Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ:SVC) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 29, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Stephen Colbert - Director of IR

Todd Hargreaves - President and Chief Investment Officer

Brian Donley - Treasurer and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Bryan Maher - B. Riley FBR

Dori Kesten - Wells Fargo

Jonathan Jenkins - Oppenheimer

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Service Properties Trust Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Stephen Colbert, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Stephen Colbert

Good morning. Joining me on today's call are Todd Hargreaves, President and Chief Investment Officer; and Brian Donley, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer. Today's call includes a presentation by management, followed by a question-and-answer session with analysts. Please note that the recording, retransmission and transcription of today's conference call is prohibited without the prior written consent of SVC.

I would like to point out that today's conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other securities laws. These forward-looking statements are based on SVC's present beliefs and expectations as of today, February 29, 2024. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements.

Additional information concerning factors that could cause those differences is contained in our filings with the SEC, which can be accessed from our website at svcreit.com or the SEC's website. The company undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to the forward-looking statements made in today's conference call.

In addition, this call may contain non-GAAP financial measures, including normalized funds from operations or normalized FFO and adjusted EBITDAre. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to net income as well as components to calculate AFFO are available in our supplemental operating and financial data package, which can be found on our website.

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Todd.

Todd Hargreaves

Thank you, Stephen, and good morning. SVC's fourth quarter results reflect themes we are witnessing across the lodging industry as demand has moderated and high operating costs are impacting profits. While we expect market softness to continue during the first half of 2024, we are optimistic that the back half of the year should improve due to macroeconomic factors and improved business and inbound international travel. We are using this time to invest capital into our hotels, which we expect will lead to improved performance and an attractive return on investment.