Patrick Scholes: Okay, that does make sense. And then just last question on Maui, John, you probably saw there was some news about some increased regulations around Airbnb.
John Geller: Yes.
Patrick Scholes: Can I get your initial take on that? You know, could that really be a needle-mover for you folks? Certainly, regulations in New York City have really helped the hotel industry, but, you know, is this a non-event or could — again, could this be, you know, a potential needle-mover for legacy properties like yourselves?
John Geller: Yes. I think what you’re referring to is the governor signed some legislation that kind of gives the, I think, the power to the mayors of each island to potentially, and this is where we don’t really know yet exactly what the outcome could be or how it might impact us positively or negatively, but, you know, have greater decision-making around short-term rentals. So we’re obviously watching it. We’ll, one, make sure we understand exactly what’s in the legislation, how it could potentially impact us, but part of it will be actually what actually the mayors decide to do, right? So kind of early days. At this point, I don’t necessarily see anything, hopefully, that will impact us in the near term, but we’re going to keep an eye on it.
Patrick Scholes: Okay, thank you. I’m all set for the moment.
John Geller: Great.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Chris Woronka with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your question.
Chris Woronka: Hi, good morning, guys.
John Geller: Hi, Chris.
Chris Woronka: Hi, John. So you mentioned the new development you’re going to be doing in Thailand. I think you said it’s part of a JW complex that already exists. And so I’m curious, looking forward, are you seeing more opportunities to do things on sites of existing hotels, whether domestic or international? Because I think we’re starting to see transactional activity pick up a little bit in the States, so I’m curious whether that’s going to be an opportunity going forward.
John Geller: Yes, great question, Chris. The short answer is yes in both locations. We’ve always had more opportunity just given resort development, I’d say, in Asia-Pacific, right? More opportunities, more resorts still getting done over there, brand new construction. But we’ve got some opportunities we’re looking at here currently in the U.S. as well. So I would expect us to potentially do some more of those deals here in both locations as we go forward. But yes, the development is coming back. It’s just a little bit location by location. And yes, as you know, the co-located ones actually work well where we can leverage, you know, in-house across the co-located hotel. At the same time, we’ve got our units and leverage the amenities in the facility. So it’ll be a little bit facts and circumstances, but there are some good opportunities out there right now.
Chris Woronka: Okay, good to hear. Thanks, John. And the follow-up is on kind of the loan portfolio, but in a different direction, which is I’m curious what you’re seeing on, you know, current day originations. Is the propensity of finance or down payment or any of that on new loans changing at all, and would that affect your — you know, how you think about that going forward?
Jason Marino: Yes, Chris. This is Jason. We haven’t seen too much — you know, too many changes in sort of day one behavior. Propensity was down a little bit in the quarter, a couple of points, but Q1 is always seasonally our lowest propensity quarter just given the mix of buyers were 70% first-time buyers — sorry, 70% existing owners in Q1 this quarter. So that sometimes could just — goes with that mix as well, but nothing else really different.
Chris Woronka: Okay, very good. Thanks, guys.
John Geller: Thanks, Chris.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of David Katz with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.
David Katz: Hi. Good morning, everyone.
John Geller: Morning, David.
David Katz: Thanks for — morning. Thanks for taking all the — for all the commentary and taking my question. John, you made what seemed like maybe a passing comment about, you know, pricing and consumers’ behavior toward pricing. Could you just go back to that and elaborate a bit more on sort of how that’s showing up or, you know, what the sort of basis is, you know, for that? You know, hearing bits and pieces of it, you know, through earnings season in different ways and wanted to make sure we get yours right.
John Geller: Yes, sure. Yes. As you saw, even adjusted for Maui, our VPGs were down slightly in the first quarter. And I would argue, you know, if you go back to last year, we had a strong first quarter. So it was, you know, a tough comp. As we went through last year, we did see a little bit more normalization, for lack of a better description, of VPGs. And then things, you know, for the most part as we got through the third and fourth quarter, kind of stabilized, right? And so that’s where we see it, you know, at the end of the day, David, is a little bit in the VPGs. I would say, you know, the broader macro, while the overall economy still — you know, headlines are pretty good, as we’ve talked about, no different than we’ve seen on the loan portfolio, right?
Higher costs, you know, I think at some level and you see it in other businesses, right, there’s some stress on the consumer. I think the good news, as I also said in my prepared remarks, is people seem — you know, in terms of their wallet spend, they’re prioritizing experiences and vacations, right? And that’s what we’re seeing. Our on-the-books are up as — you know, and they were strong last year, right, going into the summer, and they’re up a bit, right? People are getting on vacation, people are spending. And so that’s a positive dynamic for us, the business we’re in and where people want to spend their money. And that is, as we’ve always talked about, a bit of the — kind of the post-COVID, right, people have kind of shifted to how they want to spend their disposable income and get on vacation.
So that’s a good tailwind for us.
David Katz: Understood. And one more, and if we’re, you know, triple-clicking on this, apologies, but the depreciation change that’s embedded in the guidance, could we just be clear about, right, it sort of changing the EPS guide but not the EBITDA? And I just wanted to make sure we totally understand that.
John Geller: Sure, David. At a high level, we changed some estimates versus our guidance in terms of the timing of depreciation just when some newer assets were, you know, going online, estimated useful lives of assets. So it’s not a cash flow impact by any means. It’s just the timing of some of the depreciation versus what we estimated, you know, at the beginning of the year from a guidance, just fine-tuning that a bit.
David Katz: Okay, fair enough. Thank you.
John Geller: All right. Thanks, David.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Shaun Kelley with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.
Shaun Kelley: Hi. Good morning, everyone.
John Geller: Morning, Shaun.
