DALLAS, Oct. 22, 2013
/PRNewswire/ -- Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT)
("Ashford Trust" or the "Company") today announced that its
Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel has been named in Conde
Nast Traveler's annual Readers' Choice Awards for Best Hotels in
Florida, released in the
November 2013 issue. The
Renaissance is one of the initial hotels to be included in the
planned spin-off of Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc. ("Ashford Prime").
Of the 20 Florida properties recognized in the Readers' Choice
Awards, the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza was the only
Tampa Bay area hotel ranked among
Florida's finest. It tied
with the Grand Bohemian in Orlando
and Island City House in Key West.
"We are honored to be recognized in Conde Nast Traveler's 2013
Readers' Choice Awards as one of the leading hotels in Florida by offering our guests an exceptional
experience during their stay with us," said Monty J. Bennett, Ashford Trust's Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer. "This also speaks to the rationale
behind Ashford Prime, to unlock the
embedded value in our highest quality hotel assets. We expect
that creating a new platform with a lower leverage profile and high
quality assets will result in a lower cost of capital for
Ashford Prime."
Ashford Prime will have a focused
investment strategy targeting high RevPAR hotels in major
markets. It will constitute a new public entity whereby
Ashford Trust will spin-off an 80% ownership interest in an 8-hotel
portfolio, totaling 3,146 rooms (2,912 owned rooms), to holders of
the Company's common stock in the form of a taxable special
distribution expected to be comprised of common stock in
Ashford Prime. The Company
currently expects to complete the spin-off during the fourth
quarter of this year. Additional information can be found in
the information statement for Ashford Hospitality Prime that has
been filed with the SEC.
The Four Diamond-rated Renaissance Tampa International Plaza
hotel is located at 4200 Jim Walter Blvd. in Tampa, Florida. The 293-room full
service hotel features the award-winning Pelagia Trattoria
restaurant, a fitness center, outdoor pool and 12,500 square feet
of meeting space. Year to date, the hotel has previously been
honored with the following awards:
- 2013 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence
- 2013 Tampa Bay's Top Workplaces by Tampa
Bay Times
- 2013 U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hotels in the
USA"
The Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Survey, begun in 1988,
is available through a secure Web site at
condenasttraveler.com/vote. This year's tabulations of 79,268
responses were done by Equation Research. Organization: The
questionnaire contains lists of candidates in various categories
(Cities, Hotels, etc.). Candidates must receive a required
minimum number of responses to be eligible for a Readers' Choice
Award. Evaluation: Individual candidates are judged on a set
of criteria relevant to their category, based on a standard
five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor.
The percentage of excellent and very good ratings determines
the final score published here.
Ashford Hospitality Trust is a real estate investment trust
(REIT) focused on investing opportunistically in the hospitality
industry across all segments and at all levels of the capital
structure primarily within the United
States.
Ashford Hospitality Prime will be a conservatively capitalized
real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing in high
RevPAR full-service and urban select-service hotels located
predominantly in domestic and international gateway markets.
Follow Chairman and CEO Monty
Bennett on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBennettAshford or
@MBennettAshford.
Certain statements and assumptions in this press release
contain or are based upon "forward-looking" information and are
being made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties. When we use the words "will likely result,"
"may," "anticipate," "estimate," "should," "expect," "believe,"
"intend," or similar expressions, we intend to identify
forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to
numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside
Ashford's control.
These forward-looking statements are subject to known and
unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results
to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without
limitation: general volatility of the capital markets and the
market price of our common stock; changes in our business or
investment strategy; availability, terms and deployment of capital;
availability of qualified personnel; changes in our industry and
the market in which we operate, interest rates or the general
economy; the degree and nature of our competition; the satisfaction
of the conditions to the completion of the spin-off; and the
estimated timing of completion. These and other risk factors
are more fully discussed in Ashford's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
The forward-looking statements included in this press release
are only made as of the date of this press release. Investors
should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements. We are not obligated to publicly update or revise
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or circumstances, changes in
expectations or otherwise.
SOURCE Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc.