Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.

Good morning, and welcome to the Host Hotels and Resorts First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Jamie Marcus, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, please note that many of the comments made today are considered to be forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. As described in our filings with the SEC, these statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause future results to differ from those expressed, and we are not obligated to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements. In addition, on today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial information, such as FFO, adjusted EBITDA RE, and comparable hotel-level results. You can find this information together with reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP information in yesterday's earnings press release, in our 8K files with the SEC, and in the supplemental financial information on our website at hosthotels.com. With me on today's call are Jim Lozolio, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Sara Ghosh, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Jim.

Thank you, Jamie, and thanks to everyone for joining us this morning. We kicked off the first quarter of 2023 with meaningful outperformance, delivering a REVPAR improvement of 31% compared to the first quarter of 2022, exceeding the top end of our first quarter REVPAR guidance by four percentage points. During the first quarter, we delivered adjusted EBITDA RE of $444 million and adjusted FFO per share of 55 cents. Our comparable hotel EBITDA of $439 million in the first quarter was 18% above 2019 and 44% above 2022, driven by both occupancy increases and continued rate strength. particularly in the group business segment at our downtown hostels. First quarter comparable hotel EBITDA margin of 32.5% was meaningfully ahead of 2022 and exceeded 2019 for the fourth consecutive quarter. Our strong performance in the first quarter coupled with our improved outlook for the year allowed us to substantially raise and tighten our full year Red Park growth guidance range to 7.5% to 10.5%, nearly doubling the midpoint of our full year expected REBPAR growth to 9% from 5% last quarter. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter since the onset of the pandemic that we have achieved REBPAR, adjusted EBITDA RE, and EBITDA margins ahead of 2019. And at the midpoint, our full year 2023 red part guidance is 7% above 2019. Our outperformance is a result of the capital allocation decisions made over the last six years and our unwavering focus on expense control and margin improvement. It is worth noting that at the 9% midpoint, we raised our adjusted EBITDA guidance by $125 million. which is significantly above our first quarter outperformance of over $40 million relative to consensus. Lastly, at the midpoint of our range, our full year 2023 EBITDA is forecasted to be 3% above 2019. We are also providing second quarter comparable hotel rep part growth guidance of 4% to 6%. So Rob will discuss our updated guidance assumptions in a few minutes. On the capital allocation front, during the first quarter, we sold the 277 Key Camby Autograph Collection Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona for $110 million or 14.3 times trailing 12-month EBITDA. When calculating the EBITDA multiple, we included approximately $23 million of estimated foregone near-term CapEx. In connection with the sale, We provided a $72 million loan to the purchaser with up to an additional $12 million available for a property improvement plan, not to exceed a 65% loan to cost ratio. During the quarter, we also repurchased 3.2 million shares at an average price of $15.65 per share through our common share repurchase program. bringing our total repurchases for the quarter to $50 million. Over the past few quarters, we have repurchased $77 million of stock at an average repurchase price of $15.75 per share. We have approximately $923 million of remaining capacity under the repurchase program. We continue to be optimistic about the state of travel today. despite the underlying uncertainty in the economy and lack of clear visibility in the second half of the year. We are not seeing any signs of a slowdown, and our outlook for the rest of the year has improved since our last earnings call. Leisure rates remain well above 2019 levels, and the moderation we saw in the second half of last year plateaued in the first quarter. For context, Transient rates at our resource were 54% above 2019 in the first quarter, which was in line with the fourth quarter. On the group front, in the first quarter, we booked over 500,000 group rooms for 2023, and total group revenue pace is now 2.5% ahead of the same time, 2019. The group booking window is extending. as most of our top markets picked up more group rooms for 2024 in the first quarter than the same time 2019. While business transient demand is continuing to evolve, rates in the first quarter were up 10% to 2019, with demand holding steady compared to the fourth quarter. Turning to first quarter results, comparable hotel rep part for the first quarter was approximately $218, a 31% improvement over the first quarter of 2022, and a 7.4% improvement over the first quarter of 2019. Comparable hotel revenues in the first quarter were up 11% over 2019 and 34% over 2022, respectively, while comparable hotel operating expenses were up only 9% over 2019 and 30% over 2022. Transit revenue was 13% above the first quarter of 2022 as a result of increased occupancy and easier comparisons due to Omicron, which allowed our managers to push rate higher. Revenue growth was primarily driven by our downtown hotels. Our resort properties continue to outperform with 1% transient rate growth over 2022. In the first quarter, we had six resorts with transient rates above $1,000, led by the Four Seasons Resort in Residence Jackson Hole at nearly $3,000 and the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort at over $2,000. As a reminder, Hyatt Coconut Point and the Ritz-Carlton Naples are both excluded from our comparable hotel results due to impacts from Hurricane Ian. Hyatt Coconut Point has been open since November, and the final phase of restoration is expected to complete in mid-June with the reopening of its water park complex. The Ritz-Carlton Naples remains closed. However, we are nearing the end of our reconstruction efforts, which will enhance the resiliency of the property by elevating critical equipment, improving dry flood proofing measures and replacing major equipment with more efficient machinery. We have targeted reopening the resort, including the new 74 key tower expansion in July. We are excited to showcase the transformational repositioning of the Ritz Carlton Naples. As of today, we have received $98 million of insurance proceeds of the expected potential insurance recovery of approximately $310 million for covered costs. The proceeds received to date have all been classified as property damage. As a reminder, these two properties were expected to contribute an additional $71 million of EBITDA this year, which is not included in our full year guidance. Turning to group, This is the third consecutive quarter group revenue exceeded 2019, driven by 14% rate growth over the same time in 2019, with over 1 million group room nights sold. Definite group room nights on the books for 2023 increased to 3.4 million in the first quarter, which represents approximately 94% of comparable full-year 2022 actual group room nights. up from 80% as of the fourth quarter of 2022. Total group revenue for the first quarter was 7% ahead of 2019 driven by continued elevated banquet and AV spend. For full year 2023, group rate on the books is up over 6% to the same time last year, a 90 basis point increase since the fourth quarter. In addition, Total group revenue pace is up approximately 25% to the same time last year. We continue to be very encouraged by the large group base we have on the books, particularly when you consider that our in the quarter, for the quarter bookings remain elevated at 28% above the same time 2019. Saurabh will touch on additional operational details in our updated 2023 outlook in a few minutes. Our recent acquisitions continue to contribute to our outperformance and are meaningfully ahead of our underwriting expectations. Based on full year 2023 forecast, EBITDA from the eight hotels we acquired in 2021 and 22 is comfortably within our targeted range of 10 to 12 times and well ahead of our underwritten stabilization period. Looking back on our transaction activity since 2018, We have acquired $3.5 billion of assets at a 14 times EBITDA multiple and disposed of $5 billion of assets at a 17 times EBITDA multiple, including $976 million of estimated foregone capital expenditures. Comparing all owned hotel 2022 results for our current portfolio to 2017, we have increased the rep part of our assets by 9%, the TREBPAR by 15%, and the EBITDA per key by 31%. Moving on to portfolio reinvestment. During the first quarter, we completed comprehensive renovations at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina, bringing the number of completed properties in the Marriott Transformational Capital Program to 15 out of 16 assets. The final property in that program, the Washington Marriott and Metro Center, is underway and we expect it to be completed in May. We also completed our comprehensive renovation of the Westin Georgetown, Washington, D.C. during the quarter. In addition to these completed renovations, we are excited to announce our plans to develop and sell 40 fee simple condominiums on a five-acre development parcel at Golden Oak in Orlando, adjacent to our Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort. The development will feature a 31-unit mid-rise condominium building and nine detached condominium villas. We signed a contract to purchase the five-acre development parcel for an additional $30 million at the time the resort was acquired. We are targeting a mid- to high-teens cash-on-cash return for this ROI development project. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2023 and complete in the fourth quarter of 2025, with sales tentatively scheduled to commence in the first half of 2024. For the full year, our 2023 capital expenditure guidance range remains at $600 to $725 million, which reflects approximately $275 million of investment for redevelopment, repositioning, and ROI projects, and $100 to $125 million per hurricane restoration work. The projects include a transformational renovation of the Fairmont Key Lining, the Phoenician Canyon Suites Villa expansion, the Four Seasons Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort luxury condominium development, and completing construction of the tower expansion, guest room renovation, and lobby transformation of Rich Carlton Naples Beach. which was delayed by Hurricane Ian. In closing, we are very pleased with our strong first quarter performance and our improved outlook for the rest of the year. We believe Host is well positioned to outperform in the current macroeconomic environment. We have a best in class balance sheet. We are diversified across geographies and business mix. We have redefined the operating model and we have transformed our portfolio through reinvestments and transactions. which taken together have dramatically improved the EBITDA growth profile of our portfolio. With that, I will turn the call over to Saurabh.