William H. Conkling
Thanks, Jon, and good morning, everyone. The first quarter of 2024 represented a continuation of 2023 trends as growth within our portfolio was once again driven by the company's urban and suburban hotels, which each produced RevPAR increases of approximately 2.5% in the first quarter. Strength in our urban and suburban portfolios was driven by several of our key Sunbelt markets such as Dallas-Fort Worth, Orlando, Charlotte and Houston, all of which continue to generate RevPAR growth meaningfully above the industry average. As Jon mentioned, several of our lagging markets such as the San Francisco Bay Area, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Louisville and New Orleans, also experienced strong first quarters with RevPAR increasing 12% in aggregate. We expect continued outperformance in these lagging markets for the balance of the year. In addition to the urban and suburban portfolios, our airport hotels were amongst our strongest performers as first quarter RevPAR increased over 5% for this portfolio. From a national perspective, TSA statistics indicate air travel increased 6% in the first quarter of the year and recent commentary from Delta, American and other major carriers point towards accelerating corporate transient demand and a strong summer travel season. From a Summit perspective, airport hotel performance was driven by our 5 Grapevine hotels, where RevPAR increased 6.5% in the first quarter, benefiting from double-digit year-over-year passenger growth at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. In addition, our Courtyard and Residence Inn Metairie generated a first quarter RevPAR increase of 36% as a result of the recently completed renovation at the Courtyard and 5% year-over-year passenger growth at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport. Although our resort portfolio declined modestly year-over-year in the first quarter, including a challenging Super Bowl comparison for our Phoenix hotels and several disruptive renovations, we are pleased with the continued strength in our resort markets where average rates and RevPAR remain 14% and 8% above pre-pandemic levels, respectively. We continue to invest in several of our resort hotels, such as the Embassy Suites Tucson, Hotel Indigo Asheville and Courtyard Fort Lauderdale Beach, given the constructive long-term outlook for leisure demand. From a segmentation perspective, group demand continues to serve as a key catalyst for the company as first quarter group RevPAR increased in 40 of our 43 markets. In addition, group RevPAR increased across all location types except for our resort portfolio. For the quarter, full week group RevPAR increased over 3% with weekday group RevPAR increasing approximately 4%. Other segments that demonstrated growth in the first quarter include negotiated discount and contract. The success of our revenue management strategies is perhaps best illustrated in the NCI portfolio, where group and negotiated RevPAR increased by 19% and 15%, respectively, as the operating strategies of those hotels have been reconfigured to take advantage of today's demand trends. In the first quarter, non-rooms revenue in the pro forma portfolio increased 8%, driven largely by midweek occupancy gains as well as the shift in business mix towards group and corporate transient demand. While higher outlet utilization as well as banquet and catering demand resulted in a 3% year-over-year increase in food and beverage revenues, the ongoing benefit of favorable parking contract renegotiations and increased resort fee capture drove non-F&B revenue growth of 14% for the quarter. Once again, the NewcrestImage portfolio was an outperformer, generating 6% RevPAR growth in the quarter. As previously mentioned, group and negotiated demand were the primary drivers of top line growth, further validation of our team's successful application of strategic sales clusters. As a result, the NCI portfolio's market share increased 420 basis points compared to the first quarter of last year, driven primarily by gains in occupancy. The strength in top line performance within the NCI portfolio, coupled with slowing expense growth resulted in hotel EBITDA increasing approximately 12% and hotel EBITDA margin expansion of more than 130 basis points in the first quarter. The operating expense environment continues to moderate, and our asset management team did a fantastic job during the first quarter controlling costs and managing the middle of the P&L. Total expenses increased 2.4% year-over-year. Combined with the increase in occupancy, cost per occupied room declined 1.6% from the prior year period. From a labor expense perspective, we are experiencing moderating wage growth, reduced utilization of contract labor and lower turnover. Relative to first quarter 2023, wages increased 2.5%, which is increasingly in line with historical norms. Contract labor declined by 11% on a nominal basis and by 14% on a per occupied room basis versus the prior year, respectively. This represents the sixth consecutive quarter contract labor has declined on a per occupied room basis. Today, contract labor comprises 12% of our total labor spend, down from 18% at its peak in 2022, but still meaningfully above pre-pandemic levels, suggesting additional room for improvement moving forward. FTE count increased modestly during the quarter, but continues to remain 15% to 20% below 2019 levels. A more constructive expense environment serves as a key driver to improving hotel EBITDA margins, which expanded year-over-year by nearly 90 basis points for our same-store portfolio and over 80 basis points for our pro forma portfolio in the first quarter. Pro forma hotel EBITDA for the first quarter was $68.6 million, a 6% increase from the first quarter of last year. Same-store hotel EBITDA flow-through for the quarter was approximately 62% despite RevPAR growth that was entirely occupancy-driven. Notably, hotel EBITDA increased in each of the company's wholly owned GIC joint venture and other joint venture portfolios. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $48.8 million, a 10% increase compared to the first quarter of 2023, and adjusted FFO was $30 million or $0.24 per share, a 14% increase versus the same period last year. From a capital expenditure standpoint, in the first quarter we invested approximately $18 million in our portfolio on a consolidated basis and approximately $15 million on a pro rata basis. CapEx spend for the first quarter was driven by transformational renovations at our Hilton Garden in Milpitas, Residence in Hillsboro, Embassy Suites Tucson, Courtyard New Haven and Hotel Indigo Asheville. We continue to ensure the quality and relative age of our portfolio positions the company to drive profitability and market share. Turning to the balance sheet, the net proceeds from the New Orleans and College Station asset sales were used to repay the $55 million balance outstanding on the company's corporate credit facility as of March 31 and to reduce the balance of the NCI term loan from $402 million at March 31 to $396 million today. As Jon mentioned, our net debt to EBITDA has declined by nearly 1 turn over the past year, driven by accretive noncore asset sales and continued growth in hotel EBITDA. In January, we entered into a $100 million interest rate swap, fixing 1-month term SOFR at 3.765% for debt within our GIC joint venture. This swap, which is 150 basis points below the current SOFR rate, becomes effective in October of 2024 and expires in January of 2026. Today, the net asset position of our swap portfolio is approximately $20 million. As a result of our interest rate management efforts, our balance sheet is well positioned with an average pro rata interest rate of 4.7% and approximately 77% of our pro rata share of debt fixed after consideration of interest rate swaps. When accounting for the company's Series E, F and