Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Our hourly wages are still up about 5% to 6% year-over-year. Again, we were hoping to see that come down kind of earlier this year. It is been fairly steady. We think sequentially kind of the first step is a reduction in contract labor as we are still being very aggressive to hire internal folks to service those roles. And then kind of thereafter, we will see wages start to come down. And that is kind of what we have expected. And now we are finally starting to see signs of that.

Jonathan Jenkins: Okay. Very helpful. And then switching gears to asset sales. Any updates there in terms of that process and its timing. And I believe there is a possibility of bringing more assets to the market. Any kind of early indication or updated thoughts on how you are thinking about using that avenue?

Robison Hays: Sure. I think we have got I would say, kind of a smaller asset that we are hopefully will be done here shortly. Some of the bigger assets that we are contemplating are in process, those probably won’t be to the extent that we move forward with those, it is probably not until a first quarter close. Those just have been taking a little bit longer. And I think depending upon we have got some call for offer dates coming up in the next few weeks. I think depending upon how those look and how the market looks, we will probably impact the decision or not, whether to add additional assets to the portfolio both on one sense is are we finding certain kind of niches of available capital types of assets that people are interested in.

On the other side of – what are the cash proceeds that we are going to be getting from those asset sales? And how does that look as we are trying to pay off this strategic financing. And that is really the kind of two-fold. Purpose of all this is to both pay off the debt financing and at the same time, try to improve our portfolio and deleverage over time. So there is a few moving pieces there. So we will probably know more here in the next month to six weeks.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Michael Bellisario with Baird. Your line is open.

Michael Bellisario: Rob, just a follow-up to that last question. You mentioned being able to pay off Oaktree at some point next year. I guess, for that to happen, is there a dollar amount or number of hotels that you think need to get sold for that to happen? And kind of what needs to happen first in order for that to be paid off at some point in 2024?

Robison Hays: Well, we have got $180-something million left on it. Again, we have got some asset sales that are coming up here. But I think at the end of the day, it is a combination of [indiscernible] generate enough proceeds to be able to both pay that on and have enough kind of working capital that we feel comfortable. So we have got kind of the working – net working capital and cash numbers that we reported in the quarter. Again, we are probably not quite to a point where we had paid that off today. But we feel comfortable paying it off today, but the combination of those asset sales, and it also depends on the nontrade preferred as it comes in because again, it is continuing to kind of do well. So again, it is just a lot of moving pieces. So I don’t have a specific number because it is kind of dynamic. But I mean, I do think we need the proceeds to probably be $100 million or more in order to feel like we have got everything that we needed to get.

Michael Bellisario: Got it. Understood. And then just on CapEx, any initial thoughts on 2024 spending, maybe at least directionally versus what you plan to spend in 2023? And then could you provide any more details just on the cost of what you are going to spend in Key West and New Orleans.

Robison Hays: Sure. On the first question, we are still in the midst of negotiating with some of the brands on exactly what the CapEx will look like. I don’t think it will be higher than this year. I mean it will likely be comparable or maybe even a little bit less. So that is kind of where – when we have a better number, we will put that out. In terms of La Concha, that is – I think we put in the press release, about $35 million all-in project, which has already started, and the goal is to have it done in the third quarter of next year. Le Pav is somewhere between $15 million and $20 million, and it is starting right now and also will be kind of a similar time frame in terms of its opening.

Operator: This concludes the question-and-answer session. I will turn the call back to management for closing remarks.

Robison Hays: Thank you, everybody, for joining us for our third quarter call. We look forward to speaking with you next quarter.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

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