Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE:PK) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Sean Dell’Orto: I think just from a disruption standpoint when you think about Casa and I’d say Orlando in the Bonnet Creek resort, we’ve outlined in our guidance in the earnings release about $15 million just specific to cost itself. We talked in the script about a few more million bucks that we think is disruptive to Orlando more so, not only we’re giving rebates to customers with the noise everything going on with doing the rooms but I think just business staying away. So, we think you can easily think that upwards of running up to $20 million or so of disruption in the portfolio as we kind of think about an add back for next year. I think clearly, we’ve got the backdrop again. I don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves and we got into the budgeting process, but we certainly have an expectation of driving those great renovations forward and realizing the returns we had on it.

But like I said, we probably would expect start seeing us ramp towards that double-digit growth on that investment we’ve made which we’ve outlined for folks on those assets.

Duane Pfennigwerth: Thanks. And not to ask another Hawaii question but my guess is you’re going to get more of them going forward. Can you just walk through the trends you’ve seen since the tragic wildfires in Maui? Do you think you picked up some benefits from Maui kind of book away? So was there a surge which is now settling down? Like how would you characterize booking patterns into fourth quarter and early next year?

Sean Dell’Orto: I wouldn’t say, we — trill in Hawaiian Village, I wouldn’t say we saw anything dramatic. I mean more so, because we couldn’t really take a dislocation. We were 97% occupied. So while there are a hundred groups looking for hundreds of rooms we supply what we could there. We did pick up a couple of groups that relocated from Maui to the Big Island, which helped for Q4 about $1 million for group. And I’d say it wouldn’t be dramatic across our two assets combined seeing that I think we continue to see just strong organic growth into those markets that I wouldn’t necessarily say, it’s because people are opting to go there besides Maui. And I think the other thing kind of talking about Hawaii is you go into next year too is while we don’t talk a lot about Hawaiian Village as a group box.

It’s about traditionally about 20% group. It’s about 40%, 45% up next year in pace. So again, another demand driver for that complex that we think certainly is another positive tailwind for next year. And I’d also say, we have parts of that towers that are from the timeshare business. And having that kind of the marketing channels that they come through and bring people in as well as the stickiness of their owners that come through and just another way, if we generate revenue demand into that complex.

Duane Pfennigwerth: Thanks, Sean.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question is coming from Dany Asad with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

Dany Asad: Hi. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Tom. So with San Francisco coming out of the portfolio now it just looks like we’re looking at a portfolio, it’s a lot more stabilized today. So, I don’t know how much color you can give yet but any early read on how much RevPAR growth we would need to get operating leverage on the core portfolio that’s kind of left in 2024?

Sean Dell’Orto: Yes. Dany again looking ahead we don’t want to get ourselves kind of speaking to any kind of guidance for next year at this point. We’re getting to the budgeting process. But I agree, you’re starting to see these things stabilize the expenses stabilize. If you look at the last couple of quarters, you’ve seen expenses that really have ranged in the 3% to 4% range year-over-year. So as that kind of really just works itself through, I think clearly you can kind of assume that we’re going to be working hard with our operators to make sure that we are getting that operating leverage. We are matching any potential growth the growth of any kind of needs on the cost side with rate as well as other revenue generation ideas to make sure that we’re continuing to kind of improve our margins.

I think we’ve done an incredible job. Our asset management team done an incredible job of holding the line, in terms of the positions, we’ve taken out we’ve talked about extensively. And I think, we certainly feel like, we’ve done a really good job of holding down that count still down 19% in staffing and realized, if you were to kind of hold flat 19% levels of wages. I think there’s about $150 million of savings when you look — and that compares against the $85 million we’ve discussed in the past. So again, there’s still some occupancy to get at with the portfolio and that will a little bit of cost that comes up. But I think, we’re in that zone where you’re north of 70% occupancy trying to get to 80%, and that’s I think a pretty profitable set of a pretty profitable range to be in when you start building an occupy back and just dealing with a little bit of variability in terms of the expense add.

So I think we feel pretty good. I mean, I think HHV talking about Hawaii again is a great case study where occupancy is certainly within the ZIP Code where to have 19% rates up well but it’s not above inflationary rates on selling our margin is up over 200 basis points. So I think again that speaks to the work that’s been done in the portfolio to manage the cost side.

Tom Baltimore: The other side of that Dany, I would add is, when you think about our growth profile another way to help mitigate obviously the impact of those rising expenses. And to Sean’s point I think we’ve done as well as anybody in the sector at keeping those costs down a lot of credit to our asset management team. But when you’ve got a backdrop of strong demand and growth in Hawaii looking out, New York City again up 30% and given some of the constraints down New York City again having the second best month in history there. And with the restrictions on, on short-term rentals with supply coming out New York looks very different. Chicago going to have a record year next year on the convention front. New Orleans having a near record year, Boston, San Diego, D.C. being strong.