DiamondRock Hospitality Company Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Results

BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DiamondRock Hospitality Company (the "Company") (NYSE: DRH), a lodging-focused real estate investment trust that owns a portfolio of 31 premium hotels in the United States, today announced results of operations for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2020.

Fourth Quarter 2020 Highlights:

• Net Loss: Net loss was $208.3 million and loss per diluted share was $1.04.
• Comparable Revenues: Comparable total revenues decreased 75.2% from the comparable period of 2019.
• Comparable RevPAR: RevPAR decreased 77.1% from the comparable period of 2019.
• Hotel Adjusted EBITDA: Hotel Adjusted EBITDA was ($7.6) million, a 56.3% improvement from the third quarter 2020.
• Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA was ($14.9) million, a decrease of $77.6 million from 2019.
• Adjusted FFO: Adjusted FFO was ($8.3) million and Adjusted FFO per diluted share was ($0.04).
• ATM Equity Offering Program: The Company issued common stock under its "at-the-market" equity offering program during the year ended December 31, 2020. The Company opportunistically sold 10.7 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $8.23 per share for net proceeds of $86.8 million.
• Liquidity: The Company's liquidity increased during the quarter by $47.2 million to $481.7 million, comprised of $111.8 million of unrestricted corporate cash, $24.9 million of unrestricted cash at its hotels and $345.0 million of capacity on the Company's revolving credit facility.

Full Year 2020 Highlights:

• Net Loss: Net loss was $396.0 million and loss per diluted share was $1.97.
• Comparable Revenues: Comparable total revenues decreased 68.1% from the comparable period of 2019.
• Comparable RevPAR: RevPAR decreased 70.3% from the comparable period of 2019.
• Hotel Adjusted EBITDA: Hotel Adjusted EBITDA was ($37.5) million, a 113.5% decrease from the comparable period of 2019.
• Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA was ($64.5) million, a decrease of $324.9 million from 2019.
• Adjusted FFO: Adjusted FFO was ($85.3) million and Adjusted FFO per diluted share was ($0.42).

Recent Developments:

• In January 2021, the Company successfully secured additional amendments to the agreements for its $400 million revolving credit facility and its $400 million unsecured term loans which extended the waiver of financial covenants to December 2021 and extended the modification of certain financial covenants through March 2023.

"Our fourth quarter results put a long-awaited bookend on the most challenging year in the history of our company and industry," said Mark W. Brugger, President and Chief Executive Officer of DiamondRock Hospitality Company. "I am incredibly proud of how the DiamondRock team navigated the hardships in 2020 brought on by COVID-19, working tirelessly to serve our fellow employees, valued guests and shareholders.  While the path of vaccine distribution remains uncertain at this time, it is nonetheless clear that 2021 will ultimately be a year of much-anticipated recovery in the travel industry.  During 2020, the Company advantageously took actions to improve its portfolio by unencumbering numerous hotels of long-term management agreements and bolstering its strong balance sheet with additional liquidity in order to emerge from this period stronger, with a better portfolio, and positioned to opportunistically grow."

Operating Results

Please see "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" attached to this press release for an explanation of the terms "EBITDAre," "Adjusted EBITDA," "Hotel Adjusted EBITDA," "Hotel Adjusted EBITDA Margin," "FFO" and "Adjusted FFO" and a reconciliation of these measures to net income. Comparable operating results exclude Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort ("Frenchman's Reef") for all periods presented due to the closure of the hotel.  See "Reconciliation of Comparable Operating Results" attached to this press release for a reconciliation to historical amounts.

Hotel Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended December 31, 2020 benefited from $2.2 million of business interruption insurance income recognized as a result of the Company's insurance claim for cancellation of bookings due to COVID-19.

Hotel Operations Update

Due to the decline in travel demand from the impact of COVID-19, the Company suspended operations at 20 of its 30 previously operating properties (which excludes Frenchman's Reef, where redevelopment has been paused) throughout March and early April.  The Company resumed operations at 12 hotels by the end of the second quarter and another five hotels by the end of the third quarter as governmental orders were modified or lifted and leisure demand began to return.  On January 3, 2021, the Company re-suspended operations at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile due to lack of travel demand and new governmental restrictions put in place.  The Company currently expects to reopen its four closed hotels, located in New York City and Chicago, in the second quarter of 2021. The Company will continue to aggressively manage costs at its hotels and ensure appropriate cleanliness and safety protocols.  The Company is carefully monitoring demand trends and adjusted sales strategies and staffing to respond rapidly in a changing environment.

The following table identifies each of the Company's hotels that has suspended operations and the date of reopening, if applicable:

The following tables provide operating information for the Company's portfolio throughout the fourth quarter:

Management and Franchise Agreement Changes

In August 2020, the Company entered into an agreement with Marriott International, Inc. modifying several franchise and management contracts.  Key benefits of the agreement include: (i) the conversion of five hotels from brand-managed to franchise with new terminable-at-will management agreements with third-party hotel operators, (ii) a new franchise agreement for the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort to upbrand the resort to a Luxury Collection hotel in 2021, (iii) an option to upbrand the JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek to a Luxury Collection hotel and (iv) an amendment to the Autograph Collection franchise agreement for The Lexington Hotel to provide a termination right in 2021 subject to a fee.  The agreement results in the Company having 29 of its 31 hotels unencumbered by long-term brand management agreements.

Earlier in 2020, the Company converted the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel from brand-managed to a franchise with a third-party operator.  The Company also changed management of the Hilton Boston Downtown to the same third-party operator in order to complex operations of the two hotels and realize substantial cost synergies.

Frenchman's Reef Update

Frenchman's Reef sustained significant damage in 2017 from two hurricanes and the Company received approximately $240 million in insurance proceeds for property damage and lost income.  The rebuild of the resort was suspended in mid-March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. In late 2020, the Company initiated a process to explore alternatives for completing the rebuild, including finding a capital partner, and it expects to complete that process later in 2021. Net loss for the three months and year ended December 31, 2020 includes an impairment loss of $174.1 million related to Frenchman's Reef.  Under U.S. GAAP, the Company was required to recognize the impairment loss as a result of its determination during the fourth quarter that it was more likely than not that the Company would not hold the property for its remaining useful life.   

Capital Expenditures

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company has canceled or deferred a significant portion of the planned capital improvements at its operating hotels and paused the rebuild of Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort. The Company invested approximately $7.2 million and $47.1 million in capital improvements at its operating hotels during the three months and year ended December 31, 2020, respectively.  The Company spent approximately $40.9 million on the rebuild of Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort during the year ended December 31, 2020.

DiamondRock continues to be extremely selective with capital expenditures to preserve liquidity. In 2021, the Company expects to spend approximately $50 million on necessary capital improvements and a select few transformational projects with attractive returns on investment. Significant projects in 2021 include the following:

• The Lodge at Sonoma: The Company is completing a renovation to reposition and rebrand the hotel to an Autograph Collection Hotel in the third quarter 2021. The renovation includes a new Michael Mina restaurant.
• Vail Marriott Mountain Resort: The Company plans to complete the final phase of a multi-year renovation to rebrand the hotel as a Luxury Collection Hotel in the fourth quarter of 2021.
• JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek: The Company plans to complete renovations in the second half of 2021 to rebrand the hotel as a Luxury Collection Hotel.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

As of December 31, 2020, the Company's liquidity was $481.7 million, an increase of $47.2 million during the quarter, and is comprised of $111.8 million of unrestricted corporate cash, $24.9 million of unrestricted cash at its hotels and $345.0 million of capacity on its senior unsecured credit facility.  As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $1.0 billion of total debt outstanding, which consisted of $597.7 million of property-specific, non-recourse mortgage debt, $400.0 million of unsecured term loans and $55.0 million outstanding on its $400.0 million senior unsecured credit facility.  The Company has no debt maturities until 2022.

In August and September 2020, the Company completed a public offering of a total of 4.8 million shares of 8.250% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock with a $25.00 per share liquidation preference for net proceeds of approximately $114.5 million.  In December 2020, the Company issued 10.7 million shares of its common stock under its "at-the-market" equity offering program at an average price of $8.23 per share for net proceeds of $86.8 million.  No shares have been issued subsequent to December 31, 2020.  The combined proceeds of these offerings are fully available for investment and are expected to be utilized to fund capital projects with attractive returns on investment.

Dividends

The Company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.515625 per share on its 8.250% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock to shareholders of record as of December 18, 2020.  This dividend was paid on December 31, 2020. 

The Company has suspended its quarterly common stock cash dividends. The resumption in quarterly common dividends will be determined by the Company's Board of Directors after considering the Company's obligations under its various financing agreements, projected taxable income, compliance with its debt covenants, long-term operating projections, expected capital requirements and risks affecting the Company's business.

Environmental, Social & Governance Achievements

The Company is focused on the important areas of its environmental, social impact and governance ("ESG").  DiamondRock earned several achievements related to its ESG program in 2020.  The Company was recognized by the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmarking Survey ("GRESB") as Global Listed Sector Leader among all public lodging REITs and received Five Green Stars.  Additionally, DiamondRock achieved ISS ESG Corporate Rating's Prime status in 2020, a performance-based rating reserved for the top performing companies in the worldwide real estate sector.  The Company continued its leadership position for high quality ESG disclosures, receiving ISS QualityScore ratings for Environmental, Social, and Governance all within the top third of the real estate sector.

Earnings Call

The Company will host a conference call to discuss its fourth quarter and full year results on Thursday, February 25, 2021, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET).  To participate in the live call, investors are invited to dial 844-287-6622 (for domestic callers) or 530-379-4559 (for international callers).  The participant passcode is 9379244. A live webcast of the call will be available via the investor relations section of DiamondRock Hospitality Company's website at www.drhc.com or www.earnings.com. A replay of the webcast will also be archived on the website for one week.

About the Company

DiamondRock Hospitality Company is a self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) that is an owner of a leading portfolio of geographically diversified hotels concentrated in top gateway markets and destination resort locations.  The Company owns 31 premium quality hotels with over 10,000 rooms. The Company has strategically positioned its hotels to be operated both under leading global brand families as well as unique boutique hotels in the lifestyle segment.  For further information on the Company and its portfolio, please visit DiamondRock Hospitality Company's website at www.drhc.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws and regulations. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "project," "forecast," "plan" and other similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions and forecasts of future results. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made, including statements related to the expected duration of closure of Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort. These risks include, but are not limited to: the adverse impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on the U.S., regional and global economies, travel, the hospitality industry, and the financial condition and results of operations of the Company and its hotels; national and local economic and business conditions, including the potential for additional terrorist attacks, that will affect occupancy rates at the Company's hotels and the demand for hotel products and services; operating risks associated with the hotel business; risks associated with the level of the Company's indebtedness and its ability to obtain covenant waivers on its credit agreements for its senior unsecured credit facility and unsecured term loans; relationships with property managers; the ability to compete effectively in areas such as access, location, quality of accommodations and room rate structures; changes in travel patterns, taxes and government regulations which influence or determine wages, prices, construction procedures and costs; and other risk factors contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. All information in this release is as of the date of this release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the Company's expectations.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We use the following non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are useful to investors as key measures of our operating performance: EBITDA, EBITDAre, Adjusted EBITDA, Hotel EBITDA, Hotel Adjusted EBITDA, FFO and Adjusted FFO. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  EBITDA, EBITDAre, Adjusted EBITDA, Hotel EBITDA, Hotel Adjusted EBITDA, FFO and Adjusted FFO, as calculated by us, may not be comparable to other companies that do not define such terms exactly as the Company.

Use and Limitations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Our management and Board of Directors use EBITDA, EBITDAre, Adjusted EBITDA, Hotel EBITDA, Hotel Adjusted EBITDA, FFO and Adjusted FFO to evaluate the performance of our hotels and to facilitate comparisons between us and other lodging REITs, hotel owners who are not REITs and other capital intensive companies. The use of these non-GAAP financial measures has certain limitations. These non-GAAP financial measures as presented by us, may not be comparable to non-GAAP financial measures as calculated by other real estate companies. These measures do not reflect certain expenses or expenditures that we incurred and will incur, such as depreciation, interest and capital expenditures. We compensate for these limitations by separately considering the impact of these excluded items to the extent they are material to operating decisions or assessments of our operating performance. Our reconciliations to the most comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures, and our consolidated statements of operations and cash flows, include interest expense, capital expenditures, and other excluded items, all of which should be considered when evaluating our performance, as well as the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures.

These non-GAAP financial measures are used in addition to and in conjunction with results presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. They should not be considered as alternatives to operating profit, cash flow from operations, or any other operating performance measure prescribed by U.S. GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures reflect additional ways of viewing our operations that we believe, when viewed with our U.S. GAAP results and the reconciliations to the corresponding U.S. GAAP financial measures, provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business than could be obtained absent this disclosure. We strongly encourage investors to review our financial information in its entirety and not to rely on a single financial measure.

EBITDA, EBITDAre and FFO

EBITDA represents net income (calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP) excluding: (1) interest expense; (2) provision for income taxes, including income taxes applicable to sale of assets; and (3) depreciation and amortization.  The Company computes EBITDAre in accordance with the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts ("Nareit") guidelines, as defined in its September 2017 white paper "Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization for Real Estate."  EBITDAre represents net income (calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP) adjusted for: (1) interest expense; (2) provision for income taxes, including income taxes applicable to sale of assets; (3) depreciation and amortization; (4) gains or losses on the disposition of depreciated property including gains or losses on change of control; (5) impairment write-downs of depreciated property and of investments in unconsolidated affiliates caused by a decrease in value of depreciated property in the affiliate; and (6) adjustments to reflect the entity's share of EBITDAre of unconsolidated affiliates.

We believe EBITDA and EBITDAre are useful to an investor in evaluating our operating performance because they help investors evaluate and compare the results of our operations from period to period by removing the impact of our capital structure (primarily interest expense) and our asset base (primarily depreciation and amortization, and in the case of EBITDAre, impairment and gains or losses on dispositions of depreciated property) from our operating results. In addition, covenants included in our debt agreements use EBITDA as a measure of financial compliance. We also use EBITDA and EBITDAre as measures in determining the value of hotel acquisitions and dispositions.

The Company computes FFO in accordance with standards established by the Nareit, which defines FFO as net income determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, excluding gains or losses from sales of properties and impairment losses, plus real estate related depreciation and amortization. The Company believes that the presentation of FFO provides useful information to investors regarding its operating performance because it is a measure of the Company's operations without regard to specified non-cash items, such as real estate related depreciation and amortization and gains or losses on the sale of assets.  The Company also uses FFO as one measure in assessing its operating results.

Hotel EBITDA

Hotel EBITDA represents net income excluding:  (1) interest expense, (2) income taxes, (3) depreciation and amortization, (4) corporate general and administrative expenses (shown as corporate expenses on the consolidated statements of operations), and (5) hotel acquisition costs. We believe that Hotel EBITDA provides our investors a useful financial measure to evaluate our hotel operating performance, excluding the impact of our capital structure (primarily interest), our asset base (primarily depreciation and amortization), and our corporate-level expenses (corporate expenses and hotel acquisition costs).  With respect to Hotel EBITDA, we believe that excluding the effect of corporate-level expenses provides a more complete understanding of the operating results over which individual hotels and third-party management companies have direct control.  We believe property-level results provide investors with supplemental information on the ongoing operational performance of our hotels and effectiveness of the third-party management companies operating our business on a property-level basis.

Adjustments to EBITDAre, FFO and Hotel EBITDA

We adjust EBITDAre, FFO and Hotel EBITDA when evaluating our performance because we believe that the exclusion of certain additional items described below provides useful supplemental information to investors regarding our ongoing operating performance and that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted FFO and Hotel Adjusted EBITDA when combined with U.S. GAAP net income, EBITDAre, FFO and Hotel EBITDA, is beneficial to an investor's complete understanding of our consolidated and property-level operating performance.  Hotel Adjusted EBITDA margins are calculated as Hotel Adjusted EBITDA divided by total hotel revenues.  We adjust EBITDAre, FFO and Hotel EBITDA for the following items:

• Non-Cash Lease Expense and Other Amortization: We exclude the non-cash expense incurred from the straight line recognition of expense from our ground leases and other contractual obligations and the non-cash amortization of our favorable and unfavorable contracts, originally recorded in conjunction with certain hotel acquisitions. We exclude these non-cash items because they do not reflect the actual cash amounts due to the respective lessors and service providers in the current period and they are of lesser significance in evaluating our actual performance for that period.
• Cumulative Effect of a Change in Accounting Principle: The Financial Accounting Standards Board promulgates new accounting standards that require or permit the consolidated statement of operations to reflect the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle. We exclude the effect of these adjustments, which include the accounting impact from prior periods, because they do not reflect the Company's actual underlying performance for the current period.
• Gains or Losses from Early Extinguishment of Debt: We exclude the effect of gains or losses recorded on the early extinguishment of debt because these gains or losses result from transaction activity related to the Company's capital structure that we believe are not indicative of the ongoing operating performance of the Company or our hotels.
• Hotel Acquisition Costs: We exclude hotel acquisition costs expensed during the period because we believe these transaction costs are not reflective of the ongoing performance of the Company or our hotels.
• Severance Costs: We exclude corporate severance costs, or reversals thereof, incurred with the termination of corporate-level employees and severance costs incurred at our hotels related to lease terminations or structured severance programs because we believe these costs do not reflect the ongoing performance of the Company or our hotels.
• Hotel Manager Transition Items: We exclude the transition items associated with a change in hotel manager because we believe these items do not reflect the ongoing performance of the Company or our hotels.
• Other Items: From time to time we incur costs or realize gains that we consider outside the ordinary course of business and that we do not believe reflect the ongoing performance of the Company or our hotels. Such items may include, but are not limited to, the following: pre-opening costs incurred with newly developed hotels; lease preparation costs incurred to prepare vacant space for marketing; management or franchise contract termination fees; gains or losses from legal settlements; costs incurred related to natural disasters; and gains on property insurance claim settlements, other than income related to business interruption insurance.

In addition, to derive Adjusted FFO we exclude any fair value adjustments to interest rate swaps.  We exclude these non-cash amounts because they do not reflect the underlying performance of the Company.

Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures

EBITDA, EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDA

The following tables are reconciliations of our GAAP net income to EBITDA, EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDA (in thousands):          

Hotel EBITDA and Hotel Adjusted EBITDA

The following table is a reconciliation of our GAAP net income to Hotel EBITDA and Hotel Adjusted EBITDA (in thousands):      

FFO and Adjusted FFO

The following tables are reconciliations of our GAAP net income to FFO and Adjusted FFO (in thousands):

Reconciliation of Comparable Operating Results

The following presents the revenues, Hotel Adjusted EBITDA and Hotel Adjusted EBITDA Margin together with comparable prior year results, which excludes the results for Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort due to the closure of the hotel (in thousands):         

Selected Quarterly Comparable Operating Information

The following tables are presented to provide investors with selected quarterly comparable operating information.  The operating information excludes Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort for all periods.