Richard Stockton, CEO and president of Braemar Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: BHR), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITweek: 2022 Investor Conference in New York on June 7-9.
Stockton said that luxury resorts are on the rebound after the impact of the pandemic, “fully recovered and then some.”
“The ADRs (average daily rates) for our portfolio of luxury resorts in the first quarter was up 70% versus 2019,” he said. “That compares to ADRs being up closer to 20% across the lodging industry generally.”
Stockton said that Braemar’s RevPAR (revenue per available room) is also up 20% versus 2019, a combination of the outperformance of its nine resorts and the underperformance of its six urban properties. While Braemar’s urban assets make up about half of the REIT’s total number of rooms, Stockton said they broke even in the first quarter, contributing no EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) to the overall bottom line.
“Nevertheless, the nine resorts that we have generated record levels of EBITDA,” he added. “So we had our best quarter ever with nearly $60 million of EBITDA in the first quarter, which is about 30% higher than we had in 2019.”
Stockton also said Braemar does not currently have any rooms out of service due to labor shortages.
“In this market, that’s an achievement. I think it is because our places are great places to work,” he added, mentioning Braemar properties including the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek in Colorado, The Pier House Key West Florida, and Ritz-Carlton properties across the U.S. and the Caribbean.