Travel + Leisure Co.

Good morning and welcome to the first quarter 2021 earnings conference call for Travel and Leisure Co. from a Lewindom destination. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer period. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star then 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press the pound key on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, this conference call is being recorded. If you do not agree with these terms, please disconnect at this time. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Chris Agnew. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Good morning and welcome. Before we begin, we'd like to remind you that our discussions this morning will include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, and the forward-looking statements made today are effective only as of today. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise these statements. The factors that could cause actual results to differ discussed in our SEC filings, and you can find a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures discussed in today's call, in our earnings press release available on our website at investor.travelandleisureco.com. This morning, Michael Brown, our President and Chief Executive Officer, will provide an overview of our first quarter results, and Mike Hugg, our Chief Financial Officer, will then provide greater detail on the quarter, our balance sheet, and liquidity position. Following these remarks, we will be available to respond to your questions. With that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Michael Brown.

Thank you, Chris. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. One year ago, we recognized the uncertainty ahead, and in response, we took swift action. We made significant tactical and long-term strategic decisions, which allowed us to manage our short-term cash flow and has powered our return to normalized profitability, setting us up to execute on our recovery as the world gets back on vacation. 2021 is off to a great start. Earlier this morning, we reported first quarter adjusted EBITDA of $129 million and adjusted EPS of 39 cents. Operating performance strengthened significantly in March with sequential improvement in our key operating metrics. Increased consumer confidence, reduced domestic travel restrictions, and the faster-than-anticipated vaccine rollout have all helped to accelerate leisure travel demands. As we reflect on our March results and booking trends, the data clearly reflects an inflection in travel sentiment, which we believe will lead to a strong summer travel recovery. Let me share some data points that give us confidence in the recovery in leisure travel for the remainder of the year. First, March vacation ownership bookings for 2021 arrivals finished up 15% compared to 2019. and bookings for RCI North America were up 21%. This is a marked change from January-February, where bookings were down double digits from both. The positive trends that were realized in March have continued in April. Second, we are seeing booking lead times lengthening for the summer and fall. The inflection in lead times is a healthy leading indicator of increasing consumer confidence. Another positive indicator is the improvement in demand for key leisure destinations. Nevada, California, and Hawaii all experienced large positive swings in momentum from the beginning of the year, and based on April net confirmations, Las Vegas is back to being a top three destination, with Orlando leading the way. Last, we are seeing increased demand to fly to destinations, indicating not only increased demand for travel, but increased confidence to travel. Let me now transition to provide an overview of the first quarter. Our vacation ownership and travel and membership businesses both finished the quarter on an upswing. Vacation ownership had gross VOI sales of $236 million, ahead of our guidance range of $210 to $220 million. This reflects strong sequential improvement throughout the quarter. Let me share a few highlights. Close rates improved meaningfully in the first quarter and were 150 basis points better than 2019, a sign of both pent-up demand and a strong consumer. New owner sales transactions were above expectations at 32% of total transactions due to a higher mix of new owner tours. In blue thread, our strategic partnership with Wyndham Hotels and its Wyndham Rewards Loyalty Program accounted for 9% of new owner sales transactions. Transitioning to our travel and membership segment, first quarter results were strong with transactions up 28% year over year. Our North American exchange business led the improvement with a robust march that saw transactions at their highest monthly level in two years. This was an impressive turnaround from the first two months of the quarter where they were down 15%. Also during the quarter, RCI announced a new affiliation agreement with Capital Vacations Club. Capital Vacations manages nearly 70 associations, including over 45 Vacation Club locations in the U.S. and the Caribbean. This relationship brings 32,000 additional members into our membership base. For the company overall, travel and leisure adjusted EBITDA margin of 20.5% was higher than anticipated, driven by the favorable revenue trends, as well as a combination of actions taken early last year. These actions included focus on higher credit quality tours and cost savings that will result in $60 million of permanent G&A savings. The strong first quarter margin was achieved despite a $22 million net interest income headwind due to our reduced consumer finance portfolio. If we equalize the 2021 portfolio size to 2019, adjusted EBITDA margin would have been approximately 23% compared to the 22% margin in the first quarter of 2019 and 20.5% this year. On the strategic front, the first quarter was notable as we started the year with the acquisition of the Travel & Leisure brand and its two travel clubs. In February, we renamed our company Travel & Leisure and launched BookTNL.com, an online vacation booking platform. The team has been working on the integration and transition of the business and is planning to launch a new Travel & Leisure subscription club this summer. We are also developing licensing opportunities to allow travel and consumer product companies to leverage the travel and leisure brand. As it relates to our outlook, we will eventually return to full-year guidance. But for now, we will provide guidance for the second quarter only. For the second quarter, we expect tours of 118,000 to 123,000, VPG around $2,800, and and gross VOI sales of approximately $355 to $365 million. Second quarter VOI sales represents a 50% to 55% sequential increase from the first quarter. Overall, we anticipate adjusted EBITDA in the range of $160 to $170 million in the second quarter. With that, I would like to hand the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Mike Hugg. Mike.