Sourav Ghosh: We are constantly working with our managers to evaluate brand standards that are relevant. And frankly I would say Marriott and Hyatt both made meaningful changes into the brand — for the brand standards post pandemic really figuring out, which ones we should modify, which ones to eliminate, the ones which truly drive value to the guests. It’s always a continuing conversation and we believe as technologies evolve and we can leverage technologies, which not only help from a productivity standpoint, but also enhance customer experience, we will keep on doing proof of concepts and piloting those technologies to drive incremental value to the bottom line.
Meredith Jensen: That’s all. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question is coming from Tyler Batory with Oppenheimer. Your line is live.
Tyler Batory: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Few questions on the leisure and the resort commentary. Are you seeing any divergence within your portfolio between some of the higher rated resort properties and those that are a little bit lower or at the different price points? And then when you look at the holidays, talk about your book position I know it’s still a little early there. But curious what you’re seeing in terms of demand Thanksgiving and Christmas. And then the third part of this question you talked about transient resort rates still 56% above 2019. What guidepost or what expectations do you have for those rates in Q4 and going forward? Certainly commentary and expectation is that number should slow. But just trying to get a sense of best guess perhaps how much — where growth could end up going in the next couple of quarters here?
Jim Risoleo: Sure. Let me start with the last question that you asked with respect to leisure transient rates. We’re very happy that in the third quarter, our leisure transient rates were 56% above where they were in the third quarter of 2019. For reference that’s down about five percentage points from where we were in the second quarter. Second quarter we were 61% ahead. And the fact that the 56% number takes into account the three comparable resorts on Maui to the negative and it excludes our Ritz-Carlton Naples and our Hyatt Regency Coconut Point does give us a substantial level of comfort that our properties are going to continue to be able to charge a rate that customers are willing to pay just given the nature of the assets that we own.
So we’re not really seeing a divergence across the 16 resorts we have. They’re all very high quality properties. And we’re optimistic that as we get into the fourth quarter and as we get into next year, we’ll continue to be able to drive strong performance at all of these assets. I think the Ritz, Naples what we’re seeing with respect to booking pace across every room category at that property is very, very impressive and we’re very optimistic that we’re going to be able to outperform our underwriting expectations on the expansion of the Vanderbilt Tower. I think we underwrote a 12% cash-on-cash return on that investment and we’re going to do much better going forward. So, we are not seeing any signs of weakness as we move into the holiday season.
I would just caveat that by saying but for the unknown surrounding what’s going to happen in Maui this year.
Sourav Ghosh: And on the question of holidays and how things are pacing. You have to keep in mind Q4 holidays somewhat present a tough comp to last year because the last year was the first time the country was really open for broader travel during the holiday season. But that said, specifically for like a Christmas time right now and this is much more direction of what we have revenue on the books left Maui is effectively flat, which we think is very encouraging. And for Thanksgiving, it’s slightly off but you have to remember it’s that timing was a tough timing when you compare to last year. So, we were off less how Maui down about 6%, 7% in pace. But Christmas is effectively flat right now pacing flat in terms of revenue.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question is coming from Anthony Powell with Barclays. Your line is live.
Anthony Powell: Hi. Good morning. A question on one of your newer markets to Austin, Texas, RevPAR has been down over the past few quarters. Is that all technology business travel being down and just more broadly, I think there’s a Convention Center renovation there starting next year. Would it be disruptive? And how has your experience been in that market relative to kind of the more traditional coastal business urban markets?
Jim Risoleo: Anthony, I think that Austin, we have two properties in Austin. We have the hotel Van Zandt and we have the Hyatt Regency, Austin. Just to remind you the Hyatt Regency was the first asset that we purchased during the pandemic. I think it was the first hotel that was done during the pandemic. And that asset is doing actually quite well. Van Zandt is — and it’s growing quite well given the fact that we’re able to take in-house group given the lease base platform there as well as its location across the lake. Van Zandt is more of a leisure-driven property. And I don’t know if you’ve been to Austin recently but there is an incredible amount of construction around Van Zandt in that particular submarket the Rainy Street district and that has really impacted business at that property.
So for the long-term, I think it’s going to be great. Going forward, because it’s a myriad of new development is occurring there residential as well as office. But in the short-term it’s going to be challenging until we get the cranes out of there and the Street’s open up to business again. So — and tech has had a bit of an impact as well in the near term on that asset. So you’re absolutely right. With respect to plans for the Convention Center, Host as well as other hotel owners who have a presence in Austin have been meeting with the appropriate officials in Austin to talk about whether or not they’re going to go forward with a closure of the Convention Center or a staged renovation and expansion and also talking about ways that we can mitigate any impact that actions taken with the Convention Center can will have on business in the Austin market.
So we’re being proactive and doing everything that we can to mitigate any potential issues surrounding the Convention Center going forward.
Anthony Powell: Okay. Thank you for that.
Operator: Thank you. Our final question today will be coming from Chris Woronka with Deutsche Bank. Your line is live.
Chris Woronka: Hey. Good morning, guys.
Jim Risoleo: Good morning, Chris.
Chris Woronka: Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Talking about acquisitions Jim, I know you mentioned that there’s a big pipeline out there. We think there’s going to be stuff that might come available next year that’s related to debt refinancing. As you guys look at the potential pipeline, a lot of deals — a lot of the acquisitions you’ve done last couple of years have been one-off assets, bigger EBITDA assets. What’s your willingness to do either a portfolio type of deal or something where there’s a lot of CapEx involved upfront? Are you willing to do different kind of deals and kind of what you’ve done in the last few years?
Jim Risoleo: Chris, the short answer is, it really is transaction dependent. And if we see a portfolio that we believe is accretive to shareholder value. And if assets needed to be repositioned and they have CapEx needs and we can see our way clear to performance in the near term, we would do that. I mean, I think a great example of an asset that has performed extremely well for us, that needed to be repositioned is the Phoenician. And we bought that asset in 2015 and completely reimagined the property and invested, I think $120 million to reposition it including new amenities, a new spa, a new fitness center, a new lobby bar and complete renovation of all the guest rooms and the asset is doing exceptionally well. So, if I could find another Phoenician that is something that we would certainly be interested and excited about doing.
