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: Ari Klein - BMO Capital Markets - Analyst
: I was hoping maybe you can help unpack the RevPAR guide a little bit. Obviously, group pace is up 12%, I think, excluding Scottsdale. You talked
about improving business transient. But I guess the RevPAR guide at Scottsdale is around 2%. Can you just provide a little more insight into how
you came up with that forecast?
Question: Ari Klein - BMO Capital Markets - Analyst
: Understood. And then maybe just on Scottsdale. Obviously, a nice contributor this year. How much are you expecting it to contribute to EBITDA
in 2025? I think the hotel did $23 million in 2019.
And then given some of the broader challenges you alluded to on leisure, have your views on the time frame to get towards that stabilization
number of [$2] million change in any way?
Question: Michael Bellisario - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated - Analyst
: A couple of questions for Barry here. Back to your prepared remarks, I think you mentioned softening group sort of outside of the urban and
suburban locations. Can you expand on that? What markets, what assets? Why do you think that occurred?
Question: Michael Bellisario - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated - Analyst
: Got it. That's helpful. I just wanted to clarify that. And then also on the loyalty cost that you mentioned, any way you can quantify that in terms of
margin path in the year? Anything that you or your operators can do with kind of the on-peak/off-peak pricing to mitigate some of these cost
pressures?
Question: Michael Bellisario - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated - Analyst
: So it's more about volume increasing than the underlying like-for-like cost per room increasing, at least in '24, correct?
Question: Dori Kesten - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC - Analyst
: You mentioned in your prepared remarks that the pipeline of what you're underwriting right now has grown versus the last few years. Can you
provide a little bit more detail around that?
Question: Dori Kesten - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC - Analyst
: Okay. And then I think it was back in January, you drew down $100 million or so for the delayed term loan. Should we, for now, just view that as
funding CapEx near term? Or could read the more out share repurchases or being closer on an acquisition?
Question: Dori Kesten - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC - Analyst
: Okay. And then can you give us an update on how you're thinking about the trajectory of the W Nashville EBITDA just after a flat EBITDA year in
'24?
Question: Josh Friedland - KeyBanc Capital Markets - Analyst
: It's Josh Friedland on for Austin. Excluding the Grand Hyatt Scottsdale, which markets do you expect to drive above average RevPAR growth in
2025?
Question: Josh Friedland - KeyBanc Capital Markets - Analyst
: Okay. That's helpful. And as a follow-up, what are you assuming for the West Coast markets in 2025?
Question: Rita Chen - Jefferies - Analyst
: This is Rita Chen on for David. Just wondering if you can unpack a little bit on your assumptions at the low end and the high end of your guidance,
particularly around your comment on macroeconomic uncertainty and leisure moderation?
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