Pebblebrook Hotel Trust Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Dori Kesten - Wells Fargo - Analyst : It may be a bit early, but do you think LaPlaya should be able to exceed this year's original $24 million EBITDA expectation next year? And can you just let us know what you're able to do to change at the property so that future storms might be less impactful?

Question: Jay Kornreich - Wedbush Securities - Analyst : Just going back to your comments on the 2025 outlook looking much more promising for the hotel industry. Can you just provide some more details as to what you expect from the leisure customer and specifically really being able to start pushing rate at the resort?

Question: Smedes Rose - Citi - Analyst : I wanted to ask you just a little bit about what you're sort of thinking about for wages and benefit growth and overall cost growth next year or prices sort of moderating? Or how do you think about that right now?

Question: Smedes Rose - Citi - Analyst : My question was, I was just wondering if you -- I'm sure it varies by market, but if you guys just have a sense of where the union contracts are coming in, it looks like a number of them are getting settled. And I'm just wondering if you have a sense of what kind of first year wage increases are as a percentage.

Question: Ari Klein - BMO Capital Markets - Analyst : Jon, you noted some of the optimism in the struggling urban markets. And I'm wondering how you stack rank San Francisco, Portland, and LA. from a longer-term standpoint? And then dispositions have largely focused on reducing exposure to West Coast markets. Given your view on the tailwinds, are you comfortable with the existing exposure?

Question: Ari Klein - BMO Capital Markets - Analyst : And then just maybe a kind of unrelated follow-up. Just on the Delfina conversion impact. Did something happen there that was unanticipated? Because obviously, we knew about that before this quarter.

Question: Duane Pfennigwerth - Evercore ISI - Analyst : Jon, I appreciate your thoughts on demand and normalization over the last 18 months. It sounds like there's some optimism we could see acceleration or a pickup. I wondered if you put a finer point on it, what segments do you think have the most upside potential? Which chain scales could see the biggest pickup if that view plays out?

Question: Duane Pfennigwerth - Evercore ISI - Analyst : That's helpful. And then just in terms of the lagging markets and some of the changes you alluded to, changes in mayors, district attorneys, I think it's Prop 36. How long do you think it will take for those things to kind of change the perception of the markets and move the needle on your results? I mean it certainly seems directionally positive, but is this more of a 5- to 10-year phenomenon than a one or two?

Question: Gregory Miller - Truist Securities - Analyst : I'm hoping you could provide an update on the progress and goals with Curator and items I personally think about relate to the financial performance for Curator itself and the number of hotels. And as a brief aside, I'd be curious to get your thoughts about KSL's sale of Davidson and if that impacts either Curator or your hotel operations at all?

Question: Michael Bellisario - Baird - Analyst : Jon, you bought back a little bit of stock in the quarter, but it wasn't match funded with the disposition. Can we read into this that you're making progress with asset sales? Or has your view changed a little bit on how you fund buybacks?

Question: Michael Bellisario - Baird - Analyst : Fair enough. And then just I know your redevelopments are largely done, except the one that might happen in San Diego at some point. But when do you start thinking about maybe the next wave of projects? And then sort of along those same lines, any initial expectations for CapEx spending in '25 ex any hurricane dollars that might need to be spent? And that's all for me.