The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Neil Lawrence Malkin - Capital One Securities, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: First question, maybe about the operating model and the expense side. A lot of talk has been going on with changes to brand standards, kind of
fine tuning the operating model.
You mentioned vendor services, contract services, renegotiations. So maybe, Liz, could you talk about some of the brand standards or changes
you're most focused on given your types of hotels, trying to lower fixed costs from the system.
Maybe any color you could give would be helpful.
Question: Neil Lawrence Malkin - Capital One Securities, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. I guess as a follow-up to that, are you concerned at all about the breakfast in particular, is that kind of goes away or is modified significantly.
Are you worried that, that is -- just given that's a big value proposition to certain travelers, small business or families, are you worried that, that may
impair the value proposition that you provide to your customers?
Question: Neil Lawrence Malkin - Capital One Securities, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: I appreciate that. Other 1 for me is Justin, you talked about -- you expect opportunities for acquisitions to hit the market more so starting next year
and then carry on 24 months or so after that.
One of the things that is, I guess, may be a disadvantage for the hotel sector compared to some other REIT sectors is just the absolute size. I wonder
if this could be an opportunity just given the impact that COVID has had on the sector for you guys to be very acquisitive from a portfolio or just a
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very active standpoint such that you can grow your portfolio, just to be another way to be very differentiated amongst some of these hotel REITs
that have a lot of high G&A load, limited scale benefits, et cetera.
I'm just wondering how you think about that as we go forward.
Question: Bryan Anthony Maher - B. Riley Securities, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: A couple of questions from me. Justin, when you look out there at what there might be to buy, are you seeing any product similar to what you've
done in the past with new developers and Apple being the takeout of them.
I think you may have subsequently walked away from 1 of those. But are there any of those type of assets where product is about to be completed
where the developer is kind of desperate to catch that in and their takeout has subsequently disappeared because of COVID?
Question: Bryan Anthony Maher - B. Riley Securities, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Great. And then kind of taking that to the next step, what is your appetite maybe in dollar terms of acquisitions versus reinstating the dividend,
maybe not at its past level, but at some level, to return some capital to shareholders. What are your thoughts on the 2 of those?
Question: Floris Gerbrand Hendrik Van Dijkum - Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC, Research Division - Analyst
: That's actually Compass Point. Quick question. I know it's the -- you have $70 million, I believe, of mortgage debt coming due next year. How are
you thinking about mortgage debt that comes due given the difficulty of refinancing or getting hotel financing right now?
And would you move that to your line of credit?
Question: Floris Gerbrand Hendrik Van Dijkum - Compass Point Research & Trading, LLC, Research Division - Analyst
: My -- do you expect to be having to pay additional dividends this year based on your taxable income? I know it's tricky. There's still a quarter to go,
but You did pay dividends in the first part of the year. Do you expect those could be a catch-up dividend? Or do you think you'll reinstate likely in
the -- perhaps in the first quarter of next year?
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