Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Sandstone Hotel Investors Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will be given at that time. I would like to remind everyone that this conference is being recorded today, November 5, 2021 at 12 o'clock p.m. Eastern Time. I will now turn the presentation over to Mr. Aaron Reyes, Senior Vice President and Treasurer. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. By now, you should have all received a copy of our third quarter earnings release and supplemental, which were made available yesterday. If you do not yet have a copy, you can access them on our website. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that this call contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those described in our prospectuses, 10Qs, 10Ks, and other filings with the SEC, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. We caution you to consider these factors in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We also note that this call may contain non-GAAP financial information, including adjusted EBITDA RE, adjusted FFO, and property level adjusted EVA.RE. We are providing that information as a supplement to information prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. With us on the call today are Doug Pasquale, Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Brian Giglia, Chief Financial Officer, Robert Springer, Chief Investment Officer, and Chris Ostapovich, Chief Operating Officer. On today's call, Doug will discuss our recent value-enhancing hotel transactions and provide his thoughts on the company's near-term priorities and objectives. Brian will then discuss the current operating environment and recent trends in our business. And finally, I'll provide a summary of our current liquidity position and a recap of our prior quarter financial results. After our remarks, we will be available to answer your questions. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Doug. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Aaron. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. As many of you know, I have been affiliated with Sunstone for quite some time now, having joined the board in 2011 and taking on the role of chairman in 2015. During my tenure, I have facilitated the management team's efforts as they repaired the company's balance sheet and upgraded its portfolio following the global financial crisis and, most recently, as we navigated the unprecedented challenges brought on by the pandemic. Now, as interim CEO, I have had the opportunity to become increasingly involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. With that enhanced perspective, I'm more confident than ever that Sunstone has the portfolio, the balance sheet, and the management team to deliver incremental value to its shareholders and do so on a more accelerated basis. As a first step in this process, we announced a series of hotel transactions yesterday that reflect our renewed commitment to value creation through the sale of assets which are no longer consistent with our strategy, the selected disposition of core assets when pricing is compelling, and through the acquisition of long-term relevant real estate. Going forward, you should expect that Sunstone will do more of the same as we further position the company for growth by actively recycling capital and more effectively utilizing leverage and our tax attributes, while still maintaining a solid balance sheet with capacity and flexibility. Overall, I am very pleased with the progress we have made in the first two months of my tenure, and I look forward to continuing to work with the management team to unlock further value for our shareholders. Before I turn the call over to Brian, I want to provide an update on the COO search process being conducted by the Board of Directors. When I assumed the interim COO role, I made it clear that my tenure in this position would be for a year or less and that the Board was committed to identifying a permanent COO who would further advance our existing strategy. The search committee was established in tandem with my appointment and the search process is underway. While we intend to conduct an efficient surge, we will be thoughtful and farsighted. We will not rush the process, and we will do everything possible to ensure the right new leader is selected. We expect to have an update as part of our next quarterly call. And with that, I will turn the call over to Brian to cover some of the details of our third quarter operations, which came in stronger than anticipated. and to share some encouraging recent trends we are seeing across our portfolio that give us reasons to be more optimistic as we head into the final months of the year and into 2022.