RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 5, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Nikhil Bhalla - Senior Vice President, Finance & Treasurer

Leslie Hale - President & Chief Executive Officer

Sean Mahoney - Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Tom Bardenett - Chief Operating Officer

Conference Call Participants

Austin Wurschmidt - KeyBanc Capital Markets

Tyler Batory - Oppenheimer

Michael Bellisario - Baird

Chris Darling - Green Street

Anthony Powell - Barclays

Floris van Dijkum - Compass Point

Gregory Miller – Truist

Operator

Welcome to the RLJ Lodging Trust First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the call over to Nikhil Bhalla, RLJ’s Senior Vice President, Finance and Treasurer. Please, go ahead.

Nikhil Bhalla

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to RLJ Lodging Trust 2023 first quarter earnings call. On today's call, Leslie Hale, our President and Chief Executive Officer, will discuss key highlights for the quarter; Sean Mahoney, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will discuss the company's financial results; Tom Bardenett, our Chief Operating Officer, will be available for Q&A.

Forward-looking statements made on this call are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that may lead the company's actual results to differ materially from what had been communicated. Factors that may impact the results of the company can be found in the company's 10-K and other reports filed with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.

Also, as we discuss certain non-GAAP measures, it may be helpful to review the reconciliations to GAAP located in our press release. Finally, please refer to the schedule of supplemental information, which was posted to our website last night, which includes pro forma operating results for our current hotel portfolio.

I will now turn the call over to Leslie.

Leslie Hale

Thanks, Nikhil. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We are encouraged that the positive momentum in lodging fundamentals continued throughout the first quarter, as RevPAR for the industry sequentially improved each month on both an absolute basis and relative to 2019.

As we expected, first quarter RevPAR in urban markets outpaced the industry relative to last year and achieved a significant milestone of reaching 2019 level for the first time post the pandemic.