Summit Hotel Properties (INN) 10-K2022 FY Annual report

Unless the context otherwise requires, all references to “we,” “us,” “our,” or the “Company” refer to Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. is a self-managed lodging property investment company that was organized in June 2010 and completed its initial public offering in February 2011. The Company holds both general and limited partnership interests in Summit Hotel OP, LP (the “Operating Partnership”), a Delaware limited partnership also organized in June 2010. We focus on owning lodging properties with efficient operating models that generate strong margins and investment returns. At December 31, 2022, our portfolio consisted of 103 lodging properties with a total of 15,334 guestrooms located in 24 states. We own our properties fee simple, except for seven hotel properties which are subject to ground leases. As of December 31, 2022, we own 100% of the outstanding equity interests in 61 of 103 of our lodging properties. We own a 51% controlling interest in 39 lodging properties through a joint venture with the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore (the "GIC Joint Venture"), and two 90% equity interests in separate joint ventures (the "Brickell Joint Venture" and the "Onera Joint Venture"). The Brickell Joint Venture owns two lodging properties and the Onera Joint Venture owns one lodging property.

The GIC Joint Venture was formed in July 2019 with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, to acquire assets that align with the Company’s current investment strategy and criteria. The Company serves as general partner and asset manager of the GIC Joint Venture and intends to invest 51% of the equity capitalization of the limited partnership, with GIC investing the remaining 49%. The GIC Joint Venture intends to finance assets with an anticipated 50% overall leverage target. The Company earns fees for providing services to the GIC Joint Venture and will have the potential to earn incentive fees based on the GIC Joint Venture achieving certain return thresholds.

As of December 31, 2022, 86% of our guestrooms were located in the top 50 metropolitan statistical areas (“MSAs”), 91% were located within the top 100 MSAs and 15,323 of our guestrooms operated under premium franchise brands owned by Marriott® International, Inc. (“Marriott”), Hilton® Worldwide (“Hilton”), Hyatt® Hotels Corporation (“Hyatt”), and InterContinental® Hotels Group (“IHG”). Our properties are typically located in markets with multiple demand generators such as corporate offices and headquarters, retail centers, airports, state capitols, convention centers, universities, and leisure attractions.

In January and March 2022, the Operating Partnership and the GIC Joint Venture closed on a transaction with NewcrestImage Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and NewcrestImage Holdings II, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (together, “NewcrestImage”), to purchase from NewcrestImage a portfolio of 27 lodging properties, containing an aggregate of 3,709 guestrooms, two parking structures containing 1,002 spaces, and various financial incentives for an aggregate purchase price of $822.0 million (the "NCI Transaction"). In June 2022, the Operating Partnership exercised an option to acquire a 90% equity interest in the AC Hotel by Marriott and Element Miami Brickell Hotel in Miami, FL (together the "AC/Element Hotel") based on a gross option exercise price of $89.0 million (the "Brickell Transaction"). We own a 90% equity interest in the AC/Element Hotel through our equity interest in the Brickell Joint Venture.

In October 2022, the Company entered into the Onera Joint Venture with the Onera Opportunity Fund I LP ("Onera"), developers of alternative accommodation properties, with the acquisition of a 90% equity interest in the Onera Joint Venture for $5.2 million in cash, plus additional contingent consideration limited to a maximum of $1.8 million, payable to the seller based on performance of the property for the 12-month period ending July 31, 2023. The Onera Joint Venture has a 100% fee simple interest in real property and improvements located in Fredericksburg, Texas consisting of 11 glamping lodging units and a 6.4-acre parcel of undeveloped land that will be developed as phase two of the lodging site in the future.

Substantially all of our assets are held by, and all of our operations are conducted through, our operating partnership, Summit Hotel OP, LP (the “Operating Partnership”). Through a wholly-owned subsidiary, we are the sole general partner of the Operating Partnership. At December 31, 2022, we owned, directly and indirectly, approximately 87.0% of the Operating Partnership’s issued and outstanding common units of limited partnership interest (“Common Units”), and all of the Operating Partnership’s issued and outstanding Series E and Series F preferred units of limited partnership interest. NewcrestImage owns all of the issued and outstanding 5.25% Series Z Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Units (Liquidation preference $25 per unit) of the Operating Partnership ("Series Z Preferred Units"), which was issued as part of the NCI Transaction. We collectively refer to preferred units of limited partnership interests of our Operating Partnership as "Preferred Units."

Pursuant to the Operating Partnership’s partnership agreement, we have full, exclusive and complete responsibility and discretion in the management and control of the Operating Partnership, including the ability to cause the Operating Partnership to enter into certain major transactions including acquisitions, dispositions and refinancings, to make distributions to partners and to cause changes in the Operating Partnership’s business activities.

Our portfolio consists of lodging properties in desirable locations with efficient operating models. Our approach to creating value includes the following:

Beginning in March 2020, we experienced the negative effects of the novel coronavirus, designated as COVID-19 (“COVID-19”) and its variants (collectively, the "Pandemic"), which had a significant negative effect on the U.S. and global economies, including a rapid and sharp decline in all forms of travel, both domestic and international, and a significant decline in lodging demand. As such, we experienced a substantial decline in our revenues, profitability and cash flows from operations during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021. However, our operations have recovered to levels that are near pre-Pandemic levels for the year ended December 31, 2022 as a result of significant improvement in our business, driven primarily by leisure travel and to a lesser extent modest improvement in other demand segments, including corporate and group travel. We anticipate that continued improvement in operating trends will be dependent on sustained strength in leisure travel and improvement in business and group travel. More broadly, maintaining our current positive trend in business and group travel, geopolitical stability, moderating inflation, a normalized labor market, and maintaining a high-quality portfolio aligned with evolving guest preferences are important for continued growth in our operating results.

The key elements of our strategy that we believe will allow us to create long-term value include the following:

We rely on cash generated through operations, working capital, borrowings under our senior revolving and term loan facility (the "2018 Senior Credit Facility"), term debt, repayment of notes receivable, proceeds from the issuance of common and preferred securities, the strategic sale of lodging properties, contributions from our joint venture partners, and the release of restricted cash upon satisfaction of the usage requirements to finance our business. We may also issue Common Units or Preferred Units of the Operating Partnership in connection with acquisitions.

Our GIC Joint Venture also operates with borrowings under a $200 million credit facility (the "Joint Venture Credit Facility"). The Joint Venture Credit Facility is comprised of a $125.0 million revolving credit facility (the “$125 Million Revolver”) and a $75.0 million term loan (the “$75 Million Term Loan”). We had obtained certain financial covenant waivers from our Joint Venture Credit Facility lenders through March 31, 2022 and we have obtained certain modifications to financial covenant measures through December 31, 2023. The amendments to the Joint Venture Credit facility confirmed that our Joint Venture could make additional advances on the $125 Million Revolver, subject to certain financial covenant limitations.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, the GIC Joint Venture entered into a $410.0 million senior secured term loan facility (the “GIC Joint Venture Term Loan”) secured by the 27 lodging properties and two parking garages acquired in the NCI Transaction and assumed a PACE loan totaling $6.5 million. The GIC Joint Venture Term Loan has an accordion feature which will permit an increase in the total commitments by up to $190.0 million, for aggregate potential borrowings of up to $600.0 million. The GIC Joint Venture Term Loan will mature on January 13, 2026 and can be extended for one 12-month period at the Company’s option, subject to certain conditions.

Our long-term leverage approach is to maintain conservative debt levels with high coverage ratios to allow us the flexibility to withstand various economic cycles and to position us for growth when accretive opportunities arise.

Our debt includes, and may include in the future, debt secured by stock pledges, mortgage debt secured by lodging properties and unsecured debt. As of December 31, 2022, we had $1.5 billion in outstanding indebtedness, including $676.3 million related to our joint ventures. Our pro rata debt taking into consideration only our portion of our joint venture debt was $1.2 billion at December 31, 2022.

When purchasing lodging properties, the Operating Partnership may issue Common Units or Preferred Units as full or partial consideration to sellers who may be interested in taking advantage of the opportunity to defer taxable gains on the sale of a property or participate in the potential appreciation in the value of our common stock.

We face competition for investments in lodging properties from institutional pension funds, private equity investors, REITs, lodging companies and others who are engaged in acquisitions of and investments in lodging properties. Some of these entities have substantially greater financial and operational resources than we have. This competition may increase the bargaining power of property owners seeking to sell, reduce the number of suitable investment opportunities available to us and increase the cost of acquiring targeted lodging properties.

The lodging industry is highly competitive. Our lodging properties compete with other hotel properties and alternative accommodations for guests in their respective markets based on a number of factors, including location, convenience, brand affiliation, quality of the physical condition of the lodging property, guestroom rates, range of services and guest amenities or accommodations offered and quality of customer service. Competition is often specific to the individual markets in which our lodging properties are located and includes competition from existing and new hotel properties and alternative accommodations. Competition could adversely affect our occupancy rates, our ADR and our RevPAR, and may require us to provide additional amenities or make capital improvements that we otherwise would not have to make, which may reduce our profitability.

Certain segments of the lodging industry are seasonal in nature. The current trend in our business is for business and leisure travelers to occupy lodging properties relatively consistently throughout the year, but decreases in business travel occur during summer and the winter holidays.  The lodging industry is also seasonal based upon geography.  Lodging properties in the southern U.S. tend to have higher occupancy rates during the winter months.  Lodging properties in the northern U.S. tend to have higher occupancy rates during the summer months.

Our lodging properties are subject to various covenants, laws, ordinances and regulations, including regulations relating to accessibility, fire and safety requirements. We believe each of our lodging properties has the necessary permits and approvals to operate its business.

Our properties must comply with Title III of the ADA to the extent that they are “public accommodations” as defined by the ADA. Under the ADA, all public accommodations must meet federal requirements related to access and use by disabled persons. The ADA may require removal of structural barriers to access by persons with disabilities in certain public areas of our properties where removal is readily achievable. Although we believe the properties in our portfolio substantially comply with present requirements of the ADA, a determination to the contrary could require removal of access barriers and non-compliance could result in litigation costs, costs to remediate deficiencies, U.S. government fines or in damages to private litigants. The obligation to make readily achievable accommodations is an ongoing one, and we will continue to assess our properties and to make alterations as appropriate in this respect.

Our lodging properties and undeveloped land parcels are subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws that impose liability for contamination. Under these laws, governmental entities have the authority to require us, as the current owner of the property, to perform or pay for the cleanup of contamination (including hazardous substances, waste, or petroleum products) at, on, under or emanating from the property and to pay for natural resource damages arising from contamination.  These laws often impose liability without regard to whether the owner or operator or other responsible party knew of, or caused the contamination, and the liability may be joint and several.  Because these laws also impose liability on persons who owned a property at the time it became contaminated, we could incur cleanup costs or other environmental liabilities even after we sell properties. Contamination at, on, under or emanating from our properties also may expose us to liability to private parties for costs of remediation, personal injury and death or property damage.  In addition, environmental liens may be created on contaminated sites in favor of the government for damages and costs it incurs to address contamination.  If contamination is discovered on our properties, environmental laws also may impose restrictions on the manner in which our property may be used or our businesses may be operated, and these restrictions may require substantial expenditures. Moreover, environmental contamination can affect the value of a property and therefore, an owner’s ability to borrow funds using the property as collateral or to sell the property on favorable terms or at all. Furthermore, persons who sent waste to a waste disposal facility, such as a landfill or an incinerator, may be liable for costs associated with cleanup of that facility.

Some of our properties may have contained historical uses which involved the use or storage of hazardous chemicals and petroleum products (for example, storage tanks, gas stations and dry-cleaning operations) which if released, could have affected our properties. In addition, some of our properties may be near or adjacent to other properties that have contained or currently contain storage tanks containing petroleum products or conducted or currently conduct operations which use other hazardous or toxic substances. Releases from these adjacent or surrounding properties could affect our properties and we may be liable for any associated cleanup.

Independent environmental consultants conducted Phase I environmental site assessments on all of our properties prior to acquisition and we intend to conduct Phase I environmental site assessments on properties we acquire in the future. Phase I site assessments are intended to discover and evaluate information regarding the environmental condition of the surveyed properties and surrounding properties. These assessments do not generally include soil sampling, subsurface investigations or comprehensive asbestos surveys. In some cases, the Phase I environmental site assessments were conducted by another entity such as a lender, and we may not have the authority to rely on such reports. None of the Phase I environmental site assessments of the lodging properties in our portfolio revealed any past or present environmental condition that we believe could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position or results of operations. In addition, the Phase I environmental site assessments may also have failed to reveal all environmental conditions, liabilities or compliance concerns. The Phase I environmental site assessments were completed at various times and material environmental conditions, liabilities or compliance concerns may have arisen after the review was completed or may arise in the future; and future laws, ordinances or regulations may impose material additional environmental liability.

In addition, our lodging properties (including our real property, operations and equipment) are subject to various federal, state and local environmental, health and safety regulatory requirements that address a wide variety of issues, including, but not limited to, the potential transmission of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, the existence of mold and other airborne contaminants above regulatory thresholds, the registration, maintenance and operation of our boilers and storage tanks, the supply of potable water to our guests, air emissions from emergency generators, storm water and wastewater discharges, protection of natural resources, asbestos, lead-based paint, and waste management. Some of our lodging properties also routinely handle and use hazardous or regulated substances and wastes as part of their operations (for example, swimming pool chemicals or biological waste). Our lodging properties incur costs, and in certain situations, may be required to limit operations, to comply with these environmental, health and safety laws and regulations and if these regulatory requirements are not met or unforeseen events result in the discharge of dangerous or toxic substances at our lodging properties, we could be subject to fines and penalties for non-compliance with applicable laws and material liability from third parties for harm to the environment, damage to real property or personal injury or death. We are aware of no past or present environmental liability for non-compliance with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations that we believe would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position or results of operations.

Our ongoing commitment to our environment, our communities and our stakeholders is an important part of our core responsibility to be more sustainable, inclusive and equitable. Since establishing our Corporate Responsibility program in 2017, we have built upon our sustainability objectives, from tracking metrics related to our consumption, waste, recycling and greenhouse gas emissions, to setting measurable, science-aligned reduction targets for energy, water and carbon, and to committing to improve the efficiency of our buildings and promote sustainable operations through our energy management program. Additionally, we have expanded charitable engagement with our community through the Summit Foundation, our 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and have broadened our social programs to enhance connectivity among our employees, partners and stakeholders to better enable us to champion an environment of diversity and inclusivity.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we expanded the number of our lodging properties with electric vehicle charging stations and green certifications, and we established science-aligned targets to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by the year 2025. For more information on these and our other sustainability practices, including environmental and social metrics and results, please see our current sustainability report available on our website at https://www.shpreit.com/responsibility.

We have elected to be taxed as a REIT under Sections 856 through 859 of the IRC, commencing with our short taxable year ended December 31, 2011. Our qualification as a REIT depends upon our ability to meet, on a continuing basis, through actual investment and operating results, various complex requirements under the IRC relating to, among other things, the sources of our gross income, the composition and values of our assets, the timing and amount of our dividend distributions and the diversity of ownership of our stock. We believe that we have been organized and have operated in conformity with the requirements for qualification as a REIT under the IRC and that our current and intended manner of operation will enable us to continue to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT for federal income tax purposes.

For the income from our lodging operations to constitute “rents from real property” for purposes of the gross income tests required for REIT qualification, we cannot directly operate any of our lodging properties.  We may, however, generate "rents from real property" through leasing our lodging properties to taxable REIT subsidiaries ("TRSs"), subject to certain conditions. A TRS is a fully taxable corporate subsidiary of a REIT that jointly elects with the REIT to be treated as a TRS of that REIT. Accordingly, all of our lodging properties are leased to our TRS Lessees. We have separate TRSs that lease the lodging properties owned in our joint ventures. We will lease newly acquired lodging properties to our existing TRSs or additional TRSs in the future.  Our TRS Lessees pay rent to us that will qualify as “rents from real property,” provided that the TRS Lessees engage “eligible independent contractors” to manage our lodging properties.  All of our lodging properties are operated pursuant to lodging property management agreements with professional third-party property management companies.  We believe each of the third-party managers qualifies as an “eligible independent contractor” under the IRC.

As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal income tax on our REIT taxable income that we distribute as dividends to our stockholders.  Under the IRC, REITs are subject to numerous organizational and operational requirements, including a requirement that they distribute each year at least 90% of their taxable income, subject to certain adjustments and excluding any net capital gains.  If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT in any taxable year and do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, our income for that year will be taxed at regular corporate rates, and we will be unable to re-elect REIT status until the fifth calendar year after the year in which we failed to qualify as a REIT. Even if we qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we may still be subject to state and local taxes on our income and assets and to federal income and excise taxes on our undistributed income.  Additionally, any income earned by our TRSs will be fully subject to federal, state and local corporate income tax.

As of February 10, 2023, we had 74 full-time corporate employees. None of our corporate employees is represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. All persons employed in the day-to-day operations of our lodging properties are employees of our third-party independent property management companies engaged by our TRS Lessees or their subsidiaries to operate such lodging properties.

Our employees are vital to the success of our Company. We are committed to cultivating a culture of connectedness based on our primary values of passion, integrity, and excellence and strive to create an inspiring and inclusive work environment where our employees feel motivated and empowered to produce exceptional results for the Company. We strive to always be guided by our fundamental values and ethical standards to provide our team members with a fair and equitable work environment. We annually distribute and require acknowledgement of an employee handbook to all employees that provides direction on relevant policies related to conducting our business in accordance with our core values.

Our human capital resource objectives include, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining and incentivizing our employees. To attract and retain top talent, we have designed our compensation and benefits programs to provide a balanced and effective reward structure, including:

We believe that our compensation and employee benefits are competitive and allow us to attract and retain skilled employees throughout our Company. We frequently benchmark our compensation and benefits package against those in both our industry and in similar disciplines.

We have established social programs with the goal of promoting a culture of unity and collaboration among our various departments through career and personal development opportunities designed to inspire all of those involved. Our career and personal development focus on four main principles: (1) communication and teamwork; (2) networking and mentorship; (3) leadership development; and (4) work-life balance. In addition, we have a formal annual goal setting and performance review process for our employees.

We believe that equal employment opportunity is a fundamental principle and do not tolerate discrimination against any person on the basis of race, color, religious creed, sex, age, gender, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, learning disability, physical disability, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic as established by law, in recruiting, hiring, compensation, benefits, termination or any other terms or conditions of employment. Our employees have multiple avenues available through which concerns or inappropriate behavior can be reported, including a confidential hotline. All concerns or reports of inappropriate behavior are promptly investigated with appropriate action taken to address such concerns or behavior.

We are committed to maintaining a work culture that treats all employees fairly and with respect, promotes inclusivity and provides equal opportunities for advancement based on merit. Our workforce diversity has increased during the year ended December 31, 2022. Of the 74 full-time corporate employees employed by us at February 10, 2023, women constituted approximately 49% of our workforce, which is an increase from 44% in the prior year. Individuals who identify as traditionally underrepresented races or ethnicities constituted approximately 22% of our workforce, an increase from 13% in the prior year. We intend to continue using a combination of targeted recruiting, talent development and internal promotion strategies to expand the diversity of our employee base across all roles and functions.

Our Internet website is located at www.shpreit.com. Copies of the charters of the committees of our board of directors, our code of business conduct and ethics and our corporate governance guidelines are available on our website. We will provide timely disclosures of amendments and waivers to the aforementioned documents, if any, via website posting. All reports that we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) including this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our current reports on Form 8-K, can be obtained free of charge from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or through our website. The information contained on, or accessible through the SEC’s website or our website is not incorporated by reference into this report and should not be considered a part of this report.

Our business strategy includes achieving continued revenue and cash flow growth from anticipated improvement in demand for lodging guestrooms driven by long-term economic growth. We, however, cannot provide any assurances that demand for lodging guestrooms will increase from current levels or continue to exceed the growth of new supply, or the time or extent of any demand growth that we do experience. If demand does not continue to increase as the economy grows, or if there is a slowdown in the general economy resulting in weakening demand, our operating results and growth prospects could be adversely affected. As a result, any slowdown in economic growth or an economic downturn could adversely affect our future results of operations and our growth prospects.

Many of the expenses associated with owning and operating lodging properties, such as debt service payments, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and certain employee compensation costs are relatively fixed. They do not necessarily decrease directly with a reduction in revenue at the lodging properties and may be subject to increases that are not related to the performance of our lodging properties or the increase in the rate of inflation. Also, as of December 31, 2022, seven of our lodging properties are subject to third-party ground leases which generally require periodic increases in rent payments. Our ability to pay these rents could be adversely affected if our revenues for these lodging properties do not increase at the same or a greater rate than the increases in rental payments under the ground leases.

Our growth strategy includes the disciplined acquisition of lodging properties as opportunities arise, which may be subject to restrictions related to our debt covenants. Our ability to acquire lodging properties on satisfactory terms or at all is subject to the following significant risks:

Our inability to complete lodging property acquisitions on favorable terms or at all, could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

From time to time, we structure asset sales for possible inclusion in like-kind exchanges within the meaning of Section 1031 of the IRC. The ability to complete a like-kind exchange depends on many factors, including, among others, identifying and acquiring suitable replacement property within limited time periods, and the ownership structure of the properties being sold and acquired.  Therefore, we are not always able to sell an asset as part of a like-kind exchange. When successful, a like-kind exchange enables us to defer the taxable gain on the asset sold. Our inability to defer the taxable gain resulting from the sales of certain lodging properties, could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock. Moreover, Section 1031 Exchanges now only apply to real property and do not apply to any related personal property transferred with the real property. As a result, any appreciated personal property that is transferred in connection with a Section 1031 Exchange of real property will cause gain to be recognized, and such gain is generally treated as non-qualifying income for the REIT 95% and 75% gross income tests. Any such non-qualifying income could have an adverse effect on our REIT status.

Our ability to successfully integrate newly acquired lodging properties or achieve expected operating performance is subject to the following risks:

We may assume existing liabilities in connection with the acquisition of lodging properties, some of which may be unknown or unquantifiable on the acquisition date.  Unknown liabilities might include liabilities for cleanup or remediation of undisclosed environmental conditions, claims of lodging guests, vendors or other persons dealing with the seller of a particular lodging property, tax liabilities, employment-related issues and accrued but unpaid liabilities whether incurred in the ordinary course of business or otherwise.  If the magnitude of such unknown liabilities is high, they could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

To qualify as a REIT, we cannot operate or manage our lodging properties.  Accordingly, all of our lodging properties are leased to TRS Lessees of our TRSs.  All of our lodging properties are operated pursuant to management agreements with independent management companies, each of which must qualify as an “eligible independent contractor” to operate our lodging properties. As a result, our financial position, results of operations and our ability to service debt and make distributions to stockholders are dependent on the ability of our management companies to operate our lodging properties successfully. Any failure of our management companies to provide quality services and amenities or maintain a quality brand name and reputation could have a negative effect on their ability to operate our lodging properties and could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Even if we believe a lodging property is being operated inefficiently or in a manner that does not result in satisfactory operating results, we will have limited ability to require the management company to change its method of operation. We generally attempt to resolve issues with our management companies through discussions and negotiations, but otherwise will only be able to seek redress if a management company violates the terms of the applicable management agreement, and then only to the extent of the remedies provided for under the terms of the management agreement. If we replace the management company of any of our lodging properties, we may be required to pay a substantial termination fee and we may experience significant disruptions at the affected lodging property.

Furthermore, we have certain indemnifications from our property managers that generally protect us from financial losses due to the gross negligence or willful misconduct of our property managers. However, the indemnifications may be insufficient, or the property manager may not have the financial wherewithal to support their indemnification obligation to us. As such, the indemnification may not provide us with sufficient protection against third-party claims resulting from the gross negligence or willful misconduct of our property managers in the operation of our lodging properties.

Our property managers or their affiliates manage, and in some cases own, have invested in, or provided credit support or operating guarantees to lodging properties that compete with our lodging properties, all of which may result in conflicts of interest. As a result, our managers may in the future make decisions regarding competing lodging facilities that are not or would not be in our best interest.

Certain of our lodging properties are managed by affiliates of the franchisors for such lodging properties.  In these situations, the management agreement and the franchise agreement are typically combined into one document.  Thus, the termination of the management agreement due to poor performance or breach of the management agreement by the management company could also terminate our franchise license.  Thus, we may have very limited options to remedy poor management performance if we desire to retain the franchise license.

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

As of December 31, 2022, Aimbridge Hospitality or its affiliates (“Aimbridge”) managed 62 of our 103 lodging properties. Thus, a substantial portion of our revenues is generated by lodging properties managed by Aimbridge.  This significant concentration of operational risk in one management company makes us more vulnerable economically than if our management was more evenly diversified among several management companies. Any adverse developments in Aimbridge's business, financial strength or ability to operate our lodging properties efficiently and effectively could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. We cannot provide assurance that Aimbridge will satisfy its obligations to us or effectively and efficiently operate our lodging properties. The failure or inability of Aimbridge to satisfy its obligations to us or effectively and efficiently operate our lodging properties could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Our lodging properties are primarily located in the top 50 MSAs and 91% are located within the top 100 MSAs. In certain regions, we have lodging properties that are concentrated geographically, which may increase business risks based on adverse market conditions. Adverse market developments in a particular region, which themselves may become more frequent and severe due to climate change, could adversely affect lodging demand and rates. Also, adverse market developments caused by increased capacity in a region in which we are located could adversely affect rates or demand for our lodging properties due to increased competition. These conditions could have a material adverse effect on our profitability and cash generation.

Our management agreements and franchise agreements generally contain restrictive covenants and other provisions that do not provide us with flexibility to sell, refinance or rebrand a lodging property without the consent of the manager or franchisor. For example, the terms of some of these agreements may restrict our ability to sell a lodging property unless the purchaser is not a competitor of the management company or franchisor, assumes the related agreement and meets specified other conditions. In addition, our franchise agreements restrict our ability to rebrand particular lodging properties without the consent of the franchisor, which could result in significant operational disruptions and litigation if we do not obtain the consent. We could be forced to pay consent or termination fees to property managers or franchisors under these agreements as a condition to changing management or franchise brands of our lodging properties, and these fees could deter us from taking actions that would otherwise be in our best interest or could cause us to incur substantial expense.

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Our lodging properties operate under franchise agreements, and the maintenance of franchise licenses for our lodging properties is subject to our franchisors’ operating standards and other terms and conditions. We expect that franchisors will periodically inspect our lodging properties to ensure that we, our TRS Lessees and our property management companies maintain our franchisors’ standards. Failure by us, our TRS Lessees or our management companies to maintain these standards or other terms and conditions could result in a franchise license being terminated. If a franchise license terminates due to our failure to make required improvements or to otherwise comply with its terms, we could also be liable to the franchisor for a termination payment, which varies by franchisor and by lodging property. As a condition of our continued holding of a franchise license, a franchisor could also require us to make capital improvements to our lodging properties, even if we do not believe the improvements are necessary or desirable or would result in an acceptable return on our investment.

The loss of a franchise license could materially and adversely affect the operations or the underlying value of the lodging property because of the loss of associated name recognition, marketing support and centralized reservation systems provided by the franchisor. Because our lodging properties are concentrated with a limited number of franchise brands, a loss of all of the licenses for a particular franchise could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Negative publicity related to one of the franchise brands or the general decline of a brand also may adversely affect the underlying value of our lodging properties or result in a reduction in business.

To qualify as a REIT under the IRC, we are required, among other things, to distribute each year to our stockholders at least 90% of our REIT taxable income, determined without regard to the dividends paid deduction and excluding any net capital gain. Because of this distribution requirement, we may not be able to fund, from cash retained from operations, all of our future capital needs, including capital needed to make investments and to satisfy or refinance maturing obligations.

We expect to continue to rely on external sources of capital, including debt and equity financing, and contributions from joint venture partners related to joint venture activities, to fund future capital needs. Part of our strategy involves the use of additional debt financing to supplement our equity capital which may include our revolving credit and term loan facilities, mortgage financing and other unsecured financing. Our ability to effectively implement and accomplish our business strategy will be affected by our ability to obtain and use additional leverage in sufficient amounts and on favorable terms. However, the capital environment is often characterized by extended periods of limited availability of both debt and equity financing, increasing financing costs, stringent credit terms and significant volatility. We may not be able to secure first mortgage financing or increase the availability under, extend the maturity of or refinance our revolving credit and term loan facilities.  If we are unable to obtain needed capital on satisfactory terms or at all, we may not be able to make the investments needed to expand our business, or to meet our obligations and commitments as they mature. Our access to capital will depend upon a number of factors over which we have little or no control, including general market conditions, the market’s perception of our current and potential future earnings and cash distributions and the market price of the shares of our common stock.

Additionally, certain factors may have an adverse effect on our ability to access certain capital sources, including our financial performance, degree of leverage, the value of our unencumbered lodging properties, borrowing restrictions imposed by lenders, volatility in the equity and debt capital markets and other market conditions. We may not be in a position to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities for growth if we are unable to access the capital markets on a timely basis or on favorable terms.

We have a significant amount of debt. In the future, we may incur additional indebtedness to finance future lodging property acquisitions, capital improvements and development activities and other general corporate purposes. In addition, there are no restrictions in our charter or bylaws that limit the amount or percentage of indebtedness that we may incur or restrict the form in which our indebtedness will be incurred (including recourse or non-recourse debt or cross-collateralized debt).

A substantial level of indebtedness could have adverse consequences for our business, results of operations and financial position because it could, among other things:

Generally, our mortgage debt carries maturity dates or call dates such that the loans become due prior to their full amortization.  It may be difficult to refinance or extend the maturity of such loans on terms acceptable to us, or at all, and we may not have sufficient borrowing capacity on our 2018 Senior Credit Facility to repay any amounts that we are unable to refinance.  Although we believe that we will be able to refinance or extend the maturity of these loans, or will have the capacity to repay them, if necessary, using draws under our 2018 Senior Credit Facility, there can be no assurance that our 2018 Senior Credit Facility will be available to repay such maturing debt, as draws under our 2018 Senior Credit Facility are subject to certain use restrictions and limitations based upon our unencumbered assets and certain financial covenants.

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

The agreements governing our indebtedness contain covenants that place restrictions on us and our subsidiaries. These covenants may restrict, among other activities, our and our subsidiaries’ ability to:

These covenants could impair our ability to grow our business, take advantage of attractive business opportunities or successfully compete. Our ability to comply with financial and other covenants may be affected by events beyond our control, including prevailing economic, financial and industry conditions. A breach of any of these covenants or covenants under any other agreements governing our indebtedness could result in an event of default. Cross-default provisions in our debt agreements could cause an event of default under one debt agreement to trigger an event of default under our other debt agreements. Upon the occurrence of an event of default under any of our debt agreements, the lenders could exercise their remedies available under the terms of the loan agreements, which could include accelerating outstanding debt to be immediately due and payable. If we were unable to repay or refinance the accelerated debt, the lenders could proceed against any assets pledged to secure that debt, including foreclosing on equity pledges or foreclosing on or requiring the sale of our lodging properties, and the proceeds from the sale of these assets may not be sufficient to repay such debt in full.

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

All of our long-term debt existing as of December 31, 2022 is secured by mortgages on our lodging properties and related assets or pledges of the equity in our TRS Lessee subsidiaries, the subsidiaries that own our lodging properties, or both. Incurring mortgages, equity pledges and other secured debt obligations increases our risk of property losses because defaults on secured indebtedness may result in foreclosure actions initiated by lenders and ultimately our loss of the lodging property securing such loans or of the entities whose equity is pledged to secure such loans, which would include a loss of all of such entity's assets. For tax purposes, a foreclosure of any of our lodging properties would be treated as a sale of the lodging property for a purchase price equal to the outstanding balance of the debt secured by the mortgage. If the outstanding balance of the debt secured by the mortgage exceeds our tax basis in the lodging property, we would recognize taxable income on foreclosure, but would not receive any cash proceeds, which could hinder our ability to meet the REIT distribution requirements imposed by the IRC. We may assume or incur new mortgage or other secured indebtedness on the lodging properties and entities in our portfolio or lodging properties and entities that we acquire in the future. Any default under any one of our secured debt obligations may increase the risk of our default on our other indebtedness.

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

With respect to our existing and future variable-rate debt, an increase in interest rates would increase our interest payments and reduce our cash flow available for other general corporate purposes, including funding of working capital, capital improvements to our lodging properties, acquisitions of additional lodging properties, or dividends, among other things. In addition, rising interest rates could limit our ability to refinance existing debt when it matures and increase interest costs on any debt that is refinanced. Further, an increase in interest rates could increase the cost of capital for real estate assets which, in turn, could have a negative effect on real estate asset values generally, and our lodging properties specifically.  

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

We have entered into six interest rate swaps having an aggregate notional amount of $600.0 million at December 31, 2022, to hedge against interest rate increases on certain of our outstanding variable-rate indebtedness. In the future, we may manage our exposure to interest rate volatility by using hedging arrangements, such as interest rate swaps, caps, and collars. Hedging arrangements involve the risk that the arrangement may fail to protect or adversely affect us because, among other things:

We depend on the efforts and expertise of our management team to manage our day-to-day operations and strategic business activities.  The loss of services from any of the members of our management team, and our inability to find suitable replacements on a timely basis, could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

We intend to maintain comprehensive insurance on our lodging properties, including liability, fire and extended coverage, of the type and amount we believe are customarily obtained for or by owners of properties similar to our lodging properties. Various types of catastrophic losses, such as hurricanes, floods and droughts, which can be exacerbated by climate change, or other losses caused by earthquakes, acts of terrorism, data breaches, losses related to business disruption from disputes with franchisors, losses related to business disruption caused by the Pandemic, or losses from customer litigation, may not be insurable or may not be economically insurable. In the event of a substantial loss, our insurance coverage may not be sufficient to cover the operating loss or the full market value or replacement cost of our lost investment. Should an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occur, we could lose all or a portion of the capital we have invested in a lodging property, as well as the anticipated future revenue from the lodging property. In that event, we might nevertheless remain obligated for any mortgage debt or other financial obligations related to the asset. Loan covenants, inflation, changes in building codes and ordinances, environmental considerations and other factors might also keep us from using insurance proceeds to replace or renovate an asset after it has been damaged or destroyed. Under those circumstances, the insurance proceeds we receive might be inadequate to restore our economic position on the damaged or destroyed lodging properties.

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price

We and our third-party managers and franchisors rely on information technology networks and systems, including the Internet, to process, transmit and store electronic customer information. These systems require the collection and retention of large volumes of the personally identifiable information of the guests of our lodging properties, including credit card numbers. We purchase some of our information technology from vendors, on whom our systems depend. We rely on commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmission and storage of confidential customer information, such as personally identifiable information, including information relating to financial accounts. Although we have taken steps to protect the security of our information systems and the data maintained in those systems, it is possible that our safety and security measures will not be able to prevent the systems’ improper functioning or damage, or the improper access or disclosure of personally identifiable information such as in the event of cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks are expected to accelerate on a global basis in both frequency and magnitude as threat actors are becoming increasingly sophisticated in using techniques that circumvent controls, evade detection, and remove or obfuscate forensic evidence, which means that we and our third-party providers may be unable to detect, investigate, contain or recover from future attacks or incidents in a timely or effective manner.

Cyber criminals may be able to penetrate our network security, or the network security of our property managers and franchisors, and misappropriate or compromise our confidential information or that of the guests of our lodging properties, create system disruptions or cause the shutdown of our lodging properties. Computer programmers and hackers also may be able to develop and deploy viruses, worms and other malicious software programs that attack our computer systems, or the computer systems operated by our third-party property managers and franchisors, or otherwise exploit any security vulnerabilities of our respective networks. In addition, sophisticated hardware and operating system software and applications that we and our third-party property managers or franchisors may procure from outside companies may contain defects in design or manufacture, including “bugs” and other problems that could unexpectedly interfere with our internal operations or the operations at our lodging properties.

The costs to eliminate or alleviate cyber or other security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant, and efforts to address these problems may not be successful and could result in interruptions, delays, cessation of service and loss of existing or potential business at our lodging properties. Many of the information systems and networks used to operate our lodging properties are managed by our third-party property managers or franchisors and are not under our control. Any compromise of the function, security and availability of the information networks managed by our third-party property managers or franchisors could result in disruptions to operations, delayed sales or bookings, lost guest reservations, increased costs and lower margins. In addition, the Pandemic has increased cybersecurity risk as a result of global remote working dynamics for our customers, employees and third-party providers that present additional opportunities for threat actors to engage in social engineering and to exploit vulnerabilities in non-corporate networks. Any of these events could adversely affect our financial results, stock price and reputation, result in misstated financial reports and subject us to potential litigation and liability.

Portions of our information technology infrastructure or the information technology infrastructure of our third-party property managers and franchisors also may experience interruptions, delays or cessations of service or produce errors in connection with systems integration or migration work that takes place from time to time. We or our third-party property managers and franchisors may not be successful in implementing new systems and transitioning data, which could cause business disruptions and be expensive, time consuming, disruptive and resource-intensive. Such disruptions could adversely affect the ability of our third-party property managers and franchisors to fulfill reservations for guestrooms and other services offered at our lodging properties.

Although we work with our third-party property managers and franchisors to protect the security of our information systems, and the data maintained in these systems, there can be no assurance that the security measures we have taken will prevent failures, inadequacies or interruptions in system services, or that system security will not be breached through physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses or attacks by hackers. The increased level of sophistication and volume of attacks in recent years make it more difficult to predict the effect of a future breach. In addition, we rely on the security systems of our third-party property managers and franchisors to protect proprietary and guest information from these threats.

All of our third-party property managers carry cyber insurance policies to protect and offset a portion of potential costs that may be incurred from a security breach. Additionally, we currently have cyber insurance policies to provide supplemental coverage above the coverage carried by our third-party property managers. Despite various precautionary steps to protect our lodging properties from losses resulting from cyber-attacks, any occurrence of a cyber-attack could still result in losses at our properties, which could affect our results of operations. We have not experienced any cyber incidents that we believe to be material or that could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

Any of these items could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

We have in the past and may in the future enter into strategic joint ventures with unaffiliated investors to acquire, develop, improve or dispose of lodging properties, thereby reducing the amount of capital required by us to make investments and diversifying our capital sources for growth. We may not have sole decision-making authority with respect to these investments, and as a result we may not be able to take actions which are in the best interest of our stockholders.  Further, disputes between us and our joint venture partners may result in litigation or arbitration which could increase our expenses and prevent our officers and directors from focusing their time and effort on our business and could result in subjecting the lodging properties owned by the applicable joint venture to additional risks.

If a joint venture partner becomes bankrupt or otherwise defaults on its obligations under a joint venture agreement, we and any other remaining joint venture partners of that joint venture would generally remain liable for the joint venture liabilities. Furthermore, if a joint venture partner becomes bankrupt or otherwise defaults on its obligations under a joint venture agreement, we may be unable to continue the joint venture other than by purchasing such joint venture partner’s interests or the underlying assets at a premium to the market price. If any of the above risks are realized, it could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Our business is generally correlated to certain macroeconomic trends. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the U.S. economy has experienced the highest rate of inflation in the past 40 years. The effects of high inflation or a potential recessionary environment could adversely affect our costs, liquidity, consumer confidence, and demand for travel and lodging and could disrupt our supply chain, which would adversely affect the operation of our lodging properties. A high rate of inflation or disruption of our supply chain will cause our operating and renovation costs to increase. Additionally, if the United States experiences a recession, we would have to manage our costs and capital investments accordingly, which could adversely affect our near-term growth. These conditions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, results of operations and cash flows.

We selectively provide mezzanine financing to developers, where we also have the opportunity to acquire the lodging property at or after the completion of the development project, and we also provide seller financing in connection with the disposition of a lodging property under limited circumstances. As such, we are subject to credit financing risk in the case of a borrower default. These conditions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, results of operations and cash flows.

Our business is sensitive to the willingness and ability of our customers to travel. The outbreak of any highly infectious or contagious diseases, such as COVID-19 and its variants, may result in decreases in travel to and from, and economic activity in, areas in which we operate, and may adversely affect the number of guests that visit our lodging properties. The spread of highly infectious or contagious diseases could cause severe disruptions in air and other forms of travel that reduce the number of guests visiting our lodging properties. This could disrupt our operations and we could experience a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Management cannot predict the extent to which disruptions in travel as a result of infectious disease outbreaks, such as COVID-19 and its variants, will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Pandemic materially adversely affected and may continue to materially adversely affect our financial position and results of operations. The extent to which the Pandemic will continue to affect our business, liquidity, financial condition, and results of operations, will depend on numerous evolving factors that we may not be able to accurately predict or assess, including the residual effects of the Pandemic on the domestic and global economies; the long-term effects on the demand for guestrooms and levels of consumer confidence; the long-term effects on business travel or group demand for guestrooms; the long-term effects of government actions taken to mitigate the effects of the Pandemic; access to labor; and reductions in business and consumer discretionary spending. It is possible that the Pandemic may continue to cause disruptions in our supply-chain, which may cause an increase in renovation and operating costs, including the availability of and our access to labor. Supply-chain disruptions could also limit our access to critical operating supplies. Regardless of the extent or duration of the Pandemic, the perceived risk of infection or health risk may adversely affect consumer confidence, which will adversely affect our business, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

The performance of the lodging industry has historically been directly correlated to the performance of the general economy and, specifically, growth in U.S. gross domestic product (“GDP”). The lodging industry is also sensitive to business and personal discretionary spending levels. Declines in corporate budgets and consumer demand due to adverse general economic conditions, risks affecting or reducing travel patterns, lower consumer confidence or adverse political conditions can lower the revenue and profitability of our assets and therefore the net operating profits of our investments. Economic weakness could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

The lodging industry is highly competitive. Our lodging properties compete with other properties for guests in each market in which our lodging properties operate based on a number of factors, including location, convenience, brand affiliation, guestroom rates, range of services and guest amenities or accommodations offered and quality of customer service. We also compete with numerous owners and operators of vacation ownership resorts, as well as companies that offer alternative accommodations, such as Airbnb and similar organizations, which operate websites that market available furnished, privately-owned residential properties, including homes and condominiums, that can be rented on a nightly, weekly or monthly basis. Competition will often be specific to the individual markets in which our lodging properties are located and includes competition from existing and new lodging properties, including alternative accommodations. The price transparency of the lodging industry could lead to difficulty in increasing ADR as our competitors may offer guestrooms at lower rates than we can, which could result in our competitors increasing their occupancy at our expense. Competition could adversely affect our occupancy, ADR and RevPAR, and may require us to provide additional amenities or make capital improvements that we otherwise would not have to make.

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Lodging properties have different economic characteristics than many other real estate assets. A typical office property owner, for example, has long-term leases with third-party tenants, which provide a relatively stable long-term stream of revenue. By contrast, our lodging properties are subject to various operating risks common to the lodging industry, many of which are beyond our control, including the following:

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Our lodging properties have an ongoing need for renovations and other capital improvements, including replacements, from time to time, of furniture, fixtures and equipment. Our franchisors also require periodic capital improvements as a condition of keeping the franchise licenses. In addition, our lenders and property management companies may require that we set aside annual amounts for capital improvements to our assets. These capital improvements and replacements may give rise to the following risks: 

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

We have in the past and may in the future develop lodging properties or acquire lodging properties that are under development as suitable opportunities arise, taking into consideration general economic conditions. The development of lodging properties involves a number of risks, including the following: 

To the extent we develop lodging properties or acquire lodging properties under development, we cannot provide assurance that any development project will be completed on time or within budget. Our inability to complete a project on time or within budget could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Guestrooms for our lodging properties can be booked through Internet travel intermediaries, including, but not limited to Expedia.com and Booking.com, and their portfolio of companies (commonly referred to as "online travel agents" or "OTA's"). As these Internet bookings increase, these intermediaries may be able to obtain higher commissions, reduced guestroom rates or other significant contract concessions from our property management companies. Moreover, some of these Internet travel intermediaries are attempting to offer lodging property guestrooms as a commodity, by increasing the importance of price and general indicators of quality (such as “three-star downtown property”) at the expense of brand identification. These agencies hope that consumers will eventually develop brand loyalties to their reservations system rather than to the brands under which our lodging properties are franchised. If the amount of sales made through Internet intermediaries increases significantly, guestroom revenue may flatten or decrease, which could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Consumer trends and preferences continuously change, especially within younger generations. Many new lodging property brands have been introduced over recent years to specifically address the perceived unique needs and preferences of younger travelers. As our portfolio is concentrated in select-service hotels, significant consumer shifts in preferences away from select-service hotels could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Our ability to promptly sell one or more lodging properties in our portfolio in response to changing economic, financial and investment conditions may be limited. We cannot predict whether we will be able to sell any lodging properties for the price or on the terms set by us, or whether any price or other terms offered by a prospective purchaser would be acceptable to us. We also cannot predict the length of time needed to find a willing purchaser and to close the sale of an asset. As such, the composition of our portfolio may be difficult to vary in response to changing economic, financial and investment conditions. The real estate market is also affected by many factors that are beyond our control, including:

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Our lodging properties and development land parcels are subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws that impose liability for contamination. Under these laws, governmental entities have the authority to require us, as the current or former owner of the property, to perform or pay for the cleanup of contamination (including hazardous substances, waste or petroleum products) at or emanating from the property and to pay for natural resource damage arising from contamination. These laws often impose liability without regard to whether the owner or operator knew of or caused the contamination. We can also be liable to private parties for costs of remediation, personal injury and death or property damage resulting from contamination at or emanating from our properties. Moreover, environmental contamination can affect the value of a property and, therefore, an owner’s ability to borrow funds using the property as collateral or to sell the property on favorable terms or at all. Furthermore, persons who sent waste to a waste disposal facility, such as a landfill or an incinerator, may be liable for costs associated with cleanup of that facility.

In addition, our lodging properties (including our real property, operations and equipment) are subject to various federal, state and local environmental, health and safety regulatory requirements that address a wide variety of issues, including, but not limited to the registration, maintenance and operation of our boilers and storage tanks, air emissions from emergency generators, storm water and wastewater discharges, asbestos, lead-based paint, mold and mildew, and waste management. Some of our lodging properties also routinely handle or use hazardous or regulated substances and waste in their operations (for example, swimming pool chemicals or biological waste). Our lodging properties incur costs to comply with these environmental, health and safety laws and regulations and if these regulatory requirements are not met or unforeseen events result in the discharge of dangerous or toxic substances at our lodging properties, we could be subject to fines and penalties for non-compliance with applicable laws and material liability from third parties for harm to the environment, damage to real property or personal injury and death. We are aware of no past or present environmental liability for non-compliance with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations that we believe would have a material adverse effect on our business, assets or results of operations.

Certain lodging properties we currently own or those we acquire in the future contain, may contain, or may have contained, asbestos-containing material (“ACM”). Environmental, health and safety laws require that ACM be properly managed and maintained, and include requirements to undertake special precautions, such as removal or abatement, if ACM would be disturbed during maintenance, renovation, or demolition of a building. These laws regarding ACM may impose fines and penalties on building owners, employers and operators for failure to comply with these requirements or expose us to third-party liability.

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Our lodging properties are subject to various covenants and local laws and regulatory requirements, including permitting and licensing requirements which can restrict the use of our properties and increase the cost of acquisition, development and operation of our lodging properties. Our lodging properties are also subject to regulations intended to address the risk of highly infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, which can restrict certain activities of our lodging properties and result in increased costs. In addition, federal and state laws and regulations, including laws such as the ADA, impose further restrictions on our operations. Under the ADA, all public accommodations must meet federal requirements related to access and use by disabled persons. We have not conducted a comprehensive audit or investigation of all of our properties to determine our compliance. As such, some of our lodging properties currently may be in noncompliance with the ADA. If one or more of the lodging properties in our portfolio is not in compliance with the ADA or any other regulatory requirements, we may be required to incur additional costs to bring the property into compliance and we might incur damages or governmental fines. In addition, existing requirements may change and future requirements may require us to make significant unanticipated expenditures.

These conditions could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

If we default on the terms of any of our right-of-use assets, such as ground leases, air rights or other intangible assets, and are unable to cure the default in a timely manner, we may be liable for damages and could lose our leasehold interest in the applicable property and interest in the lodging property on the ground lease property. An event of default that is not timely cured could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

We and our subsidiaries are subject to income tax and other taxes by states and localities in which we conduct business. Additionally, we are and will continue to be subject to property taxes in states and localities in which we own property, and our TRS Lessees are and will continue to be subject to state and local corporate income tax.  As these states and localities seek additional sources of revenue, they may, among other steps, raise income and property tax rates or amend their tax regimes to eliminate for state income tax purposes the favorable tax treatment REITs enjoy for federal income tax purposes. We cannot predict when or if any states or localities would make any such changes, or what form those changes would take. If states and localities in which we own material amounts of property or conduct material amounts of business make changes to their tax rates or tax regimes that increase our state and local tax liabilities, such increases could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

We, through our wholly-owned subsidiary that serves as the sole general partner of our Operating Partnership, have fiduciary duties to our Operating Partnership’s limited partners, the discharge of which may conflict with the interests of our stockholders. The limited partners of our Operating Partnership have agreed for so long as we own a controlling interest in our Operating Partnership that, in the event of a conflict between the duties owed by our directors to our company and the duties that we owe, in our capacity as the sole general partner of our Operating Partnership, to the limited partners, our directors must give priority to the interests of our stockholders. In addition, those persons holding Common Units have the right to vote on certain amendments to the limited partnership agreement (which require approval by a majority interest of the limited partners, including us) and individually to approve certain amendments that would adversely affect their rights, as well as the right to vote on mergers and consolidations of the general partner or us in certain limited circumstances. These voting rights may be exercised in a manner that conflicts with the interests of our stockholders. For example, we cannot adversely affect the limited partners’ rights to receive distributions, as set forth in the limited partnership agreement, without their consent, even though modifying such rights might be in the best interest of our stockholders generally.

Our board of directors may, without stockholder approval, amend our charter to increase or decrease the aggregate number of our shares or the number of shares of any class or series that we have the authority to issue and to classify or reclassify any unissued shares of common stock or preferred stock, and set the preferences, rights and other terms of the classified or reclassified shares. As a result, our board of directors may authorize the issuance of additional shares or establish a series of common or preferred stock that may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of our company, including transactions at a premium over the market price of our shares, even if stockholders believe that a change in control is in their interest. These provisions, along with the restrictions on ownership and transfer contained in our charter and certain provisions of Maryland law described below, could discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or make it more difficult for a third-party to gain control of us, which could adversely affect the market price of our securities.

Certain provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law (the “MGCL”) applicable to Maryland corporations may have the effect of inhibiting a third-party from making a proposal to acquire us or of impeding a change in control under circumstances that otherwise could provide our stockholders with the opportunity to realize a premium over the then-prevailing market price of such shares, including “business combination” and “control share” provisions.

By resolution of our board of directors, we have opted out of the business combination provisions of the MGCL and provided that any business combination between us and any other person is exempt from the business combination provisions of the MGCL, provided that the business combination is first approved by our board of directors (including a majority of directors who are not affiliates or associates of such persons). In addition, pursuant to a provision in our bylaws, we have opted out of the control share provisions of the MGCL. However, our board of directors may by resolution elect to opt into the business combination provisions of the MGCL and we may, by amendment to our bylaws, opt into the control share provisions of the MGCL in the future.

Under Maryland law, generally, a director will not be liable if he or she performs his or her duties in good faith, in a manner he or she reasonably believes to be in our best interests and with the care that an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances. In addition, our charter limits the liability of our directors and officers to us and our stockholders for money damages, except for liability resulting from:

Our charter authorizes us to indemnify our directors and officers for actions taken by them in those capacities to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law. Our bylaws require us to indemnify each director and officer, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, in the defense of any proceeding to which he or she is made, or threatened to be made, a party by reason of his or her service to us. In addition, we may be obligated to advance the defense costs incurred by our directors and officers. As a result, we and our stockholders may have more limited rights against our directors and officers than might otherwise exist absent the current provisions in our charter and bylaws or that might exist with other companies.

Our shares of common stock are the only class of our securities that carry full voting rights. Voting rights for holders of our preferred stock exist primarily with respect to the ability to elect two additional directors to our board of directors in the event that six quarterly dividends (whether or not consecutive) payable on the preferred stock are in arrears, and with respect to voting on amendments to our charter or articles supplementary relating to the preferred stock that materially and adversely affect the rights of the holders of preferred stock or create additional classes or series of senior equity securities. However, NewcrestImage has the right to designate one person for election to our board of directors in connection with the Director Nomination Agreement entered into as part of the NCI Transaction, subject to certain conditions.

Our charter provides that a director may be removed only for cause (as defined in our charter) and then only by the affirmative vote of holders of shares entitled to cast at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast generally in the election of directors. Our charter also provides that vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by a majority of the remaining directors in office, even if less than a quorum. These requirements prevent stockholders from removing directors except for cause and with a substantial affirmative vote and from replacing directors with their own nominees and may prevent a change in control of our company or effect other management changes that are in the best interests of our stockholders.

Our board of directors determines our major policies, including policies and guidelines relating to our acquisitions, leverage, financing, growth, operations and distributions to stockholders. Our board of directors may amend or revise these and other policies and guidelines from time to time without the vote or consent of our stockholders. Accordingly, our stockholders will have limited control over changes in our policies and those changes could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Our charter provides that our board of directors may revoke or otherwise terminate our REIT election, without the approval of our stockholders, if it determines that it is no longer in our best interest to continue to qualify as a REIT. If we cease to be a REIT, we would become subject to federal income tax on our taxable income and would no longer be required to distribute most of our taxable income to our stockholders, which may have adverse consequences on the total return to our stockholders.

We are a holding company and conduct all of our operations through our Operating Partnership. We do not have, apart from our ownership of our Operating Partnership, any independent operations. As a result, we rely on distributions from our Operating Partnership to pay any dividends we might declare on shares of our common or preferred stock. We also rely on distributions from our Operating Partnership to meet any of our obligations, including tax liabilities on taxable income allocated to us from our Operating Partnership (which might make distributions to us that do not equal the tax on such allocated taxable income).

 

We own approximately 87.0% of the Common Units in the Operating Partnership, all of the issued and outstanding 6.25% Series E Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Units of the Operating Partnership (“Series E Preferred Units”), and all of the issued and outstanding 5.875% Series F Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Units of the Operating Partnership ("Series F Preferred Units"). An unrelated third-party owns all of the issued and outstanding Series Z Preferred Units that were issued in January 2022 as part of the NCI Transaction. Any future issuances by our Operating Partnership of additional Common Units or Preferred Units could reduce our ownership percentage in our Operating Partnership. Because our common stockholders do not directly own any Common Units or Preferred Units, they will not have any voting rights with respect to any such issuances or other partnership-level activities of the Operating Partnership.

A system of internal controls that is well designed and properly functioning is critical for us to produce and report accurate and reliable financial information and effectively prevent fraud. We must also rely on the quality of the internal control environments of our third-party property managers who provide us with financial information related to our lodging properties. At times, we may identify areas of internal controls that are not properly functioning as designed, that need improvement or that must be developed to ensure that we have an adequate system of internal controls. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us to evaluate and report on our internal controls over financial reporting and have our independent auditors annually issue their own opinion on our internal controls over financial reporting. We cannot be certain that we will be successful in maintaining adequate internal controls over our financial reporting and processes. Additionally, as we grow our business, our internal controls will become more complex and we will require significantly more resources to ensure that our internal controls remain effective. If we or our independent auditors discover a material weakness, the disclosure of that fact, even if promptly remedied, could cause our stockholders to lose confidence in our financial results, which could reduce the market value of our common shares. Additionally, the existence of any material weakness or significant deficiency could require management to devote substantial time and incur significant expense to remediate any such conditions. There can be no assurance that management will be able to remediate any material weaknesses in a timely manner.

Our common stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol “INN,” our 6.25% Series E Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol “INN-PE,” and our 5.875% Series F Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol "INN-PF." In order for our securities to remain listed, we are required to meet the continued listing requirements of the NYSE or, in the alternative, any other nationally-recognized exchange to which we apply. We may be unable to satisfy those listing requirements, and there is no guarantee our securities will remain listed on a nationally-recognized exchange. If our securities are delisted from the NYSE or another nationally-recognized exchange, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

Distributions declared by us will be authorized by our board of directors in its sole discretion out of funds legally available for distribution and will depend upon a number of factors, including limitations imposed by our credit facilities, restrictions under applicable law and the capital requirements of our company. All distributions will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our earnings, our financial condition, the requirements for qualification as a REIT, restrictions under applicable law and other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant from time to time. We may be required to fund distributions from working capital, borrowings under our 2018 Senior Credit Facility, proceeds of future stock offerings or a sale of assets to the extent distributions exceed earnings or cash flows from operations. Funding distributions from working capital would restrict our operations. If we borrow from our 2018 Senior Credit Facility to pay distributions, we would be more limited in our ability to execute our strategy of using our 2018 Senior Credit Facility to fund acquisitions or capital expenditures. Finally, selling assets may require us to dispose of assets at a time or in a manner that is not consistent with our disposition strategy. If we borrow to fund distributions, our leverage ratios and future interest costs would increase, thereby reducing our earnings and cash available for distribution from what they otherwise would have been. We may not be able to make distributions in the future. In addition, some of our distributions may be considered a return of capital for income tax purposes. If we decide to make distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, such distributions would generally be considered a return of capital for federal income tax purposes to the extent of the holder’s adjusted tax basis in their shares. A return of capital is not taxable, but it has the effect of reducing the holder’s adjusted tax basis in its investment. If distributions exceed the adjusted tax basis of a holder’s shares, they will be treated as gain from the sale or exchange of such stock.

The trading prices of equity securities issued by REITs and other real estate companies historically have been affected by changes in market interest rates. One of the factors that may influence the market price of our common or preferred stock is the annual yield from distributions on our common or preferred stock, respectively, as compared to yields on other financial instruments. An increase in market interest rates, or a decrease in our distributions to stockholders, may lead prospective purchasers of our common or preferred stock to demand a higher annual yield, which could reduce the market price of our common or preferred stock, respectively.

Other factors that could affect the market price of our stock include the following:

The market’s perception of our growth potential and our current and potential future cash distributions, whether from operations, sales or refinancings, as well as the real estate market value of the underlying assets, may cause our common and preferred stock to trade at prices that differ from our net asset value per share. If we retain operating cash flow for investment purposes, working capital reserves or other purposes, these retained funds, while increasing the value of our underlying assets, may not correspondingly increase the market price of our common and preferred stock. Our failure to meet the market’s expectations with regard to future earnings and distributions likely would adversely affect the market price of our common and preferred stock.

The trading market for our stock may rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not control these analysts. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrades our stock or our industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company, we could lose attention in the market, which in turn could cause the price of our stock to decline.

Sales of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock or preferred stock in the public market, or upon exchange of Common Units or exercise of any equity awards, or the perception that such sales might occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and preferred stock. As of February 10, 2023, all 15,976,807 of the Common Units are redeemable and may in the future be converted into shares of our common stock on a one-for-one basis and sold into the public market. The exchange of Common Units for common stock, the vesting of any equity-based awards granted to certain directors, executive officers and other employees under the 2011 Equity Incentive Plan, which was amended and restated effective May 13, 2021 (as amended and restated, the “Equity Plan”), the issuance of our common stock or Common Units in connection with lodging property, portfolio or business acquisitions and other issuances of our common stock or Common Units could have an adverse effect on the market price of the shares of our common stock.

In the future we may offer debt securities and issue equity securities, including convertible notes, Common Units, preferred stock or other preferred shares that may be senior to our common stock for purposes of dividend distributions or upon liquidation. Upon liquidation, holders of our debt securities and our preferred shares will receive distributions of our available assets prior to the holders of our common stock. Holders of our common stock are not entitled to preemptive rights or other protections against us offering senior debt or equity securities. Therefore, additional common share issuances, directly or through convertible or exchangeable securities (including Common Units), warrants or options, will dilute the holdings of our existing common stockholders and such issuances or the perception of such issuances may reduce the market price of our common stock. In addition, new issues of preferred stock could have a preference on liquidating distributions and a preference on dividend payments that could limit our ability to pay a dividend or make another distribution to the holders of our common stock. Because our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of future issuances. Thus, our stockholders bear the risk of our future offerings reducing the market price of our common stock and diluting their interest in us.

The REIT rules and regulations are highly technical and complex.  We believe that our organization and method of operation has enabled us to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT commencing with our short taxable year ended December 31, 2011. However, we cannot provide assurance that we will remain qualified as a REIT.

Failure to qualify as a REIT could result from a number of situations, including, without limitation:

If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year, we will face serious tax consequences that will substantially reduce the funds available for distributions to our stockholders because:

In addition, if we fail to qualify as a REIT, we will no longer be required to make distributions. As a result of all these factors, our failure to qualify as a REIT could impair our ability to expand our business and raise capital, and it could adversely affect the value of our stock.

Even if we continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to certain federal, state and local taxes on our income and assets including, but not limited to taxes on any undistributed income, tax on income from some activities conducted as a result of a foreclosure, and state or local income, property and transfer taxes. In addition, our TRSs are subject to regular corporate federal, state and local taxes. Any of these taxes would decrease cash available for distributions to stockholders.

We intend to operate in a manner so as to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes. To qualify as a REIT, we generally are required to distribute at least 90% of our REIT taxable income, determined without regard to the dividends paid deduction and excluding any net capital gain, each year to our stockholders. To the extent that we satisfy this distribution requirement, but distribute less than 100% of our REIT taxable income, we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed taxable income. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% non-deductible excise tax if the actual amount that we pay out to our stockholders in a calendar year is less than a minimum amount specified under the IRC.

To satisfy the requirements for qualification as a REIT and to meet the REIT distribution requirements, we may need to borrow funds on a short-term basis or sell assets, even if the then-prevailing market conditions are not favorable for these borrowings or sales. Our cash flows from operations may be insufficient to fund required distributions as a result of differences in timing between the actual receipt of income and the recognition of income for federal income tax purposes, limits on our ability or the ability of certain of our subsidiaries to deduct interest expense from borrowings under Section 163(j) of the IRC, the effect of non-deductible capital expenditures, the creation of reserves, required debt service or amortization payments. Our REIT distribution requirements could adversely affect our liquidity and may force us to borrow funds or sell assets during unfavorable market conditions or pay taxable stock dividends. The insufficiency of our cash flows to cover our distribution requirements could have an adverse effect on our ability to raise short- and long-term debt or sell equity securities to fund distributions required to maintain our qualification as a REIT.

Our TRSs are subject to federal, state and local income tax on their taxable income, which typically consists of the revenue from the lodging properties leased by our TRS Lessees, net of the operating expenses for such lodging properties and rent payments to us. In certain circumstances, the ability of our TRSs to deduct interest expense or utilize net operating loss carryforwards for federal income tax purposes may be limited. Accordingly, although our ownership of our TRSs allows us to participate in the operating income from our lodging properties in addition to receiving rent, that operating income will be fully subject to income tax. The after-tax net income of our TRSs is available for distribution to us.

Our leases with our TRS Lessees require our TRS Lessees to pay us rent based in part on revenue from our lodging properties. Our operating risks include decreases in lodging revenues and increases in lodging operating expenses, including but not limited to increases in wage and benefit costs, repair and maintenance expenses, energy costs and other operating expenses, which would adversely affect our TRSs’ ability to pay us rent due under the leases. Increases in these operating expenses could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

Although we believe that our Operating Partnership will be treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, no assurance can be given that the IRS will not successfully challenge that position. If the IRS were to successfully contend that our Operating Partnership should be treated as a publicly traded partnership that is taxable as a corporation, we would fail to meet the 75% gross income test and certain of the asset tests applicable to REITs and, unless we qualified for certain statutory relief provisions, we would cease to qualify as a REIT. Also, our Operating Partnership would become subject to federal, state and local income tax, which would reduce significantly the amount of cash available for debt service and for distribution to us.

Rent paid by a lessee that is a “related party tenant” of ours will not be qualifying income for purposes of the two gross income tests applicable to REITs. An exception is provided, however, for leases of “qualified lodging facilities” to a TRS so long as the lodging properties are managed by an “eligible independent contractor” and certain other requirements are satisfied. We lease all of our lodging properties to our TRS Lessees. All of our lodging properties are operated pursuant to property management agreements with property management companies that we believe qualify as an “eligible independent contractor.”  Among other requirements, to qualify as an eligible independent contractor, the property manager must not own, directly or through its stockholders, more than 35% of our outstanding shares, and no person or group of persons can own more than 35% of our outstanding shares and the shares (or ownership interest) of the lodging property manager, taking into account certain ownership attribution rules. The ownership attribution rules that apply for purposes of these 35% thresholds are complex, and monitoring actual and constructive ownership of our shares by our lodging property managers and their owners may not be practical. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that these ownership levels will not be exceeded.

In addition, for a property management company to qualify as an eligible independent contractor, such company or a related person must be actively engaged in the trade or business of operating “qualified lodging facilities” (as defined below) for one or more persons not related to the REIT or its TRS at each time that such company enters into a property management contract with a TRS or its TRS Lessee. As of the date hereof, we believe each of our property management companies operates qualified lodging facilities for certain persons who are not related to us or our TRSs. However, no assurances can be provided that our property management companies or any other property managers that we may engage in the future will in fact comply with this requirement. Failure to comply with this requirement would require us to find other managers for future contracts and if we hired a management company without knowledge of the failure, it could jeopardize our status as a REIT.

Finally, each property with respect to which our TRS Lessees pay rent must be a “qualified lodging facility.” A “qualified lodging facility” is a hotel, motel or other establishment more than one-half of the dwelling units in which are used on a transient basis, including customary amenities and facilities, provided that no wagering activities are conducted at or in connection with such facility by any person who is engaged in the business of accepting wagers and who is legally authorized to engage in such business at or in connection with such facility. As of the date hereof, we believe that the properties that are leased to our TRS Lessees are qualified lodging facilities. Although we intend to monitor future acquisitions and improvements of properties, REIT provisions of the IRC provide only limited guidance for making determinations under the requirements for qualified lodging facilities, and there can be no assurance that these requirements will be satisfied. If any of our properties are not deemed to be a "qualified lodging facility," we may fail to qualify as a REIT.

We own and may in the future own interests in entities that have elected to be taxed as a REIT under the U.S. federal income tax laws (each, a “subsidiary REIT”). A subsidiary REIT is subject to the various REIT qualification requirements and other limitations described herein that are applicable to us. If any of our subsidiary REITs were to fail to qualify as a REIT, then (i) such subsidiary REIT would become subject to U.S. federal income tax and (ii) our ownership of shares in such subsidiary REIT would cease to be a qualifying asset for purposes of the asset tests applicable to REITs. If any subsidiary REIT were to fail to qualify as a REIT, it is possible that we would fail certain of the asset tests applicable to REITs, in which event we would fail to qualify as a REIT unless we could avail ourselves of certain relief provisions. We may make “protective” TRS elections with respect to our subsidiary REITs and may implement other protective arrangements intended to avoid such an outcome if a subsidiary REIT were not to qualify as a REIT, but there can be no assurance that such “protective” election and other arrangements will be effective to avoid the resulting adverse consequences to us. Moreover, even if the “protective” TRS election was to be effective in the event of the failure of our subsidiary REIT to maintain its qualification as a REIT, such subsidiary REIT would be subject to federal income tax and we cannot assure you that we would not fail to satisfy the requirement that not more than 20 percent of the value of our total assets may be represented by the securities of one or more TRSs. In this event, we would fail to qualify as a REIT unless we or such subsidiary REIT could avail ourselves or itself of certain relief provisions.

At any time, the federal income tax laws governing REITs or the administrative interpretations of those laws may be amended. We cannot predict when or if any new federal income tax law, regulation, or administrative interpretation, or any amendment to any existing federal income tax law, regulation or administrative interpretation, will be adopted, promulgated or become effective and any such law, regulation, or interpretation may take effect retroactively. We and our stockholders could be adversely affected by any such change in, or any new, federal income tax law, regulation or administrative interpretation and we could experience a reduction in the price of our stock. We cannot predict the long-term effect of any recent changes or any future law changes on REITs and their stockholders. In addition, several proposals have been made that would make substantial changes to the federal income tax laws generally. We cannot predict whether any of these proposed changes will become law.

The stock ownership restrictions of the IRC for REITs and the 9.8% stock ownership limit in our charter may inhibit market activity in our capital stock and restrict our business combination opportunities.

To qualify as a REIT for each taxable year, five or fewer individuals, as defined in the IRC, may not own, beneficially or constructively, more than 50% in value of our issued and outstanding stock at any time during the last half of a taxable year. Attribution rules in the IRC determine if any individual or entity beneficially or constructively owns our capital stock under this requirement. Additionally, at least 100 persons must beneficially own our capital stock during at least 335 days of a taxable year for each taxable year. To help ensure that we meet these tests, our charter restricts the acquisition and ownership of shares of our capital stock.

Our charter, with certain exceptions, authorizes our directors to take such actions as are necessary and desirable to preserve our qualification as a REIT. Unless exempted by our board of directors, our charter prohibits any person from beneficially or constructively owning more than 9.8% in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of the outstanding shares of any class or series of our capital stock. Our board of directors may not grant an exemption from these restrictions to any proposed transferee whose ownership in excess of 9.8% of the value of our outstanding shares would result in our failing to qualify as a REIT. These restrictions on transferability and ownership will not apply, however, if our board of directors determines that it is no longer in our best interest to continue to qualify as a REIT.

We may distribute taxable dividends that are payable in cash and common stock at the election of each stockholder.  Under IRS Revenue Procedure 2017-45, as a publicly offered REIT, as long as at least 20% of the total dividend is available in cash and certain other requirements are satisfied, the IRS will treat the stock distribution as a dividend (to the extent applicable rules treat such distribution as being made out of our earnings and profits). If we made a taxable dividend payable in cash and common stock, taxable stockholders receiving such dividends will be required to include the full amount of the dividend as ordinary income to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, stockholders may be required to pay income taxes with respect to such dividends in excess of the cash dividends received. If a U.S. stockholder sells the common stock that it receives as a dividend to pay these taxes, the sales proceeds may be less than the amount included in income with respect to the dividend, depending on the market price of our common stock at the time of the sale. Furthermore, with respect to certain non-U.S. stockholders, we may be required to withhold federal income tax with respect to such dividends, including with respect of all or a portion of such dividend that is payable in common stock. If we made a taxable dividend payable in cash and our common stock and a significant number of our stockholders decide to sell shares of our common stock to pay taxes owed on dividends, it may put downward pressure on the trading price of our common stock. We do not currently intend to pay a taxable dividend of our common stock and cash.

A REIT’s net income from prohibited transactions is subject to a 100% tax. In general, prohibited transactions are sales or other dispositions of property, other than foreclosure property, held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. We have selectively disposed of certain of our properties in the past and intend to make additional dispositions in the future.  Although a safe harbor to the characterization of the sale of property by a REIT as a prohibited transaction is available, some of our past dispositions may not have qualified for that safe harbor and some or all of our future dispositions may not qualify for that safe harbor. We believe that our past dispositions will not be treated as prohibited transactions, and we may avoid disposing of property that may be characterized as held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. Consequently, we may choose not to engage in certain sales of our properties or may conduct such sales through our TRSs, which would be subject to federal and state income taxation as a corporation.  Moreover, no assurance can be provided that the IRS will not assert that some or all of our past or future dispositions are subject to the 100% prohibited transactions tax.  If the IRS successfully imposes the 100% prohibited transactions tax on some or all of our dispositions, the resulting tax liability could be material.

In connection with our purchases and sales of properties, we have received payments in the nature of liquidated damages. The IRC does not specify the treatment of litigation settlements and liquidated damages for purposes of the gross income tests applicable to REITs.  The IRS has issued private letter rulings to other taxpayers ruling that such payments will be ignored for purposes of the gross income tests. A private letter ruling can be relied upon only by the taxpayer to whom it was issued. Based on the IRS’s private letters rulings and the advice of our tax advisors, we believe these payments should be ignored for purposes of the gross income tests.  No assurance can be provided that the IRS will not successfully challenge that position.  In the event of a successful challenge, we believe that we would be able to maintain our REIT status if we qualified to use a REIT “savings clause” and paid the required penalty.

We believe that unions are generally becoming more aggressive about organizing workers at lodging properties in certain locations and in certain cases are demanding changes to work rules or conditions that are potentially more costly to owners.  If the workers employed by the third-party property management companies that manage our lodging properties unionize in the future, potential labor activities at any affected lodging property could significantly increase the administrative, labor and legal expenses of the third-party property management company that we have engaged to manage that lodging property, which likely would adversely affect the operating results of the lodging properties. If lodging properties in our portfolio are unionized, this could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows or the market price of our stock.

We established our Corporate Responsibility program in 2017 to take positive actions to meet our responsibility to be more sustainable, inclusive and equitable and to address increasing investor and societal concern related to climate change, social justice and governance matters. Companies across industries are facing increasing scrutiny from a variety of stakeholders related to their ESG and sustainability practices. Expectations regarding voluntary ESG initiatives and disclosures may result in increased costs (including but not limited to increased costs related to compliance, stakeholder engagement, contracting and insurance), changes in demand for certain markets, enhanced compliance or disclosure obligations, or other adverse effects on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

In addition, from time to time we establish and publicly announce voluntary efforts (including but not limited to disclosures, certifications, goals and commitments) with respect to our sustainability programs and initiatives. However, such efforts may be costly and may not have the desired effect. For example, expectations around our management of ESG matters continues to evolve rapidly, in many instances due to factors that are out of our control. Moreover, certain of our efforts are based on hypothetical expectations and assumptions that are necessarily uncertain and may be prone to error or misinterpretation due to the long timelines involved and the lack of an established single approach to identifying, measuring, and reporting on many ESG matters. Our efforts may also be at least partially reliant on third-party information, which we do not necessarily, and in some cases cannot, independently verify. Any errors in such information, including estimates and assumptions, may materially and adversely affect our ability to achieve our ESG-related efforts. If we and our brand and property management partners fail to properly establish, fail to achieve, or fail to adequately report on our progress toward achieving our sustainability goals and commitments, or are otherwise perceived as having not sufficiently addressed ESG matters, we may be subject to negative publicity that could adversely affect consumer preference for our lodging properties or subject us to enhanced investor or regulator engagement on our ESG initiatives and disclosures, even if such efforts are currently voluntary.

Certain market participants, including major institutional investors and capital providers, use third-party benchmarks and scores to assess companies’ ESG profiles in making investment or voting decisions. Unfavorable ESG ratings could lead to increased negative investor sentiment towards us or our industry, which could negatively affect our share price as well as our access to and cost of capital. To the extent ESG matters negatively affect our reputation, it may also impede our ability to compete as effectively to attract and retain employees or customers, which may adversely affect our operations. We also anticipate there to be increasing regulation, disclosure-related and otherwise, regarding ESG matters, which could result in increased costs and scrutiny that could increase the risk associated with all of the items identified in this risk factor. Certain of our customers, suppliers, and business partners may also be subject to similar risks, which could result in additional or augmented risks

None.

According to current chain scales as defined by STR, as of December 31, 2022, six of our lodging properties with a total of 953 guestrooms are categorized as Upper-upscale hotels, 81 of our lodging properties with a total of 12,279 guestrooms are categorized as Upscale hotels and 15 of our lodging properties with a total of 2,091 guestrooms are categorized as Upper-midscale hotels. We have one lodging asset that is an 11-unit glamping property. Lodging property information for the year ended December 31, 2022 is as follows:

In addition to our lodging property portfolio, we own two parcels of undeveloped land that are designated as held for sale. The land parcels are generally suitable for the development of new lodging properties or the development of restaurants.  When unique opportunities to develop lodging properties utilizing our own resources arise, we may develop our own lodging properties on occasion. To reduce the risk of incurring a prohibited transaction tax on any sales of our undeveloped land, we may transfer some or all of these land parcels to our TRSs.

At December 31, 2022, seven of our lodging properties are subject to ground lease agreements that cover all of the land underlying the respective lodging property.

These ground leases generally require us to make rental payments and payments for our share of charges, costs, expenses, assessments and liabilities, including real property taxes and utilities.  Furthermore, these ground leases generally require us to obtain and maintain insurance covering the subject property.

At December 31, 2022, all except for one of our lodging properties operate under franchise agreements, or similar agreements, that allow for access to reservation systems, with Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, or IHG. We believe that the public’s perception of the quality associated with a branded lodging property is an important feature in its attractiveness to guests. Franchisors provide a variety of benefits to franchisees, including centralized reservation systems, national advertising, marketing programs and publicity designed to increase brand awareness, loyalty programs, training of personnel and maintenance of operational quality at lodging properties across the brand system.

The terms of our franchise agreements generally range from 10 to 20 years with various extension provisions. Each of our franchisors receive franchise fees ranging from 2% to 6% of each lodging property’s room revenue, and some agreements require that we pay marketing fees of up to 4% of room revenue. In addition, some of these franchise agreements require that we deposit into a reserve fund for capital expenditures up to 5% of the lodging property’s gross or room revenues, depending on the franchisor, to ensure that we comply with the franchisors’ standards and requirements. We also pay fees to our franchisors for services such as reservation and information systems. 

At December 31, 2022, all of our lodging properties are operated pursuant to property management agreements with professional third-party property management companies as follows:

We are involved from time to time in litigation arising in the ordinary course of business; however, there are currently no pending legal actions that we believe would have a material adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations.

Not applicable.

Our common stock began trading on the NYSE on February 9, 2011 under the symbol “INN.”  Prior to that time, there was no public trading market for our common stock. The last reported sale price for our common stock as reported on the NYSE on February 10, 2023 was $8.07 per share. 

As of February 10, 2023, our common stock was held of record by 262 holders and there were 106,901,576 shares of our common stock outstanding.

The following graph compares the five-year cumulative total stockholder return on the common stock of Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. against the cumulative total returns of the Standard & Poor’s Corporation Composite 500 Index and the Dow Jones U.S. Hotels Index. The graph assumes an initial investment of $100 in the common stock of Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. and in each of the indexes, and also assumes the reinvestment of dividends.

This performance graph shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or incorporated by reference into any filing of Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. (or any of our respective subsidiaries) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.

As a REIT, we must distribute annually to our stockholders an amount at least equal to 90% of our REIT taxable income, determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gain. We will be subject to income tax on our taxable income that is not distributed and to an excise tax to the extent that certain percentages of our taxable income are not distributed by specified dates. Our cash available for distribution may be less than the amount required to meet the distribution requirements for REITs under the IRC and we may be required to borrow money, sell assets or issue capital stock to satisfy the distribution requirements to maintain our REIT status.

The timing and frequency of distributions will be authorized by our Board of Directors, in its sole discretion, and declared by us based upon a variety of factors deemed relevant by our directors, including financial condition, restrictions under applicable law and loan agreements, capital requirements and the REIT requirements of the IRC. Our ability to make distributions will generally depend on receipt of distributions from the Operating Partnership, which depends primarily on lease payments from our TRS Lessees with respect to our lodging properties.

We are generally restricted from declaring or paying any distributions or setting aside any funds for the payment of distributions on our common stock unless full cumulative distributions on our preferred stock have been declared and either paid or set aside for payment in full for all past distribution periods.

Room-night demand in the U.S. lodging industry is generally correlated to certain macroeconomic trends. Key drivers of lodging demand include changes in gross domestic product, corporate profits, capital investments, employment and more recently, travel-related health and safety restrictions and concerns. Volatility in the economy and risks arising from global and domestic political or economic conditions may cause slowing economic growth, which would have an adverse effect on lodging demand. The global and U.S. economies, and the travel and lodging industries, have experienced a significant downturn as a result of the Pandemic. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, we experienced a significant recovery in demand for our lodging properties driven primarily by leisure travel. Business and group demand remain below historical levels and are recovering more slowly; however, we have recently begun to experience an increase in demand related to these segments as the effects of the Pandemic have diminished.

Rising inflation was pervasive throughout 2022 increasing the cost of salaries, wages, material, freight, and energy. Higher costs due to general business inflation were partially offset by lodging price increases, which offset the effect of inflation on our operating results. We expect relatively higher inflation to continue in 2023 resulting in higher costs. If customers are unwilling to accept these price increases, inflation could have an adverse effect on our operations and financial condition.

The effects of the Pandemic and the restrictions implemented in response to the Pandemic had a significant negative effect on the U.S. and global economies, including a rapid and sharp decline in all forms of travel, both domestic and international, and a significant decline in demand for lodging. These conditions resulted in a substantial decline from pre-Pandemic levels in our revenues, profitability and cash flows from operations during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021.

We implemented the following actions to mitigate the negative effects of the Pandemic on our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows:

In response to the rapid decline in demand for room nights and loss of revenues as a result of the Pandemic, we and our property managers evaluated each lodging property in our portfolio and initially adjusted labor and cost structures for lodging properties based on existing market conditions. As demand at our lodging properties has increased during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, we have also increased staffing commensurately.

Beginning in March 2020, we took significant action to enhance our overall liquidity position in response to the Pandemic’s effect on our financial position, which continued into the year ended December 31, 2022.

On January 12, 2021, we sold $287.5 million aggregate principal amount of our 1.50% convertible senior notes due 2026 (the "Convertible Notes").

On May 1, 2021, we contributed a portfolio of six lodging properties containing 846 guestrooms to the GIC Joint Venture. The estimated market value of the portfolio of lodging properties was $172.0 million and GIC contributed $84.3 million in cash for its 49% interest in the GIC Joint Venture after the completion of the transfer of the six lodging properties. Net proceeds from the transaction were used to repay $62.5 million of our senior debt and $20.9 million was applied to our Cash and cash equivalents balances.

On August 12, 2021, we completed the offering of 4,000,000 Series F preferred shares for net proceeds of $96.6 million, after the underwriting discount and offering-related expenses of $3.4 million. On September 4, 2021, using proceeds from the issuance of the Series F preferred shares, we paid $75.0 million to redeem all 3,000,000 of its outstanding 6.45% Series D Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock at a redemption price of $25 per share plus accrued and unpaid dividends. The remaining net proceeds from the Series F preferred share offering was used to repay $22.0 million of our senior debt.

Substantially all of our lodging properties are licensed with national franchise brands, and we have worked closely with our brand partners to develop and implement comprehensive protocols for the safety and well-being of employees and guests to address a broad spectrum of pathogens and viruses, including COVID-19 and variants thereof. We continue to apply advanced cleaning procedures developed during the Pandemic to all of our lodging properties.

We use a variety of performance indicators and other information to evaluate the financial condition and operating performance of our business. These key indicators include financial information that is prepared in accordance with GAAP, as well as other financial information that is not prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, we use other information that may not be financial in nature, including statistical information and comparative data. We use this information to measure the performance of individual lodging properties, groups of lodging properties or our business as a whole. We periodically compare historical information to our internal budgets as well as industry-wide information. These key indicators include:

Occupancy, ADR and RevPAR are commonly used measures within the lodging industry to evaluate operating performance. RevPAR is an important metric for monitoring operating performance at the individual lodging property level and across our business as a whole. We evaluate individual lodging property RevPAR performance on an absolute basis with comparisons to budget and prior periods, as well as on a company-wide and market-by-market basis. ADR and RevPAR are based only on room revenue. Room revenue depends on demand (as measured by occupancy), pricing (as measured by ADR), and our available supply of lodging property guestrooms. Our ADR, occupancy and RevPAR performance may be affected by macroeconomic factors such as regional and local employment growth, personal income and corporate earnings, office vacancy rates and business relocation decisions, air travel and other business and leisure travel, new lodging property construction, and the pricing strategies of competitors. In addition, our ADR, occupancy and RevPAR performance is dependent on the continued success of our partners, franchisors and brands.

We continuously evaluate alternatives to refine our portfolio to drive growth and create value. In the normal course of business, we evaluate opportunities to acquire additional properties that meet our investment criteria and opportunities to recycle capital through the disposition of properties. As such, the composition and size of our portfolio of properties may change materially over time. Significant changes to our portfolio of properties could have a material effect on our Consolidated Financial Statements.

On July 9, 2021, we acquired a 110-room Residence Inn in Steamboat Springs, CO through our GIC Joint Venture for $33.0 million. Additionally, on December 21, 2021, through our GIC Joint Venture, we acquired a 120-room Embassy Suites in Tucson, AZ for $25.5 million.

During the quarter ended March 31, 2022, the Operating Partnership and the GIC Joint Venture closed on the NCI Transaction for the acquisition of a portfolio of 27 lodging properties, containing an aggregate of 3,709 guestrooms, and two parking structures, containing 1,002 spaces, and various financial incentives for an aggregate purchase price of $822.0 million.

In May 2022, the GIC Joint Venture completed the sale of a 169-guestroom Hilton Garden Inn San Francisco Airport North in San Francisco, CA for a gross selling price of $75.0 million. The sale of this property resulted in a net gain of $20.5 million to the GIC Joint Venture.

On October 26, 2022, we completed the acquisition of a 90% equity interest in the Onera Joint Venture that owns a high-end glamping property for $5.2 million in cash, plus additional contingent consideration limited to a maximum of $1.8 million, payable to the seller based on performance of the property for the 12-month period ending July 31, 2023. The Onera Joint Venture has a 100% fee simple interest in real property and improvements consisting of 11 glamping lodging units and a 6.4-acre parcel of undeveloped land that will be developed as phase two of the lodging site in the future.

Subsequent to December 31, 2022, we entered into a purchase and sale agreement with a third-party to sell a portfolio of four lodging properties for $28.1 million. We reclassified the properties to Assets held for sale, net at December 31, 2022 and recorded a write-down of $2.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 for the excess of the net carrying amount of the portfolio of properties over the expected net selling price less costs to sell. In addition, we entered into a purchase and sale agreement with a third-party to sell a 6.0-acre parcel of undeveloped land for $1.3 million. We reclassified the property to Assets held for sale, net at December 31, 2022 and recorded a write-down of $0.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 for the excess of the net carrying amount of the undeveloped land over the expected net selling price less costs to sell. Subsequent to December 31, 2022, we also entered into an agreement for the sale of two lodging properties for $50.5 million. We reclassified the properties to Assets held for sale, net at December 31, 2022 and recorded a write-down of $7.2 million at December 31, 2022 for the excess of the net carrying amount of the properties over the expected net selling price less costs to sell.

Our revenues are derived from lodging operations and consist of room revenue, food and beverage revenue and other revenue. As a result of our focus on lodging properties with efficient operating models, substantially all of our revenues are related to the sales of guestrooms. Our other revenue consists of ancillary revenues related to meeting rooms, parking and other guest services provided at certain of our properties.

Our property operating expenses consist primarily of expenses incurred in the day-to-day operation of our lodging properties. Many of our expenses are fixed, such as essential lodging property staff, real estate taxes, insurance, and depreciation. These expenses generally do not decrease even if the revenues at our lodging properties decrease. Room expense includes housekeeping and front office wages and payroll taxes, reservation systems, room supplies, laundry services and other costs. Food and beverage expense primarily includes the cost of food, the cost of beverages and associated labor costs. Other operating expenses include labor and other costs associated with administrative departments, sales and marketing, repair and maintenance, utility costs and franchise fees.

The comparisons that follow should be reviewed in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The following table contains key operating metrics for our total portfolio and our same-store portfolio for 2022 compared with 2021 (dollars in thousands, except ADR and RevPAR). Our same-store portfolio consists of properties that we owned as of December 31, 2022 and that we have owned at all times since January 1, 2021.

The total portfolio information above includes revenues and expenses from the lodging properties that we acquired during the year ended December 31, 2022 (the “2022 Acquired Properties”) from the date of acquisition through December 31, 2022, and operating information (occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR) for the period each lodging property was owned. Accordingly, the information does not reflect a full twelve months of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 for the 2022 Acquired Properties.

Changes from the year ended December 31, 2022 compared with the year ended December 31, 2021 were due to the following:

As defined by Nareit, FFO represents net income or loss (computed in accordance with GAAP), excluding preferred dividends, gains (or losses) from sales of real property, impairment losses on real estate assets, items classified by GAAP as extraordinary, the cumulative effect of changes in accounting principles, plus depreciation and amortization related to real estate assets, and adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships, and joint ventures. AFFO represents FFO excluding amortization of deferred financing costs, franchise fees, equity-based compensation expense, transaction costs, debt transaction costs, premiums on redemption of preferred shares, losses from net casualties, non-cash interest income and non-cash income tax related adjustments to our deferred tax asset. Unless otherwise indicated, we present FFO and AFFO applicable to our common shares and common units. We present FFO and AFFO because we consider FFO and AFFO an important supplemental measure of our operational performance and believe it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of REITs, many of which present FFO and AFFO when reporting their results. FFO and AFFO are intended to exclude GAAP historical cost depreciation and amortization, which assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes ratably over time. Historically, however, real estate values have risen or fallen with market conditions. Because FFO and AFFO exclude depreciation and amortization related to real estate assets, gains and losses from real property dispositions and impairment losses on real estate assets, and certain transaction costs related to lodging property acquisition activities and debt, FFO and AFFO provide performance measures that, when compared year over year, reflect the effect to operations from trends in occupancy, guestroom rates, operating costs, development activities and interest costs, providing perspective not immediately apparent from net income. Our computation of FFO differs slightly from the computation of Nareit-defined FFO related to the reporting of depreciation and amortization expense on assets at our corporate offices, which is de minimus. Our computation of FFO may also differ from the methodology for calculating FFO used by other equity REITs and, accordingly, may not be comparable to such other REITs. FFO and AFFO should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss) (computed in accordance with GAAP) as an indicator of our liquidity, nor is it indicative of funds available to fund our cash needs, including our ability to pay dividends or make distributions. Where indicated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, FFO is based on our computation of FFO and not the computation of Nareit-defined FFO unless otherwise noted.

The following is a reconciliation of our GAAP net income to FFO and AFFO for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands, except per share/unit amounts): 

A reconciliation of weighted average diluted common shares to non-GAAP weighted average diluted common shares/common units for FFO and AFFO is as follows (in thousands):

EBITDA represents net income or loss, excluding: (i) interest, (ii) income tax expense and (iii) depreciation and amortization. We believe EBITDA is useful to an investor in evaluating our operating performance because it provides investors with an indication of our ability to incur and service debt, to satisfy general operating expenses, to make capital expenditures and to fund other cash needs or reinvest cash into our business. We also believe it helps investors meaningfully evaluate and compare the results of our operations from period to period by removing the effect of our asset base (primarily depreciation and amortization) from our operating results. Our management team also uses EBITDA as one measure in determining the value of acquisitions and dispositions.