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

Jon Stanner: Yes. We are seeing some expansion of the labor pool. I would say it’s still tight. I would also say, again, it’s really a credit to the team and the management companies that we work for. This has been an initiative since the beginning of the year. It is still a difficult labor market out there. So, to see a 20% year-over-year reduction in contract labor is very, very encouraging. It’s still elevated. If I look at that percentage of our total labor relative to ‘19, you will still see the contract labor is higher than it was pre-pandemic. So, we are making progress. We are hopeful that we can continue to make incremental progress. But I do think it’s broadly a function of while the labor markets are still tight, they have loosened to some extent through the course of the year. And so we have seen a better influx of labor coming into our hotels.

Chris Woronka: Okay. Thanks. Thanks Jon. And then a question for you on insurance, that’s been a topic for a lot of your full-service peers. And of course, they are maybe a little bit more resort oriented and which has been where obviously a lot of the claims have come in. What does it look like for you guys? I mean I think everybody is up, but is it – how much of a headwind is it this year, or what do you expect for next year?

Jon Stanner: It was a material headwind for us. Our renewal date is February 1st. And I think as we said on prior calls, our insurance renewal was up around 40% year-over-year. The vast majority of that, as you would expect, was driven by higher property insurance renewal. Most of that – we have absorbed most of that we are not quite on the calendar year end, but we are close – it’s too early to really guide towards what we think next year is going to look like. We are just getting started going through that process. If I had to handicap it, I would say what will be less than the increase that we saw this year, but likely higher than inflationary expense growth next year.

Chris Woronka: Okay. Thanks. And then just last one for me is I think Hilton and Hyatt have both in recent quarters, announced some new extended stay products, and you guys own a little bit of the existing brands. Should we think about – how do we think about you essentially – again, it’s not even in the ground yet, but are you willing to do more with those – with both extended stay brands and with those two guys?

Jon Stanner: Yes. Look, I think all three Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt have all announced new in and around mid-scale extended stay opportunities. We followed it very closely. We are good partners with all three of those brands. As you know, we are not natural developers. We don’t do a lot of development activity. We do it kind of selectively throughout the portfolio, where there are some clear synergies and adjacencies to existing projects. But it’s certainly something that we will watch very closely. We like the idea that the brands are embracing these kind of lighter labor type of operating models. Again, it’s a natural extension for the types of assets that we own. And I think we are all well aware of how well extended stay has performed really since the pandemic.

So, I do think there are interesting opportunities, we will certainly watch it. Again, we are not necessarily natural merchant builders or developers of these projects. But I do think it’s interesting and something that we will pay attention to.

Chris Woronka: Okay. Very helpful. Thanks Jon.

Jon Stanner: Thanks Chris.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] And our next question comes from the line of Bill Crow from Raymond James. Your line is open.

Bill Crow: Hey. Good afternoon. A couple of questions for me. You talked about normalized comparisons heading into 2021. I guess against the backdrop of really strong margin performance quarter, I am curious about your thoughts are for expense growth next year when you put together the labor and the insurance and all the other factors.