Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. (NYSE:INN) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Jon Stanner: Yes. Well, as I said, Austin, I’m hesitant to put a number or a number of hotels on it. I think we’ve said that on a net basis, we look opportunistically to dispose of some assets. That hasn’t changed. We think that there are more in the portfolio where we can find opportunities to sell and redeploy that capital into better uses. We would like to bring leverage down. We have made some progress on that. We like to continue to make more progress on that. We would like to get back to the point where we can be an opportunistic acquirer of assets as well as you alluded to, I do think that the potential for that exists as we get into next year. Again, I am hesitant to put specific parameters around the number of assets, the magnitude of assets that that would require. I think we want to make sure we maintain flexibility and continue to be opportunistic around how we think about deploying and redeploying that capital.

Michael Bellisario: Got it. Fair enough. And then it presumably we would see two or three or some number of dispositions likely before we would see an acquisition, so sort of net seller before any redeployment would come, correct?

Jon Stanner: Yes. Look, we have been a net seller of assets in the last 12 months. I think we have acknowledged that we would like to get our net debt to EBITDA ratios back down to our target ranges. Again, I want to be careful around commitments around timing, but that hasn’t changed. We do plan to manage the balance sheet back down into our targeted leverage range.

Michael Bellisario: Got it. Fair enough. And then just next question for me, I just want to dig into the NCI portfolio. Maybe just the RevPAR growth in the quarter, how much was rate, how much was occupancy? Are you picking up business demand? Are you picking up leisure demand, really just kind of trying to understand the drivers of the growth and the recapture that you saw in that portfolio? Thanks.

Jon Stanner: Yes. Look, obviously, it was a terrific quarter for NCI portfolio. It’s been a terrific year for the NCI portfolio, our EBITDA in that portfolio is up over 25% year-over-year. And it’s a little bit different asset by market, Mike. We see, for example, in the Dallas markets, we are getting great BT contribution. We are getting good strong contribution from the group in those markets. Other models are leisure oriented. So, it’s a little bit of mix. In terms of the mix of rate and occupancy, the majority of the increase has come from occupancy in the quarter, there has been – we are positive in rates. We have some rate lift. But as we expect and as we underwrote the ramp-up of these assets, we thought there was tremendous opportunity from a lift perspective, that’s all starting to materialize.

The team has done a really, really nice job putting in cluster sales strategies, other operating initiatives to drive these results. We have hit our all-time high from a RevPAR index within the portfolio, the highest the portfolio has ever achieved. And so it’s been fairly broad-based. And again, I would say the specifics are really market dependent, but we have seen it in all segments. We have seen it in the Leisure segment. We have seen it in BT and we have seen it in some of the smaller group business in certain markets.

Michael Bellisario: Thank you. That’s all for me.

Jon Stanner: Thanks Mike.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question will come from the line of Chris Woronka from Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.

Chris Woronka: Hey. Good afternoon guys. So, I think you mentioned in the prepared comments that your contract labor is down pretty meaningfully, I guess 20% or something. That’s great to hear. Is it possible that–I mean where do those folks come from? Are they from within the industry that you are replacing them with? Are they already in the industry and they are just kind of willing to take today’s rate that the wage that they weren’t willing to take a year ago, or are there more folks coming into the worker pool?