DALLAS – May 1, 2023 – Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT) (“Ashford Trust” or the “Company”) today reported financial results and performance measures for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. The comparable performance measurements for Occupancy, Average Daily Rate (ADR), Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR), and Hotel EBITDA assume each of the hotel properties in the Company’s hotel portfolio as of March 31, 2023 was owned as of the beginning of each of the periods presented. Unless otherwise stated, all reported results compare the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 with the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (see discussion below). The reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures is included in the financial tables accompanying this press release.

•Comparable RevPAR for all hotels increased 29.5% to $125.44 during the quarter on a 10.5% increase in Comparable ADR and a 17.2% increase in Comparable Occupancy.

•Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $(64.6) million or $(1.88) per diluted share for the quarter.

•Adjusted EBITDAre was $75.6 million for the quarter, reflecting a growth rate of 88% over the prior year quarter.

•Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) was $0.19 per diluted share for the quarter, compared to $(0.04) for the prior year quarter.

•Comparable Hotel EBITDA was $90.8 million for the quarter, reflecting a growth rate of 61% over the prior year quarter.

•The Company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $344.9 million and restricted cash of $143.8 million. The vast majority of the restricted cash is comprised of lender and manager held reserves. At the end of the quarter, there was also $20.6 million in due from third-party hotel managers, which is primarily the Company’s cash held by one of its property managers and is also available to fund hotel operating costs.

•Net working capital at the end of the quarter was $442.1 million.

•Capex invested during the quarter was $29.3 million.

•During the quarter, the Company successfully extended its JP Morgan Chase – 8 Hotels loan with a paydown of $50 million.

•To date, the Company has issued approximately $21.5 million of its non-traded preferred stock.

•Subsequent to quarter end, the Company extended its BAML Highland Pool Loan until April 2024. As part of this extension, the Company paid down the existing loan balance by $45 million.

As of March 31, 2023, the Company had total loans of $3.8 billion with a blended average interest rate of 7.1%, taking into account in-the-money interest rate caps. Based on the current level of LIBOR and SOFR and the corresponding interest rate caps, approximately 93% of the Company’s debt is effectively fixed and approximately 7% is effectively floating. As of the end of the first quarter, approximately 40% of the Company’s hotels were in cash traps under their respective loans compared to 79% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. The hotels that are currently out of cash traps generated approximately 70% of the Company’s full-year 2022 Hotel EBITDA. Any excess cash flow generated by hotels in cash traps will be held by the lender and will not be available for corporate purposes.

During the quarter, the Company successfully extended its JP Morgan Chase - 8 Hotel mortgage loan which had a maturity extension date in February 2023. As part of this extension, the Company made a $50 million principal paydown of the loan and also was able to reduce the 2024 debt yield extension test from 9.25% to 8.50%, giving the Company significantly more flexibility for the next extension test for this loan.

Subsequent to quarter end, the Company extended its BAML Highland Pool Loan until April 2024. As part of this extension, the Company paid down the existing loan balance by $45 million. The Company is also working with a lender on the refinancing of the La Posada de Santa Fe and the Hilton Alexandria loans, which are the Company’s only final debt maturities in 2023. As part of this expected refinancing, the Company does not anticipate paying down either of the outstanding loan amounts.

The Company did not pay a dividend on its common stock and common units for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. The Board of Directors will continue to monitor the situation and assess future quarterly common dividend declarations. The Company is current on the dividends on its outstanding preferred stock and plans to pay dividends on its outstanding preferred stock on a current basis going forward.

During the first quarter of 2022, the Company filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for its Series J and Series K Redeemable Preferred Stock (“Non-Traded Preferred Equity”). The registration statement provides for the issuance of Non-Traded Preferred Equity in a primary offering over the course of up to three years from the effective date. The Series J and Series K Redeemable Preferred Stock have initial annual dividend yields of 8.0% and 8.2% respectively, and the Company offers a Dividend Reinvestment Plan for investors in the Non-Traded Preferred Equity. The registration statement is now effective, and the Company commenced the offering of the Non-Traded Preferred Equity during the third quarter of 2022. To date, the Company has issued 813,802 shares of its Series J and 45,352 shares of its Series K non-traded preferred stock raising approximately $21.5 million of gross proceeds. The expected use of proceeds for the Non-Traded Preferred Equity is acquisitions, paying down debt, and other general corporate purposes.

“During the first quarter, our portfolio delivered strong operating results,” commented Rob Hays, Ashford Trust’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We’ve been extremely encouraged with the strong growth in both occupancy and ADR that we’ve been able to achieve and believe that strong performance reflects our high-quality, geographically diverse portfolio. Further, we’re encouraged that the majority of our hotels are now out of their respective cash traps compared to only 21% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022.” Mr. Hays added, “We’ve also made progress with the extension tests under some of our loans and the continued ramp up of our non-traded preferred capital raise significantly enhances our financial flexibility. Looking forward, we believe our portfolio is well-positioned, and we will continue to focus on driving strong operating results and prudent capital management.”

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. will conduct a conference call on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. ET. The number to call for this interactive teleconference is (201) 389-0920. A replay of the conference call will be available through Tuesday, May 9, 2023, by dialing (412) 317-6671 and entering the confirmation number, 13737038.

The Company will also provide an online simulcast and rebroadcast of its first quarter 2023 earnings release conference call. The live broadcast of Ashford Hospitality Trust’s quarterly conference call will be available online at the Company’s website, www.ahtreit.com, on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. The online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for approximately one year.

We use certain non-GAAP measures, in addition to the required GAAP presentations, as we believe these measures improve the understanding of our operational results and make comparisons of operating results among peer real estate investment trusts more meaningful. Non-GAAP financial measures, which should not be relied upon as a substitute for GAAP measures, used in this press release are FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, EBITDAre, Adjusted EBITDAre, and Hotel EBITDA. Please refer to our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K for a more detailed description of how these non-GAAP measures are calculated. The reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the closest GAAP measures are provided below and provide further details of our results for the period being reported.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Securities will be offered only by means of a registration statement and prospectus which can be found at www.sec.gov.

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Ashford Hospitality Trust is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing predominantly in upper upscale, full-service hotels.

All indebtedness is non-recourse with the exception of the term loan.

(1)    LIBOR rate was 4.86% at March 31, 2023.

(2)    SOFR rate was 4.80% at March 31, 2023.

(3)    This mortgage loan has five one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. The third one-year extension period began in June 2022.

(4)    This mortgage loan has three one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. The third one-year extension period began in November 2022.

(5)    This mortgage loan has five one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. The fourth one-year extension period began in November 2022.

(6)    This mortgage loan has two one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. The first one-year extension period began in December 2022.

(7)    This term loan has two one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions.

(8)    This mortgage loan has five one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. The fourth one-year extension period began in February 2023.

(9)    This mortgage loan has five one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. The third one-year extension period began in March 2023.

(10)    This mortgage loan has five one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. The fourth one-year extension period began in April 2023.

(11)    This mortgage loan has a SOFR floor of 2.0%.

(12)    This mortgage loan has two one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. This mortgage loan has a LIBOR floor of 0.10%.

(13)    This mortgage loan has three one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. This mortgage loan has a SOFR floor of 0.50%.

(14)    This mortgage loan has one one-year extension option, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions.

(15)    The weighted average interest rates are adjusted for in-the-money interest rate caps.

(16)    The final maturity date assumes all available extension options will be exercised.

(17)    See Exhibit 1 for reconciliation of net income (loss) to hotel EBITDA.

ALL HOTELS:
						Three Months Ended March 31,
						Actual						Non-comparable Adjustments						Comparable						Actual						Non-comparable Adjustments						Comparable						Actual						Comparable
						2023						2023						2023						2022						2022						2022						% Variance						% Variance
			Rooms revenue (in thousands)			$	251,937					$	—					$	251,937					$	194,178					$	318					$	194,496					29.75		%				29.53		%
			RevPAR			$	125.44					$	—					$	125.44					$	96.69					$	1,178.96					$	96.84					29.73		%				29.53		%
			Occupancy			68.41		%				—		%				68.41		%				58.25		%				828.15		%				58.36		%				17.44		%				17.23		%
			ADR			$	183.35					$	—					$	183.35					$	165.99					$	142.36					$	165.94					10.46		%				10.49		%

(1)    The above comparable information assumes the 100 hotel properties owned and included in the Company’s operations at March 31, 2023, were owned as of the beginning of each of the periods presented. Non-comparable adjustments include results from hotel properties disposed of during the period.

(2)    The above information does not reflect the operations of Orlando WorldQuest Resort.

(1)    The above comparable information assumes the 97 hotel properties owned and included in the Company’s operations at March 31, 2023, and not under renovation during the three months ended March 31, 2023, were owned as of the beginning of each of the periods presented. Non-comparable adjustments include results from hotel properties disposed of during the period.

(2)    The above information does not reflect the operations of Orlando WorldQuest Resort.

(3)    Excluded hotels under renovation:

(1)    The above comparable information assumes the 100 hotel properties owned and included in the Company’s operations at March 31, 2023, were owned as of the beginning of each of the periods presented. Non-comparable adjustments include results from hotel properties disposed of during the period.

(2)    The above information does not reflect the operations of Orlando WorldQuest Resort.

(3)    See Exhibit 1 for reconciliation of net income (loss) to hotel EBITDA.

(1)    The above comparable information assumes the 97 hotel properties owned and included in the Company’s operations at March 31, 2023, and not under renovation during the three months ended March 31, 2023, were owned as of the beginning of each of the periods presented. Non-comparable adjustments include results from hotel properties disposed of during the period.

(2)    The above information does not reflect the operations of Orlando WorldQuest Resort.

(3)    See Exhibit 1 for reconciliation of net income (loss) to hotel EBITDA.

(4)    Excluded hotels under renovation:

(1)    The above comparable information assumes the 100 hotel properties owned and included in the Company’s operations at March 31, 2023, were owned as of the beginning of each of the periods presented. Non-comparable adjustments include results from hotel properties disposed of during the period.

(2)    The above information does not reflect the operations of Orlando WorldQuest Resort.

(3)    See Exhibit 1 for reconciliation of net income (loss) to hotel EBITDA.

(1)    The above comparable information assumes the 100 hotel properties owned and included in the Company’s operations at March 31, 2023, were owned as of the beginning of each of the periods presented. Non-comparable adjustments include results from hotel properties disposed of during the period.

(2)    The above information does not reflect the operations of Orlando WorldQuest Resort.