Apple Hospitality REIT executives credited improving business travel and the continued strength of leisure travel demand for year-over-year gains in average daily rate and revenue per available room in the third quarter.
CEO Justin Knight said during the company's third-quarter earnings call that improvements in business travel have been "the primary driver of overall growth" for Apple REIT's portfolio. Leisure travel "has proven resilient" as well, as consumers prioritize experiential travel more and more.
Apple REIT's portfolio includes primarily upscale select-service brands including Hampton by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, AC Hotels by Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott and other similar brands without significant meeting or event space.
Knight said the trends across its portfolio are favorable, and the company hopes to continue to drive midweek occupancy to further grow rates.
"We're in a better position than we have been to begin to mix-manage in ways that will more dramatically move rate midweek," he said.
There will be an opportunity to meaningfully increase rate heading into next year as midweeks will be less affected by holidays, Knight said.
"Our expectation is that we're in a position now, from an occupancy standpoint, to begin to ... move the needle in that area," he said.
Chief Financial Officer Liz Perkins said Apple REIT has room to grow on the occupancy side on midweek days from Monday through Wednesday. There has been a negative impact on rate from trading higher-rated leisure travelers for business travelers, but that could be negated by occupancy numbers growing.
"We are starting to gain some traction where we have the higher occupancy levels and really ensuring that we're pricing base business appropriately and looking at where we can drive incremental rates," she said. "We're starting to see some benefit there. I think that sort of negative mix shift impact will continue to decline over time."
Portfolio activity
While the real estate investment trust wasn't very active in the transactions market in the third quarter, it has made a couple of large acquisitions and sold some smaller properties so far in 2024.
"While the overall transaction market continues to be challenging, we have seen a strengthening private market for smaller rooms-focused properties and have been able to optimize that portfolio concentration within select markets through strategic dispositions," Knight said.
Apple REIT currently has four hotels with 380 combined rooms under contract for a sale price of about $31 million. Those properties include the Courtyard by Marriott Wichita East in Wichita, Kansas; TownePlace Suites by Marriott Knoxville Cedar Bluff in Knoxville, Tennessee; Homewood Suites by Hilton Chattanooga-Hamilton Place in Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Hilton Garden Inn Austin North in Austin, Texas.
Through the end of the third quarter, the REIT has sold three hotels for a combined price of about $40.6 million.
Knight said the market has only recently opened up in regard to disposing assets. If the opportunities remain open, Apple REIT will pursue selling off more hotels from its portfolio.
"To the extent it stays open, as it recently has been, you'll see us be much more aggressive selling assets and redeploying capital," he said.
On the acquisitions side in 2024, Apple REIT has acquired two hotels for a combined price of $196.3 million in the 234-room AC Hotel by Marriott Washington DC Convention Center and the 262-room Embassy Suites by Hilton Madison Downtown in Madison, Wisconsin.
Apple REIT has one hotel under contract for purchase: a Motto by Hilton that is currently under development in downtown Nashville and set to open in 2025. The purchase price is anticipated to be about $98.2 million.
"We continue to actively underwrite additional opportunities and are well-positioned to act where we can achieve attractive yields relative to other capital allocation opportunities," Knight said.
Those opportunities haven't necessarily been easy to come across, though. He said there's been fewer transactions than normally anticipated given the current market, and sellers have been reluctant to adjust pricing on certain assets.
"There continues to be significant interest in the space, but the bid-ask spread is wide, and absent a meaningful shift in operating performance for the assets or cost of capital for the potential buyers, we'll continue to see lower transaction volume through the end of the year," he said.
Since the onset of the pandemic, Apple REIT has completed about $294 million in hotel sales and has invested about $1 billion in new acquisitions. Knight said this highlights the REIT's ability to adjust its strategy based on changing market conditions.
"These transactions have further enhanced our well-positioned portfolio by lowering the average age, lifting overall portfolio performance, helping to manage near-term [capital expenditure] needs, growing the size of our platform, increasing our exposure to high-growth markets and positioning us to continue to benefit from near-term economic and demographic trends," he said.
Third-quarter performance
In the third quarter, Apple REIT reported net income of $56.3 million, a 3.8% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2023.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization real estate was $128.9 million, up 5.7% year over year. Comparable hotels adjusted EBITDA was relatively flat, up 0.3% year over year to $139.2 million.
Average daily rate at Apple REIT's hotels in the quarter was $162.57, an increase of 2% year over year. Occupancy was down just 0.1 percentage points to 77%. Revenue per available room was up 1.8% in the quarter at $125.10.
Knight attributed the increase in RevPAR to the improvements on the ADR side.
"RevPAR was driven by improvement in rate, with increases in midweek occupancy largely offsetting a slight pullback on weekends," he said.
As of press time, Apple REIT's stock was trading at $14.77, down 11.1% year to date. The NYSE Composite was up 15.4% for the same period.