Ashford Hospitality positioned to benefit in up-cycle, president says

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Savannah, Ga., June 7 - Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. has "no question that now is the best time to be investing in lodging," and the company is positioned to take advantage of the up-cycle, Douglas Kessler, Ashford's president, said on Tuesday during a presentation at the Nareit REITWeek conference in New York.

Hotel fundamentals still have a long way to go before reaching previous peak levels, and investors who invest at this point in the cycle have historically made very attractive returns, Kessler said.

Ashford is positioned to take advantage of the up-cycle for reasons that include its diverse asset portfolio, asset management, effective interest rate hedges and laddered debt maturities, he said.

Ashford has $3.2 billion of laddered debt, which it is proactively managing, Kessler noted. Its leverage ratio as defined by its credit facility is just under 61%.

"We tend to be proactive in managing our debt maturities and are working on a December 2011 maturity of $203 million," he said.

Ashford is a Dallas-based real estate investment trust that invests in the hospitality industry with ownership in hotel properties under the brands of Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Sheraton and Westin.

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