Jeff Donnelly, CEO of DiamondRock Hospitality Co. (Nasdaq: DRH), sat down for a video interview during Nareit’s REITworld: 2025 Annual Conference in Dallas, Dec. 8–11.
Donnelly expressed optimism about the outlook for resort and leisure demand. “The fundamentals are very strong,” he said, noting that an aging population is continuing to spend more money on travel, while younger generations are spending more on experiences over things.
At the same time, the industry has had very low supply growth for an extended period of time, and that's not going to change, Donnelly said. “ I really think that when I look across the lodging sector, you probably have the greatest long-term growth prospects in the resort sector.”
Turning to the balance sheet, DiamondRock has solid liquidity and has paid off all of its secured debt. “We've intentionally positioned our balance sheet to be very strong and flexible and give us a lot of leeway for what I think could be coming down the road,” Donnelly said.
A top priority for 2026 at DiamondRock is free cash flow per share growth, “and how we drive that and continue to differentiate ourselves versus our peers,” Donnelly said. “We'll continue to look for opportunities to accretively sell and recycle capital into our portfolio, or into share repurchases, to drive free cash flow per share,” he noted.