Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript February 22, 2024

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Host Hotels & Resorts Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Jaime Marcus, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations.

Jaime Marcus: Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, please note that many of the comments made today are considered to be forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. As described in our filings with the SEC, these statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause future results to differ from those expressed, and we are not obligated to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements. In addition, on today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial information, such as FFO, adjusted EBITDAre and comparable hotel level results. You can find this information together with reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP information in yesterday's earnings press release and our 8-K filed with the SEC and in the supplemental financial information on our website at hosthotels.com.

With me on today's call are Jim Risoleo, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Sourav Ghosh, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Jim.

Jim Risoleo: Thank you, Jaime, and thanks to everyone for joining us this morning. 2023 was a terrific year for Host on several fronts. First, we delivered strong operational improvements, driven largely by occupancy increases and continued rate growth. Second, we completed the work on the three strategic objectives we established in 2021 and we will continue to realize the benefits of our ongoing efforts well into the future. Third, we returned significant capital to stockholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases, continue to successfully allocate capital through reinvestment in our portfolio and announced an agreement with Hyatt to complete transformational renovations at six properties in our portfolio. Lastly, we maintained an investment grade balance sheet and continue to position Host to capitalize on the significant growth opportunities we see in the lodging space including potential acquisition opportunities.

Turning to our results. We finished 2023 above the midpoint of our full year guidance range. We delivered adjusted EBITDAre of $1.629 billion and adjusted FFO per share of $1.92. Comparable hotel total RevPAR grew 8.3% and comparable hotel RevPAR grew 8.1% compared to 2022. Notably, comparable hotel EBITDA margin was 60 basis points ahead of 2019 due in large part to our efforts to redefine the hotel operating model with our managers. During the fourth quarter, we delivered adjusted EBITDAre of $378 million and adjusted FFO per share of $0.44, which includes $26 million of business interruption proceeds from Hurricane Ian. Comparable hotel RevPAR improved 1.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Our RevPAR performance for the quarter was driven by an increase in both occupancy and rate.