Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.

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 call to review results for Braemar Hotels and Resorts for the first quarter of 2025 and to update you on recent developments. On the call today will also be Richard Stockton, 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 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 7, 2025, and may also be accessed through the company's website at www.bhreit.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 Richard Stockton. Please go ahead, Richard.

Good morning. Welcome to our first quarter earnings conference call. I'll begin today's call by providing an overview of our recent results and our strategic priorities for 2025. Then Derek will provide a review of our financial results, and Chris will provide an update on our asset management activity. Afterwards, we will open the call for Q&A. We have a few key themes for today's call. First, I'm pleased to report that our portfolio achieved 4.2% comparable REVPAR growth in the first quarter, and we saw growth in both our urban markets and hotels and resorts. Second, during the quarter, we addressed our final 2025 debt maturity, which not only resulted in lower cost of capital for the debt on these assets, but also improved our maturity schedule by extending our weighted average maturity. And third, while there has been some rhetoric about economic uncertainty that seems to have dissipated, our booking pace continues to be strong, and we believe our portfolio is well positioned to outperform. Turning to our first quarter results. I'm excited to report that our portfolio delivered solid results with comparable rev par of $404, reflecting an increase of 4.2% over the prior year quarter. This is the highest quarterly rev par Braemar has ever achieved and remains the portfolio in the lodging REIT sector with the highest rev par. This marks our second consecutive quarter of rev par growth, which I believe reflects an important inflection point in our performance. Additionally, Comparable total hotel revenue increased by 4.4% over the prior year period, and comparable hotel EBITDA was $70.8 million, which represents a 5.3% increase over the prior year quarter. Nine of our 15 hotels are considered resort destinations, and this luxury resort portfolio delivered solid first quarter performance. Returning to a more normalized growth trajectory, our resort portfolio reported comparable rep part $800, a 1.9% increase over the prior year period, and combined comparable hotel data of $62 million, a 2% increase over the prior year period. We're also encouraged by the continued strong performance of our urban hotels, which delivered comparable rev par growth of 11.3% in the first quarter. Notably, the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. provided a meaningful uplift for the capital, Hilton, which delivered 19.3% year-over-year rev par growth, While the capital Hilton benefited directly from the inauguration, our urban portfolio still achieved rep part growth of 8.1%, even when excluding this property. While there was a period of uncertainty around future economic conditions over the past month, looking ahead, we continue to see strong trends across our portfolio. Our group pace for 2025 is up 7%, and 2026 shows continued growth at 10%. Chris will discuss this in more detail. On the capital markets front, During the quarter, we successfully extended the mortgage loan secured by the 170-room Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe. The loan had an initial maturity date in January of 2025 and a final maturity date in January of 2026. The loan has been extended with a pay down of $10 million. The spread on the loan is now SOFR plus 3.25%. We also closed on a refinancing involving five hotels at a very attractive spread. The new loan totaled $363 million. and has a two-year initial term with three one-year extension options. Importantly, this financing address to our only remaining final debt maturity for 2025 not only results in a lower cost of capital for the debt on these assets, but also improves our maturity schedule by extending our weighted average maturity. Subsequent to quarter end, we restructured the 415-room Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile as a franchise. Under this new agreement, the hotel will continue to operate under the Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile brand, while day-to-day management has been assumed by Remington Hospitality. Notably, we expect an immediate uplift in the value of this property due to the Sofitel brand remaining on the hotel and the management agreement with Remington being terminable on sale. I'm also pleased to report that to date we have redeemed approximately $90 million of our non-traded preferred stock. which represents approximately 20% of the original capital rates. We expect to continue to redeem these shares as we seek to deleverage our platform and improve our cash flow per share. I will now turn the call over to Derek to take you through our financials in more detail.