Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc

If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to turn the conference over to Derek Eubanks, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to today's conference call to review results for Ashford Hospitality Trust for the first quarter of 2025 and update you on recent developments. On the call today will also be Steven Zegre, President and Chief Executive Officer and Chris Nixon, Executive Vice President and Head of Asset Management. 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 in a press release. 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 this call, and the company is not obligated to publicly update or revise them. Statements made during this call do not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Securities will be offered only by means of a registration statement and prospectus, which can be found at www.sec.gov. 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 6, 2025, and may also be accessed through the company's website at www.ahtreads.com. Each listener is encouraged to review those reconciliations provided in the earnings release, together with all other information provided in the release. Also, unless otherwise stated, all reported results discussed in this call compare the first quarter ended March 31, 2025 with the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. I will now turn the call over to Stephen Ziegre. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. After my introductory comments, Derek will review our first quarter financial results, and then Chris will provide an operational update on our portfolio. Our first quarter performance was highlighted by 3.2% comparable REF PAR growth, 3.6% comparable total revenue growth, and 8.7% growth in comparable hotel EBITDA. We're very pleased with these results, which clearly underscore the impact of the strategic decisions our team has made over the past several quarters and the strength of our high-quality, geographically diverse portfolio. We're also happy to report the first full quarter results following our recent conversions of the La Concha Hotel in Key West to Marriott's autograph collection and the Le Pavillon Hotel in New Orleans to Marriott's tribute portfolio. Le Pavillon had an outstanding quarter with 78% total revenue growth over prior year quarter. while La Concha realized 27% total revenue growth over the same period. Late last year, we announced GrowAHT, a transformative initiative aimed at driving $50 million in run rate EBITDA improvement. Realizing outsized improvement in property level performance is critical to achieving that goal, and our nearly 9% year-over-year improvement in comparable hotel EBITDA for the quarter reflects the tremendous efforts that our asset management team and property managers have made to drive revenue growth while aggressively managing operating expenses. In addition to strong property performance, we've also realized substantial reductions to corporate expenses as part of our GrowAHT initiative. Our board of directors approved a 50% reduction in cash compensation for board members, while also reducing the current size of the board from nine members down to seven. Additionally, total incentive awards granted to executive management and other associates were reduced by more than 50% relative to recent years. Lastly, our advisor, Ashford Inc., has now fully implemented a number of corporate cost savings measures for Ashford Trust. Several initiatives remain underway, but we now expect fully implemented GrowAHT initiatives to contribute more than $30 million of run rate EBITDA improvement towards our $50 million goal. Since year end, we've also continued to make improvements to our capital structure. In January, we closed down the sale of the Courtyard Boston downtown for $123 million. The 6.9% trailing cap rate achieved on sale highlighted the intrinsic value within our portfolio, provided important deleveraging for our largest loan pool, and resulted in significant capital expenditure savings. In mid-February, we completed the refinancing of 16 assets, spanning four mortgage loans with final maturities in the first half of the year. This refinancing also enabled us to achieve another significant milestone as we fully repaid the remaining balance on our corporate strategic financing. leaving the company completely free of corporate debt. In late February, we extended our mortgage loan secured by the 141-room Hotel Indigo Atlanta Midtown in Atlanta, Georgia. The extension provides for an initial maturity in February of 2026 and a one-year extension option subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions with a final maturity date in February 2027. The loan has a current balance of $12.3 million and bears interest at a floating rate of SOFR plus 2.75%. Most recently, in April, we extended our MS-17 mortgage loan secured by 17 hotels. The extension provides for an initial maturity in March of 2026 and two one-year extension options subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions with a final maturity date in March of 2028. The loan has a current balance of $410 million and continues to bear interest at a floating rate of SOFR plus 3.39%. As previously discussed, our non-traded preferred stock offering closed at the end of March. This capital raise allowed us to access substantial capital, totaling $212 million in gross proceeds. We have launched our follow-on offering of non-traded preferred stock and expect this to be an important source of capital for continued deleveraging and future growth. We believe these coordinated efforts are opening a new chapter for Ashford Trust, and the collective impact was evident in our company results for the first quarter. Looking ahead to the rest of 2025, while macroeconomic events have introduced uncertainty to industry forecasts, we remain focused on controlling what we can control and achieving our GrowAHT goal by maximizing the performance and value of our hotels and further reducing corporate expenses. We also plan to continue making improvements to our capital structure by pushing out remaining near-term debt maturities and exploring strategic dispositions to better position the company moving forward. I will now hand the call over to Derek to review our first quarter financial performance.