it. Okay. I appreciate the additional color as well.

OPERATOR - (00:47:39)

And Billingsley with conference point, please go ahead.

Ken Billingsley - Equity Analyst - (00:47:44)

All right, Hopefully I got the mute button working this time. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Excellent. Well, good morning. Two questions, one on the expense side and it was kind of a clarification of something you said earlier. So GNA expense savings has been pretty significant in 25. Is some of this temporary due to management decisions and we'll see this tick back up or is this something we can expect to continue? And with that on the expense side, can you talk about the, maybe I didn't quite understand you talking about the Marriott shift plan and expected expense savings or did I hear that incorrectly?

Liz Perkins - Chief Financial Officer - (00:48:23)

Okay, I'll start with GNA and then we can pivot to the Marriott transitions. So from a G and a expense perspective that is really tied primarily to, you know, the executive compensation incentive plan. And you know, as such it's really correlated to how we, how we're performing from an operating metrics perspective, but largely relative and total shareholder return driven. So you know, it resets every year. So you know, it will fluctuate every year this year the way we've been trending year to date. That's what's providing the decline as we look to the revised guidance and as you look year over year, yes, very aligned with shareholders.

Justin Knight - Chief Executive Officer - (00:49:10)

And then from a Marriott managed transition standpoint, as I highlighted in my prepared remarks, it is our intent over the coming months to transition our Marriott managed hotels to franchise. Entering into long term franchise agreements with Marriott for those hotels and consolidating management with, you know, existing third party management partners that we're working with already in those same markets that consolidation is anticipated to unlock incremental value both in terms of near term cash flow from the individual assets and you know, over the longer term, you know, to the extent we pursue a sales transaction with any of those assets, you know, as I highlighted, you know that the transition aligns with Marriott's strategy to improve and enhance the efficiency of their organization and we think provides us with an excellent opportunity to further drive operating performance for those hotels. Well, thank you. And then lastly on the Las Vegas market, I know this is A few years out, but I mean some, some talk about it being weaker. Can you discuss the decision to put two more there at this time? Certainly. You know, I think important to highlight in the beginning that despite the pullback in that market, we're currently yielding 10% on a trailing 12 month basis on the Spring Hill Suites that we purchased in market. Our hotel has outperformed the market more broadly in part because we target a slightly different piece of business. We have historically owned hotels in the Vegas market and understand that because of the demand drivers in that market, it tends to be slightly more volatile than other markets where we have ownership in our portfolio. That said, we believe, as I highlighted in my prepared remarks, in the long term trajectory of the market based on continued investment and meaningful demand drivers which are more diverse than they have been historically. And given our location in market immediately adjacent to the recently expanded convention center, we see that being a meaningful driver for long term value in this complex of hotels. You know, I think when we purchased the Spring Hill Suites, we acquired with it adjacent land which is where these hotels will be built. They will be connected to the Spring Hill Suites. And so when we think about operating efficiencies, we will have an ability using the same manager for all three hotels to drive really strong bottom line numbers for the hotels. And again, you know, I think as we think about both additions and subtractions from our portfolio, you know, and you know, look to prune and plant, we're taking a long term view and see our presence in Vegas as a meaningful differentiator from our publicly traded peers and a potential driver for of long term value. Thank you.

OPERATOR - (00:52:46)

Next question. Michael Belisario with Bear, please go ahead.

Michael Belisario - Equity Analyst - (00:52:51)

Thanks. Good morning everyone. Just first question for you just in terms of Capex and disruption, sort of two parts here just on the Seattle Lake Union project. Any outsized cost there and then how should we think about earnings disruption next year? I think that hotel's pretty large and significant in terms of earnings contribution. And then the 13 Marriott managed hotels just help us understand what's sort of the typical disruption like when you do transition a management company. Both very good questions. When we think about the Residence Inn because it was coming up on end of franchise, we anticipated that we would be renovating the hotel regardless of whether or not we transitioned brand. And so the renovation related disruption I think would have been the same regardless of whether or not we had kept it within that same brand family. You know, I think as we looked at options in that market, you know, and I highlighted this in my Prepared remarks. We looked at competitive supply and recognized quickly that Marriott had significantly greater presence in the market than Hilton, more than double. And given the strength of both reward systems, we saw value in repositioning the hotel, you know, to another flag. Certainly there should not be a read through as far feelings related to the resins in brand or other Marriott brands as indicated by the recently signed development deals. We continue to feel very strongly that those are incredibly powerful brands. Our decision in this market was driven largely by the competitive supply picture and facilitated frankly by brand incentives, which helped to sweeten the deal. As we think about disruption for that particular property, we anticipate some outsized disruption as we transition from one reservation system to another. Because it's an extended state property with a higher percentage of direct sales than a typical hotel, we hope to mitigate a portion of that. And you know, I think certainly we'll be in a position to report back as we, as we work through that process, remembering again that we've given a lot of advance notice to this group and that that transaction still happens, you know, sometime in the future, you know, speaking to the other properties, the transition we anticipate there will be much less disruptive. And in fact we have from time to time as, you know, transitioned assets from one management company to another, you know, in an effort to drive incremental performance from those hotels. Especially to the extent we're able to consolidate management within individual markets and leverage that combined presence to reduce staff and to combine sales efforts in a way that really drive incremental profitability. Because we have a lot of experience with that, I think we feel good about our ability to drive incremental value in the short term. That combined with the fact that we will be transitioning the hotels during, for most of the hotels, the slowest period of the year. From an overall occupancy standpoint, you know, we see those transitions as going smoothly and positioning us to drive near term incremental efficiencies from an operational standpoint. You know, beyond that, the transition to franchise unlocks incremental flexibility as we think about potential transactions down the road. And so we saw it as a win, win, win with Marriott being able to achieve some incremental efficiencies from an operational standpoint on their side, us gaining operational efficiencies near term as we combine management in individual markets and then long term unlocking incremental value to the extent we pursue a sale of the assets. Understood. And then a follow up for Liz, I think you mentioned 3.4% cost per occupied room this year at the midpoint, early look into next year. How should we think about cost per occupied room? At least the growth rate relative to this year. Any puts or takes to consider. And that's it for me. Thank you.

Liz Perkins - Chief Financial Officer - (00:57:50)

So I think it's a little bit early for us to give, you know, definitive, you know, guidance from an expense growth perspective given where we are in the budgeting process. And as Justin mentioned, we have several things we're working through which we ultimately believe will go smoothly and will put us in a better position but could have some short term impact. So you know, if we, if we remove that from the equation, I think we have seen in many, you know, in many areas expenses moderate as we've moved through the year and feel like the team has done a very, very good job given the top line flexing and maximizing cost savings and maximizing profitability. As we think about the bottom line, we've outperformed our expectations and we certainly hope that we'll be able to carry some of that through as we think about next year. Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press Star one on your telephone keypad. Next question comes from Chris Darling with Green Street. Please go ahead.

Chris Darling - Equity Analyst - (00:59:06)

Thanks. Good morning. So just quick follow up on the Las Vegas development deal. Would you expect any revenue synergies just being next to the convention center with a larger footprint over time? Absolutely. You know, and especially, you know, I think our team was incredibly thoughtful in the selection of brands such that we could from a sales perspective present, you know, a very versatile total product with an ability to house larger groups spread among the three brands in ways that drive their overall stay experience. But certainly believe that having the combined assets there meaningfully better positions us from a sales standpoint as well as, you know, providing us with incremental ability to drive operational efficiencies on brands that quite frankly are already leading brands from a margin production standpoint. All right, understood. It's helpful. And then, you know, maybe more broadly, just taking a step back as you think about the past few years of transaction activity, hoping you can discuss how you think about market selection. You know, when you're buying into new markets, maybe selling out of others. Just curious, what are the driving factors behind those decisions? Is it supply? Is it, you know, the ability to densify with the same operators? What are the main factors you think about? A good question. You know, I think zooming out, we're mindful to start with the portfolio profile we're looking to create overall, you know, with an Emphasis on creating exposure to a broad variety of demand segments and balancing, you know, that exposure in a way that creates overall stability from a performance standpoint in the overall. And then as we zoom in and look at individual markets and hopefully this is apparent as you look at our recent acquisition and disposition activity, generally we're looking to lean into markets that are business friendly where the overall demand trends are expected to be positive and are supported by demographic trends, you know, both in terms of the movement of people and in most cases large businesses to those same markets. And so, you know, if we look at pending transactions, you know, and start with Nashville, which we anticipate closing on later this year, certainly Nashville from a hotel performance standpoint has been negatively impacted near term by supply growth and the absorption of that supply. When you zoom out and look at the overarching trends from a demand standpoint in that market, they continue to be very strong, both from a leisure standpoint and as we look at continued movement of large and small businesses into that market and thinking specifically of the announced movement of Oracle's headquarters to the market as one example, but also expansion of electric vehicle battery plant facility as a joint venture in that same market, combining with expansion of sporting venues which will have an ability to drive incremental concert related business, you know, all with the overarching kind of demand for that market, continue to be very strong leisure, filling in the gaps, you know, moving to Vegas. Similar as we think about overall demographic trends, you know, largely growing market, they continue to see meaningful investment in additional demand drivers. And then Anchorage for some time has been, you know, one of and you know, for the past quarter and year to date, our top revpar producing market benefiting again from a strong mix of leisure and business demand. You know, I think certainly as we think about the makeup of our portfolio and our ability to drive leverage long term profitability, we're mindful of the margins that we're able to drive in those markets which you know, come from a combination of ability to drive top line performance with appropriate cost structure for that top line performance. And then, you know, we're looking at the overall age of our portfolio and our ability to efficiently maintain our assets and all of those things combined to drive, you know, both our acquisitions and our dispositions activity. We've been fortunate in the current market to be able to transact at very attractive cap rates on the types of assets that we see as being less strategic for us long term, which has created really an incredible environment where we're able to achieve our strategic objectives in an environment where doing so also immediately enhances our performance from a fundamental standpoint. And you know, I think as I highlighted in my prepared remarks, we will continue to lean into that and in the near term, because of where we're trading, look to redeploy proceeds into our stock in an effort to further improve our cost of capital to fund future acquisitions. Okay. Appreciate the detail. That's it for me. Thank you.

OPERATOR - (01:05:28)

I would like to turn the floor over to Justin for closing remarks.

Justin Knight - Chief Executive Officer - (01:05:33)

Thank you for joining us today. We continue to be excited about near and long term opportunities for our portfolio and hope as always that as you have an opportunity to travel, you'll take the opportunity to stay with us in one of our hotels. I know over the coming weeks and months we'll have an opportunity to meet with many of you and we look forward to seeing you in person and answering any further questions you might have.

OPERATOR - (01:05:56)

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and thank you for your participation.