Real estate investment trust DiamondRock Hospitality Company is under new leadership but it's mostly staying true to its original investment strategy led by its previous CEO of 20 years.
The only difference now, according to newly appointed CEO Jeff Donnelly, is the real estate investment trust's actions will be more analytical and deliberate.
The REIT will continue to focus on lifestyle resorts and urban hotels, which is no different than before.
"To borrow a term from [President and Chief Operating Officer Justin Leonard], that means we will work to manufacture core product. Ideally, with limited capital intensity. To us, competitive auctions for a brand-managed, big-box hotel is not that path to success, and the investment community has limited patience for big-ticket, highly disruptive renovations. Instead, we want to select situations where our capital and creativity can unlock value that will drive long-term performance," Donnelly said during the company's first-quarter 2024 earnings call with analysts.
"Similarly, we will be thoughtful about how and when we elect to dispose of assets," he added.
Donnelly, who was previously executive vice president and chief financial officer, became the new CEO in April after then CEO and co-founder Mark Brugger departed the company.
Brugger was president and CEO of DiamondRock since 2004. Donnelly thanked Brugger for establishing the team that exists today.
Along with that, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Justin Leonard took over the president role while maintaining chief operating officer duties. He also assumed responsibilities of chief investment officer as Troy Furbay departed the company.
Briony Quinn shifted to the position of treasurer and chief financial officer.
This leadership rearrangement is expected to reduce DiamondRock's corporate expenses by nearly $4 million, Quinn said.
Donnelly said the new structure will allow for expedited decision-making.
"Value creation is our magnetic north," he said.
Transactions, Capital Expenditure Projects
Donnelly said there's slowly been more hotels entering the "shadow pipeline" as owners under distress are forced to bring product to market.
"Transactions may emerge where the path to ownership might require a little extra creativity," he said.
DiamondRock did not sell or purchase any hotels in the first quarter but has been active with return-on-investment projects in the past year.
"We continue to explore dispositions. The proceeds of which can fund share repurchases, internal ROI projects or external growth," Quinn said.
In 2023, the REIT converted Boston's largest office building constructed in 1928 into The Dagny, a 403-room boutique hotel. The company invested $32 million to create a new lobby, luxury guestrooms and bathrooms, new meeting space and a fitness center.
The company invested roughly $19 million in capital improvements at its hotels during the three months ended March 31 and expects to spend a total of $100 million on capital improvements throughout 2024.
Projects this year include a comprehensive guestroom renovation of the Westin San Diego Bayview; the repositioning of the Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain into a Curio Collection by Hilton hotel; the repositioning and renovation of the Orchards Inn Sedona into the Cliffs at L'Auberge; and a renovation of the Landing Lake Tahoe Resort and Spa.
Segment Performance
Overall, Donnelly said the leisure segment during the first quarter proved to be softer than expected due to inflation and the pressure of higher interest rates.
Group sales production in the quarter was steady versus 2023. Business transient demand, however, is still 23% behind 2019, he said.
Hotels in California's wine country were weak in the first quarter.
"We underperformed in Sonoma because we faced a particularly difficult [first quarter] '23 comparison. We had less group on the books for the quarter and our revenue-management strategy was simply too aggressive for the setup. The market is stabilizing, the team has course-corrected it and we have seen our recent results return to in-line market performance," he said.
Its ski-focused hotels such as The Hythe in Vail, Colorado, also experienced weaker-than-expected performance due to unfavorable snowfall patterns in the quarter, as well as more ski destinations available than prior seasons and a drop-off in loyalty redemption nights.
Loyalty redemption at DiamondRock's participating resorts were down 23% year over year and 40% from 2022.
"This sharp reduction in redemption means there's a larger number of room nights to fill and sometimes that means turning to [online travel agencies] or other less profitable channels," he said.
Looking ahead, the REIT's executives are more confident about resort performance in the second half of this year.
By the Numbers
DiamondRock ended the first quarter with $628.5 million of liquidity. As of March 31, it has $1.2 billion of total debt outstanding, comprised of $800 million of unsecured term loans and $375.7 million of property-specific, non-recourse mortgage debt.
DiamondRock reported a net income of $8.4 million in the first quarter.
Comparable total revenues were $256.4 million, representing a 3.8% increase year over year. Comparable revenue per available room was $184.23, a 0.4% decrease year over year.
Comparable hotel adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $61.4 million, a 3% decline year over year.
As of publication time, DiamondRock’s stock was trading at $8.97 per share, up 2.3% year to date. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 2% for the same time period.