Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc

Greetings and welcome to the Ashford Hospitality Trust first quarter 2020 results conference 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 during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to our host, Jordan Jennings, Manager of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's conference call to review the results for Ashford Hospitality Trust for the first quarter 2020 and to update you on recent development. On the call today will be Rob Hayes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Derek Eubanks, Chief Financial Officer, and Jeremy Welter, Chief Operating Officer. The results as well as notice of the accessibility of this conference call on a listen-only basis over the internet were distributed yesterday afternoon and a press release that has been covered by the financial media. At this time, let me remind you that certain statements and assumptions in this conference call contain or are based upon forward-looking information and are being made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities regulations. Such forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, uncertainties, and known or unknown risks, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These factors are more fully discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this conference call are only made as of the date of the call, and the company is not obligated to publicly update or revise them. In addition, certain terms used in this call are non-GAAP financial measures, reconciliations of which are provided in the company's earnings release and accompanying tables or schedules, which have been filed on Form 8K with the SEC on May 20, 2020, and may also be accessed through the company's website at www.htreat.com. Each listener is encouraged to review those reconciliations provided in the earnings release together with all information provided in the release. Also, unless otherwise stated, all reports or results discussed in this call compare the first quarter of 2020 with the first quarter of 2019. I will now turn the call over to Rob Hayes. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning and welcome to our call. First, I'd like to begin by expressing our sincere hope that you and your families are safe and doing well. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by this health crisis. These are challenging times for our country, the economy, and of course, the hospitality industry. Given these trying times, I believe the appropriate starting point for today's call will be to update you on how Ashford Trust has navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. After that, Derek will review our financial results. And Jeremy will provide an operational update on the portfolio. We are in unprecedented times, and while our results in January and February continued the overall solid trends we had seen over prior quarters, we are now operating in a very different environment. The impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. hospitality industry and our day-to-day operations have been profound. Our response to this crisis has been swift and comprehensive as we have focused our efforts on providing a safe environment for our guests and the staff of our properties. while at the same time taking aggressive measures to protect our properties and maintain our financial flexibility so we can be in a position to return profitability as travel resumes. Given the economic impact of this pandemic, we were required to make some difficult and painful decisions. As a precautionary measure, and in conjunction with local, state, and federal guidelines, we have temporarily suspended operations at 23 properties, and our remaining 93 properties have been operating at greatly reduced levels. However, Several of our assets are being used by local government agencies, medical staffing organizations, as well as hotel brands to support COVID-19 response efforts. We are pleased to assist in these efforts through various initiatives. More than 48 Ashford Trust hotels have provided temporary lodging for first responders, healthcare professionals, and other community residents impacted by the crisis. When we first became aware of this virus in China in late January, we worked quickly to develop a comprehensive plan in case the virus came to the US. That plan was quickly put into place when in late February, early March, it became clear that our business would be significantly impacted by the pandemic. We worked closely with our property managers to cut costs and to maximize liquidity. This is where our relationship with our affiliated property manager, Remington, really does set us apart. Remington has been able to quickly cut costs and rapidly adjust to this new operating environment. And we're proud of their efforts and believe it sets us up well to outperform as the industry recovers. And Jeremy will discuss this more in detail in his section. We've also significantly reduced our planned spend for capital expenditures for the year, suspended our common dividend, and reduced our corporate G&A by approximately 25%. Derek will discuss this in more detail around our liquidity shortly. Beginning on April 1st, we did not make principal or interest payments on nearly all of our loans, which constituted an event of default as such terms defined in our loan documents. We have been actively working with our lenders on our property-level debt to arrange mutually agreeable forbearance agreements to reduce our near-term cash utilization and improve our liquidity. We have had some success around those discussions, but the vast majority continue to be ongoing, and we look forward to providing additional information as we continue to work through that process. Speaking to you for the first time as the president and CEO of Ashford Trust, I cannot be prouder with the effort and the performance of our team during this time. While we are closely monitoring this fluid situation and have plans in place to reopen closed properties as government edicts allow and business demand conditions improve, our management team has had extensive experience in effectively navigating tough market environments and extended downturns. Now, each crisis is invariably different, but we believe we have the right management team in place to protect long-term values of our assets and the companies. I'll now turn the call over to Derek to review first quarter financial performance.