Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. ($INN)

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Summon Hotel Properties First Quarter 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Kevin Milota. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning. I am joined today by Summit Hotel Properties President and Chief Executive Officer, Jon Stanner; and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Trey Conkling. Please note that many of our comments today are considered forward-looking statements as defined by federal securities laws. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, as described in our SEC filings. Forward-looking statements that we make today are effective only as of today, May 1, 2026, and we undertake no duty to update them later. You can find copies of our SEC filings and earnings release, which contain reconciliations to non-GAAP financial measures referenced on this call on our website at www.shpreit.com. Please welcome Summit Hotel Properties President and Chief Executive Officer, Jon Stanner.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. We are pleased with our first quarter financial results, which were driven by a meaningful sequential improvement in operating fundamentals throughout the quarter. RevPAR in our pro forma portfolio inflected positive in the first quarter, increasing 20 basis points year-over-year, which exceeded expectations communicated during our fourth quarter 2025 earnings call by over 200 basis points. Importantly, operating strength was broad-based across the portfolio, particularly in March, with growth in multiple high-rated demand segments, driving increases in average rates and RevPARs in many of our markets. Operating fundamentals improved each month as the quarter progressed. While RevPAR declined in January and February, those declines were more than offset by 4.1% RevPAR growth in March, which was driven by a robust 5.6% increase in average rate. We were especially encouraged with March results, which represented a relatively clean calendar comparison for our portfolio, despite the lingering government shutdown and highly publicized TSA wait times. We believe March trends are more indicative of the underlying demand strength in our business and have been pleased to see these trends continue in April. While demand strength and pricing power were broad-based across our portfolio, our best-performing demand segments were our highest rated segments, which allowed us to yield out a portion of lower-rated business and a reversal of the prevailing pricing trends we experienced for most of last year. In particular, the ongoing recovery in business transient travel is driving better midweek performance as RevPAR growth increased 3% for the quarter, and 10% in March in our negotiated segment. This helped drive double-digit RevPAR growth in a dozen of our markets in March. Including urban center direct markets such as Baltimore, Charlotte, Cleveland, Miami, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. As a reminder, we expected our first quarter to be the most challenging of the year. given multiple headwinds based on our portfolio. Notably, a difficult Super Bowl comparison in New Orleans, where we own 6 hotels and continued weakness in government demand with those related travel cuts not lapping year-over-year comparisons until the March, April time frame. In addition, disruption related to winter storm firm and civil and rest in Minneapolis further reduced first quarter reported RevPAR growth. In total, these events created an approximately 140 basis point headwind to our first quarter RevPAR growth, most significantly in January and February. Our outlook for the remainder of the year has improved. Driven by strengthening demand trends that have persisted into the second quarter. We are also approaching what is expected to be a robust summer of special events driven demand. We expect April RevPAR to increase approximately 3.5%. And our second quarter revenue pace is currently trending approximately 4% ahead of the same time last year. Pace trends in June are particularly strong, supported by a favorable event calendar, highlighted by our significant exposure to major demand catalysts, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Where we have exposure to 6 U.S. host markets, representing approximately 1/3 of our total room count and 44 scheduled matches. In addition, we expect strong incremental demand from the U.S. 250th anniversary celebrations in Boston, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore as well as several other major summer travel and event-driven demand drivers. As we've discussed on previous calls, government and government-related demand has been a significant headwind for our portfolio since the creation of dose in the first quarter of last year. and the lapping of these comparisons is expected to improve our year-over-year growth rates going forward. While first quarter government-related demand declined 12% year-over-year. This represented a meaningful improvement from the 20%-plus declines we experienced through most of 2025. Encouragingly, March government revenue increased approximately 3% and our outlook for this demand segment has improved, demonstrated by second quarter government pace currently trending up mid-single digits. Government demand represents approximately 5% to 7% of our total guest room and revenue mix, and we believe this could serve as a potential modest tailwind to our year-over-year growth rates in the last 3 quarters of the year. Given our strong first quarter results and our improved outlook for the remainder of the year, we've increased the guidance ranges for our key operating and financial metrics, which were outlined in our earnings release yesterday. Trey will provide more details on our updated guidance ranges later in the call, but we believe the revised ranges strike the appropriate balance of reflecting a more positive outlook while acknowledging that our most meaningful quarters are still ahead and macro and geopolitical uncertainty persists. While near-term performance trends are driving our improved outlook. Longer-term lodging fundamentals suggest an improved demand environment has the potential to create an extended period of attractive top line growth. More specifically, supply growth remains meaningfully below historical averages and still elevated construction and financing costs, create an impediment to a meaningful near-term reacceleration in construction starts. In addition, consumer prioritization of travel and experiences remains paramount, which has driven resilient leisure demand. And finally, improved industry demand has increasingly been driven by the ongoing recovery and acceleration of business travel, which uniquely benefits our urban-centric portfolio. We believe these dynamics create a favorable operating environment. as we move through the balance of 2026 and beyond. From a capital allocation standpoint, in the first quarter, we successfully closed on the previously announced sale of the 122-room Hilton Garden Inn in Longview, Texas a noncore asset owned in our joint venture with GIC. The hotel was sold for $12.3 million, representing a 6.8% capitalization rate based on trailing 12-month net operating income. After consideration of foregone near-term capital expenditures. In April, we entered into an agreement to sell our wholly owned Courtyard and Residence in Dallas, Arlington South hotels for a combined sale price of $19 million. The 2 hotels total 199 guestrooms and the transaction reflects a 5% capitalization rate based on trailing 12-month NOI after factoring in near-term capital expenditures that we would otherwise have been required to fund. We expect the Arlington transaction to close in the third quarter, which will allow us to capture the demand generated from the FIFO matches in the market. These dispositions are consistent with our ongoing strategy to selectively recycle capital out of lower growth assets, reduce future capital requirements, enhance the overall quality and growth profile of our portfolio. Proceeds from asset sales support our broader capital allocation priorities, including enhancing liquidity, reducing leverage, repurchasing shares and maintaining the physical condition of our portfolio. During the first quarter, we remained active under our share repurchase program, repurchasing 1.4 million common shares for an aggregate purchase price of $6 million or a weighted average price of approximately $4.17 per share. As of March 31, 2026, we had approximately $29 million of remaining capacity under the program. Since launching the program in 2025, we've repurchased approximately 5 million shares, representing roughly 4% of total shares outstanding at an average price of $4.26 per share. We believe these repurchases represent an attractive use of capital and reflect our continued confidence in the intrinsic value of the portfolio and the long-term earnings power of the business. In summary, we're encouraged by the start to the year and remain optimistic about the improved outlook for our industry broadly and our company specifically. While the operating environment remains dynamic, the breadth of demand improvement we are seeing across the portfolio, combined with favorable industry supply conditions, reinforces our confidence in Summit's ability to outperform as fundamentals strengthen. Our priorities are unchanged. And we remain intensely focused on optimizing profitability at the property level, prudently allocating capital and continuing to strengthen the balance sheet. We believe this disciplined approach, supported by our high-quality portfolio and efficient operating model, position Summit to create meaningful long-term value for shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Trey to discuss our financial results for the quarter in more detail.

Thanks, Jon, and good morning, everyone. First quarter pro forma RevPAR increased 0.2% year-over-year. driven exclusively by growth in average daily rate. Strength in rate was a primary theme of the first quarter as nearly all segments generated positive growth year-over-year. In particular, the Retail and negotiated segments our clearest indicators of higher-rated leisure and business transient demand delivered first quarter RevPAR growth of 7% and 8%, respectively, driven by strong rate performance. Furthermore, the retail and negotiated segments experienced sequential improvement across each month of the quarter, culminating with March RevPAR growth of 11% and 16%, respectively. Finally, as John mentioned, government-related demand within our qualified segment inflected positively during the first quarter, with March RevPAR increasing approximately 3%. Due to the relative strength of the company's first quarter operating results, RevPAR index increased to 116% of fair share. Driven by these positive RevPAR trends and strong cost controls, First quarter operating results materialized above expectations outlined during our February 4th quarter earnings call. For the first quarter, adjusted EBITDA was $44.2 million, and adjusted FFO was $25.5 million or $0.21 per share. Several core markets delivered strong first quarter results, including continued strength in San Francisco and South Florida. In San Francisco, where the company owns 3 hotels, the market benefited from a strong citywide calendar and several high-impact demand events, including the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in January, Super Bowl in February and RSA in March. Our hotels performed exceptionally well during these peak periods. Capitalizing on compression nights to drive strong top line performance, resulting in RevPAR increasing 27% in the quarter. Looking ahead, we expect this momentum to continue in the second quarter, particularly June, supported by a strong convention and special events calendar. Including several major technology conferences, pride and have started the World Cup and related fan activities. In South Florida, our Miami and Fort Lauderdale hotels delivered a strong first quarter performance. with RevPAR growth exceeding 14%, driven by a 9% increase in average daily rate. In Miami, operating results were supported by peak season demand, several high-impact January events including the NHL Winter Classic and the College Football National Championship and a more condensed spring break calendar due to the shift of the Easter holiday to the first weekend in April. Our South Florida portfolio continues to benefit from the highly successful repositioning of the Oceanside Fort Lauderdale Beach. The hotel generated first quarter revenue and EBITDA growth of 56% and 90%, respectively, as the renovated rooms product and expanded food and beverage amenities appeal to both Taurus and locals alike. Group demand also continues to accelerate at the ocean Side. Given the property's location adjacent to the Fort Lauderdale, aquatic and diving center, which is also home to the international swing [indiscernible]. Looking forward, we expect continued strong demand in the second quarter for South Florida. Our AC and Element hotels located across from Brickell City Center are ideally situated for visitors attending the World Cup Fan Festival at Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami during June and July. In Fort Lauderdale, the ocean side is pacing 12% ahead of second quarter 2025 as the property continues to ramp post renovation. Non-rooms revenue increased 10% year-over-year in the first quarter across the company's portfolio, reflecting continued progress in our efforts to capture a greater share of the customer's discretionary spend. Food and beverage revenue was again a meaningful contributor, supported by the reconcepted restaurant and bar offerings at the Oceanside Fort Lauderdale Beach, enhanced breakfast programming at select hotels and continued focus on driving higher beverage and outlet sales. In particular, Food and beverage revenues at the Oceanside Fort Lauderdale Beach experienced a fourfold increase year-over-year. and drove the majority of the company's overall increase in food and beverage sales. We also realized healthy growth in other ancillary categories, including marketplace sales, parking income and resort and amenity fees. These revenue streams remain an important component of our broader operating strategy, and we believe there is additional opportunity to build on this momentum throughout 2026. Pro forma operating expenses increased 3.6% year-over-year in the first quarter, reflecting continued discipline across the portfolio despite ongoing cost pressures. Increases in the quarter were primarily driven by merit-based wage adjustments as well as payroll taxes and employee benefits, which is a result of our strategic shift to internal staffing. Stability in the labor pool is best evidenced by the continued reduction in contract labor, for which nominal costs declined 6% versus first quarter 2025. Contract labor now represents 9% of our total labor pool, which is approaching pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, employee turnover is also in line with pre-pandemic levels. declining 1,300 basis points from the prior year period. For the full year 2026, we expect nominal expense growth of approximately 3%. From a capital expenditure perspective, in the first quarter, we invested $12 million across our portfolio on a consolidated basis and $9 million on a pro rata basis. Ongoing and recently completed renovations include the Dallas Downtown Hampton & Suites, Grapevine TownPlace Suites the Scottsdale Courtyard, the Tucson Homewood Suites and our Mesa Hyatt Place. For the full year 2026, the company expects pro rata capital expenditures to range from $55 million to $65 million, the majority of which will be incurred in the second half of the year. Turning to the balance sheet. During the first quarter, we fully repaid our $288 million, 1.5% convertible senior notes that matured in mid-February, utilizing our $275 million delayed draw term loan and corporate revolver. Pro forma for this refinancing, we have no debt maturities until 2028. When accounting for our swap portfolio, approximately 50% of our pro rata share of debt is fixed, including the company's Series E, Series F and Series Z preferred equity within our capital structure, we were over 60% fixed on a pro rata basis. With ample liquidity and an average length of maturity of nearly 3.5 years, we believe the company is well positioned to navigate any potential near-term volatility and while also pursuing value creation opportunities. On April 23, 2026, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly common dividend of $0.08 per share. representing a dividend yield of approximately 6.4% based on the annualized dividend of $0.32 per share. The current dividend continues to represent a modest payout ratio relative to our trailing 12-month AFFO. The company continues to prioritize striking an appropriate balance between returning capital to shareholders, investing in our portfolio, reducing corporate leverage and maintaining liquidity for future growth opportunities. Included in our earnings release last evening, we updated full year guidance for key 2026 operating metrics as well as certain nonoperational assumptions. Our outlook is based on the 94 lodging assets owned as of March 31, 2026, including the Courtyard and Residence Inn Dallas Arlington South, which are currently under contract for sale and expected to close in the third quarter. Our current range includes $500,000 of hotel EBITDA for the remainder of the year that would be foregone upon closing of the sale. For the full year, we have increased our RevPAR growth outlook to 0.5% to 3%, which translates to adjusted EBITDA of $170 million to $181 million, and adjusted FFO of $0.75 to $0.85 per share. Based on our RevPAR growth outlook of 0.5% to 3% and nominal expense growth of approximately 30%. We expect full year 2026 hotel EBITDA margins to range from flat to down 75 basis points, which includes approximately 25 basis points of headwinds from higher property taxes. We expect pro rata interest expense, excluding the amortization of deferred financing costs to be $58 million to $62 million and preferred distributions including the Series A, Series F and Series Z securities to be $18.5 million. Our outlook does not assume any additional acquisitions, dispositions, share repurchases and or capital markets activity for the balance of the year. Finally, the GIC joint venture results in net fee income payable to Summit, covering approximately 15% and of annual pro rata cash corporate G&A expense, excluding any promote distributions, some of they earned during the year. And with that, we will now open the call to your questions.

[Operator Instructions]. The first question comes from Austin Wurschmidt with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Jon, you had mentioned May is pacing up, I think, 4%. And I guess just based on what you've seen in March and April, how much degradation have you seen in pace this far out? And then as you get closer to realization. And then you -- can you compare that to what you saw last year, where if I recall, you kind of saw things maybe you lose a little bit of pace, I guess, as you got closer through the month and what you actually realized.

First, just to clarify what we said in the prepared remarks was our second quarter pace is trending up about 4%. We expect April to finish up around 3.5%. When I look at kind of the monthly cadence for the second quarter, May is a lower pace than we are experiencing in both April and then obviously, June pace is way up given our expectations for the World Cup. I think what we've seen over the last 30 to 60 days has really been an acceleration in the month for the month. And as you alluded to, that is a little bit of a reversal from the trends that we saw last year. Now I would expect our June pace, which is trending up high teens at this point year-over-year to normalize as we get into that month. A lot of that's being driven by that we're not in kind of the traditional booking window that we would normally see for June, but we do have a fair amount on the books for the month of June, specifically related to World Cup. So we would expect that to normalize. But I think the broader takeaway and the more important takeaway here, Austin, is that what we've seen kind of in the month for the month and even within the last couple of weeks of the month has been a pretty meaningful acceleration from our expectations. You certainly saw that in the month of March. Most of our Q1 outperformance was related to the month of March. And we've seen those trends continue through April.

That's helpful. And I guess then as you think about that pacing and what could be realized in the second quarter is certainly tracking above the high end of the full year guidance range. Like how do we think about cadence and that implied deceleration in the back half of the year? And again, going back to then what you've seen sort of a firming up in that mid-week higher-rated business segment, how does that compare to what you underwrote then looking out into the back half of the year?

Sure. Yes. Well, clearly, we've outperformed our expectations for the first quarter. I will say we did finish the quarter modestly positive, but closer to flat. Our expectation was always that the second and third quarters of the year would be the highest growth rates of the year. And that outlook really hasn't changed. I think we remain constructive on the second and third quarter. Some of that is being driven by the strength we see in World Cup markets. But our outlook is definitely more constructive today for the balance of the year than it was when we reported 60 days ago.

And the next question will come from Michael Bellisario with Baird.

Just two parts here. Just in terms of the pickup in demand that you've seen just, one, how would you separate BT versus leisure trends? And then two, any quantifiable share gains that you might have seen from rebookings from Mexico during the peak springer travel period?

Sure. Yes, I think, again, probably the biggest takeaway from the quarter has been strength was fairly broad-based. And what you saw was really rate-driven RevPAR growth in the quarter and more specifically in March, and that's a reflection of the fact that we were able to either yield out lower rated business or really drive incremental occupancy in our higher-rated channels. And those channels were predominantly our premium-rated retail channels and our negotiated channels. And so we definitely saw our best growth rates midweek in the negotiated segment. Our first quarter RevPAR in the negotiated segment was up 8%. It was up double that in the month of March. Our urban markets were up 6% in the month of March. So there's no question that we saw really strong driven demand throughout the quarter and again, particularly in the month of March. Leisure was also good. And I think when you look at our markets in South Florida and Scottsdale, we outperformed our expectations going into the quarter. there's likely some benefit from the disruption that we saw in Mexico in the month of March. But again, I would just go back and emphasize the fact that most of our growth -- more of our growth, I should say, is coming midweek in urban markets and in kind of business transient related demand. And so it was beneficial, but not something that I think is going to create some sort of onetime 1-month distortion in our demand patterns.

And then on Mexico?

Yes, sorry, specifically on Mexico. I think that it was a benefit predominantly in our South Florida and Scottsdale markets. It definitely helped us in March. But as I said, in the prepared remarks, a lot of the trends that we saw in March have continued into April. And I don't expect that to create any type of difficult comparison or distortion and demand patterns going forward.

Got it. And then just one follow-up. 1Q more rate dynamic. Obviously, there are some impacts affecting demand in 1Q, but how should we think about and beyond in terms of the mix between rate growth and occupancy growth going forward? That's all for me.

Yes. Thanks, Mike. I think that the expectation is that the vast majority of our RevPAR growth going forward will be rate driven. Again, the trends that we saw in the first quarter really have continued through April, and our expectation is that the majority, if not all, of our RevPAR growth in April will be rate driven. I think when we gave our initial guidance, we expected kind of a 60-40 rate versus occupancy split that thankfully has shifted to be, again, predominantly rate-driven growth for the remainder of the year, which should have a better flow through to the bottom line.

[Operator Instructions]. The next question will come from Chris Woronka with Deutsche Bank.

So it's a topic we used to talk about a lot. I don't know that we do every quarter now, and I apologize if I missed the prepared comments. But can you talk a little bit about direct bookings and kind of where those stand for your portfolio and also kind of along those lines? Do you think all these new an expanded branded credit cards are helping drive direct bookings to you on the leisure side? And then I have a follow-up.

Yes, sure, Chris. We have continued to grow our share of direct bookings. We're probably plus or minus 70% for the full portfolio. I think that's a reflection of the fact that we do have a lot of high-quality hotels in good locations that are affiliated with really strong brand distribution channels. And so we did see that step up to some extent, particularly our brand.com channels in the first quarter. That's been really a continuation of a lot of the trends that we've seen really coming out of the pandemic. Last year maybe being a mild exception to that when there was a little bit greater reliance on some of the OTA channels. But Again, as you alluded to, those are very powerful distribution platform, their powerful loyalty programs, and we're driving the majority of our business through those channels.

Okay. Very helpful. And then kind of along those same lines, I know you don't have many resorts and particularly with Hyatt. But I think Hyatt just recently went through another -- I don't know if I'm supposed to call it points devaluation or just adjustments to new kind of award chart tiering. Is that having any impact on you? Again, I know you don't probably get a ton of redemptions, but is that -- I think that was meant to be a little bit more owner friendly. And I guess, along those same lines, the Hyatt breakfast that's been, I know, going through a lot of different iterations in terms of trying to get that right. Any update on whether you're getting any minor bottom line help from those changes?

So I would say, to your point, we don't have a ton of Hyatt properties that are kind of high redemption properties generally, maybe Orlando being the exception of that, where we do get a fair amount of redemptions there. And Orlando has been a terrifically strong market, particularly where we are in our Orlando near the universal development. I would say, generally speaking, kind of the brand redemption programs have been trending in a more kind of owner-friendly way over the last several quarters, and we hope that, that continues. Specifically related to breakfast is you did we were part of some of the pilots on the charge to breakfast at Hyatt Place. I would say that the overall, it was a very positive experience for us it's more of a property-by-property or market-specific commentary. But I'd say generally, it's been a positive to the bottom line, modestly positive to the bottom line.

And the next question will come from Logan Epstein with Wolfe Research.

SP611542888 Maybe just diving into the government segment, you guys noted the sequential improvement into March in inflecting positive. Can you just dive deeper on -- like was that driven by any specific markets or was it broad-based across the portfolio? And then I guess a follow-up to that is maybe trying to quantify the potential impact given you guys noted it was down 20% for a number of quarters in '25. Can you just talk about what's the embedded expectation for the rest of the year?

Yes, sure. I think you called this out. We've talked for a while about how our comps were going to ease as we got into the March, April time frame, and we started to lap the dose comparison first quarter of last year. And so obviously, that played out in the first quarter. Government revenue for us was down about 12% year-over-year. It had been trending down 20% to 25% for most of last year with maybe the exception of October when we saw some incremental reductions in demand related to the government shutdown. That was really driven in the first quarter. We actually saw March government-related revenue go up -- as I said in the prepared remarks, our outlook, our pace for the second quarter, specifically related to government. You have to remember, we don't have a lot on the books. It is still a relatively small demand segment. So these tend to be smaller numbers. But we are trending up kind of mid-single digits year-over-year. I think our expectation going into the year was for once we got into the second quarter for government demand to be fairly flat year-over-year. So this is kind of modestly more positive than maybe we would have expected coming into the year. And in terms of markets, we've seen some lift in markets like Tucson. We had a really strong quarter in Washington, D.C. Some of that was kind of government-related and government adjacent business. So it's been fairly broad-based. Again, I think our expectations are modestly more constructive than they were when we started the year as evidenced by our second quarter pace.

Got it. Maybe a follow-up on a different note. Just one we haven't talked about in a few quarters, given we've seen now, I guess, 3/4 of operations at the [ Enero ] expansion. Can you just talk about how that's performing with the new keys there relative to initial underwriting?

Yes. We've done really well there. We had a nice beat to our internal budgets and expectations in the first quarter. It's a wonderful asset. I think it really feeds off a lot of the growth that's happened in Austin. And there's been just tremendous growth in Fredericksburg. There's been they announced some high-end product that's going to come out in that general area. There's a Waldorf Astoria that's going to get built. There's a man that was recently announced out there. The growth in the submarket of Fredericksburg has been terrific, which has certainly helped our performance. But we have a really unique, I think, very compelling offering. So the thesis that really got us to invest in that project initially. And then the thesis around the expansion has all played out. And again, we were happy with the first quarter results, which were above our expectations fairly meaningfully.

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Jon for closing remarks.

Great. Well, thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to seeing many of you on the conference circuit here over the next several weeks. Thank you again, and hope you all have a nice weekend.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.