Edgar Filing: Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

10-K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K


☑	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015


¨	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to .

Commission File Number 001-34571





PEBBLEBROOK HOTEL TRUST
	(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)



Maryland		27-1055421
(State of Incorporation or Organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

7315 Wisconsin Avenue, 1100 West Bethesda, Maryland		20814
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)		(Zip Code)

(240) 507-1300

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:



Title of Each Class		Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Common Shares of Beneficial Interest, $0.01 par value per share		New York Stock Exchange
7.875% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares of Beneficial Interest, $0.01 par value per share		New York Stock Exchange
8.00% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares of Beneficial Interest, $0.01 par value per share		New York Stock Exchange
6.50% Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares of Beneficial Interest, $0.01 par value per share		New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☑ Yes ¨ No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. ¨ Yes ☑ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☑ Yes ¨ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). ☑ Yes ¨ No

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):



Large accelerated filer	☑	Accelerated filer	¨

Non-accelerated filer	¨ (do not check if a smaller reporting company)	Smaller reporting company	¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). ¨ Yes ☑ No

The aggregate market value of the 70,695,631 common shares of beneficial interest of the registrant held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $3.0 billion based on the closing sale price on the New York Stock Exchange for such common shares of beneficial interest as of June 30, 2015.

The number of common shares of beneficial interest outstanding as of February 15, 2016 was 71,946,073.

_____________________________

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant's Definitive Proxy Statement for its 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on or before April 30, 2016) are incorporated by reference into this Annual Report of Form 10-K in response to Part III, Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14.

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust TABLE OF CONTENTS


Item No.		Page
Forward-Looking Statements		1
PART I
1.	Business	2
1A.	Risk Factors	5
1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	24
2.	Properties	24
3.	Legal Proceedings	28
4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	28
PART II
5.	Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	28
6.	Selected Financial Data	31
7.	Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	33
7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	46
8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	46
9.	Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	46
9A.	Controls and Procedures	46
9B.	Other Information	47
PART III
10.	Trustees, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	47
11.	Executive Compensation	47
12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters	47
13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Trustee Independence	47
14.	Principal Accountant Fees and Services	47
PART IV
15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	48

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report, together with other statements and information publicly disseminated by us, contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and include this statement for purposes of complying with these safe harbor provisions. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "potential", "could", "seek", "assume", "forecast", "believe", "expect", "intend", "anticipate", "estimate", "project" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this report include, among others, statements about our business strategy, including acquisition and development strategies, industry trends, estimated revenues and expenses, our ability to realize deferred tax assets and expected liquidity needs and sources (including capital expenditures and our ability to obtain financing or raise capital). You should not rely on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could materially affect actual results, performance or achievements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to:


•	risks associated with the hotel industry, including competition, increases in employment costs, energy costs and other operating costs, or decreases in demand caused by events beyond our control including, without limitation, actual or threatened terrorist attacks, cyber attacks, any type of flu or disease-related pandemic, or downturns in general and local economic conditions;


•	the availability and terms of financing and capital and the general volatility of securities markets;


•	our dependence on third-party managers of our hotels, including our inability to implement strategic business decisions directly;


•	risks associated with the global economy and real estate industry, including environmental contamination and costs of complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar laws;


•	interest rate increases;


•	our possible failure to qualify as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), and the risk of changes in laws affecting REITs;


•	the timing and availability of potential hotel acquisitions and our ability to identify and complete hotel acquisitions in accordance with our business strategy;


•	the possibility of uninsured losses;


•	risks associated with redevelopment and repositioning projects, including delays and cost overruns; and


•	the other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Accordingly, there is no assurance that our expectations will be realized. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligations or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

The "Company", "we" or "us" mean Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, a Maryland real estate investment trust, and one or more of its subsidiaries (including Pebblebrook Hotel, L.P., our operating partnership), or, as the context may require, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust only or Pebblebrook Hotel, L.P. only.

PART I

Item 1. Business.

General

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is an internally managed hotel investment company, organized in October 2009 to opportunistically acquire and invest in hotel properties located primarily in major U.S. cities, with an emphasis on the major gateway coastal markets. As of December 31, 2015, the Company owned interests in 37 hotels, including 31 wholly owned hotels with a total of 7,408 guest rooms and a 49% joint venture interest in 6 hotels with a total of 1,787 guest rooms (the "Manhattan Collection joint venture").

Substantially all of the Company’s assets are held by, and all of the operations are conducted through, Pebblebrook Hotel, L.P. (our “Operating Partnership”). The Company is the sole general partner of the Operating Partnership. At December 31, 2015, the Company owned 99.7% of the common limited partnership units issued by the Operating Partnership ("common units"). The remaining 0.3% of the common units are owned by the other limited partners of the Operating Partnership. For the Company to qualify as a REIT under the Code, it cannot operate the hotels it owns. Therefore, the Operating Partnership and its subsidiaries lease the hotel properties to subsidiaries of Pebblebrook Hotel Lessee, Inc. (collectively with its subsidiaries, “PHL”), the Company’s taxable REIT subsidiary (“TRS”), which in turn engages third-party eligible independent contractors to manage the hotels. PHL is consolidated into the Company’s financial statements.

Business Objectives and Strategies

Acquisitions/Investments

We invest in hotel properties located primarily in major U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Naples, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Santa Monica, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., with an emphasis on major gateway urban markets. We believe these markets have high barriers-to-entry and provide diverse sources of meeting and room night demand generators. In addition, we also opportunistically target investments in resort properties located near our primary urban target markets, as well as in select destination resort markets such as south Florida and southern California. We focus on both branded and independent full-service hotels in the “upper upscale” segment of the lodging industry. The full-service hotels on which we focus our investment activity generally have one or more restaurants, lounges, meeting facilities and other amenities, as well as high levels of customer service. We believe that our target markets, including the major gateway markets, are characterized by high barriers-to-entry and that room-night demand and average daily rate ("ADR") growth of these types of hotels will likely continue to outperform the national average, as they have in past cyclical recoveries and growth periods.

We perform and utilize extensive research to evaluate any target market and property, including a detailed review of the long-term economic outlook, trends in local demand generators, competitive environment, property systems and physical condition and property financial performance. Specific acquisition criteria may include, but are not limited to, the following:


•	premier locations, facilities and other competitive advantages not easily replicated;


•	high barriers-to-entry in the market, such as scarcity of development sites, regulatory hurdles, high per-room development costs and long lead times for new development;


•	acquisition prices at a discount to replacement cost;


•	properties not subject to long-term management contracts with hotel management companies;


•	potential return on investment initiatives, including redevelopment, rebranding, redesign, expansion and change of management;


•	opportunities to implement value-added operational improvements; and


•	strong demand growth characteristics supported by favorable demographic indicators.

We believe that upper-upscale, full-service hotels and resorts and upscale, select-service hotels located in major U.S. urban, convention and drive-to and destination resort markets are likely to generate the most favorable returns on investment in the lodging industry. Nationally, new hotel supply growth remains at historically low levels with demand growth continuing to exceed supply growth, causing industry occupancy levels to increase. However, supply growth has increased compared with

earlier in the economic cycle, particularly in certain of our markets, as construction financing has become more available and fundamentals continue to strengthen. This may impact the ability of our hotels to increase room rates if increases in room supply become more meaningful. We believe that portfolio diversification will allow us to capitalize from growth in various customer segments, including business transient, leisure transient and group and convention room-night demand, as well as mitigate the negative impact from increases in hotel room supply.

We generally seek to enter into flexible management contracts, when possible, with third-party hotel management companies for the operation of our hotels that provide us with the ability to replace operators and/or reposition properties, to the extent that we determine to do so and align our operators with our objective of maximizing our return on investment. In addition, we believe that flexible management contracts facilitate the sale of hotels, and we may seek to sell hotels opportunistically if we believe sales proceeds may be invested in other hotel properties that offer more attractive risk-adjusted returns.

We may engage in full or partial redevelopment, renovation and repositioning of certain properties, as we seek to maximize the financial performance of our hotels. In addition, we may acquire properties that require significant capital improvement, renovation or refurbishment. Over the long-term, we may acquire hotel and resort properties that we believe would benefit from significant redevelopment or expansion, including, for example, adding rooms, meeting facilities or other amenities.

We may consider acquiring outstanding debt secured by a hotel or resort property from lenders and investors if we believe we can foreclose on or acquire ownership of the property in the near-term. In connection with our acquisitions, generally we do not intend to originate any debt financing or purchase any debt where we do not expect to gain ownership of the underlying property. Additionally, we have co-invested, and may in the future co-invest, in hotels with third parties through partnerships, joint ventures or other entities, acquiring non-controlling interests in or sharing responsibility for a property, partnership, joint venture or other entity.

Asset Management

While we do not operate our hotel properties, both our asset management team and our executive management team monitor and work cooperatively with our hotel managers by advising and making recommendations in all aspects of our hotels' operations, including property positioning and repositioning, revenue and expense management, operations analysis, physical design, renovation and capital improvements, guest experience and overall strategic direction. We believe we can add significant value to our portfolio through our intensive asset management strategies. Our executives and asset management team have significant experience in hotel operations and creating and implementing innovative asset management initiatives.

We have developed strategic short- and long-term capital investment plans to enhance our hotels' profitability through the strategic use of, among others, expansions, additions, renovations, technology upgrades and modifications, and energy efficiency improvements. We are also focused on revenue and expense management at our properties. We work closely with our hotel operators to evaluate optimal market mix and pricing strategies, ensure quality staffing and appropriate management focus, implement best practices to minimize expenses and aggressively monitor and evaluate our hotels' operations and performance.

Financing Strategies

Over time, we intend to finance our long-term growth with issuances of common and preferred equity securities and debt financings having staggered maturities. Our debt includes a senior unsecured credit facility, term loans, unsecured notes, mortgage debt secured by our hotel properties or our leasehold interests on our hotel properties subject to ground leases and may include other unsecured debt in the future.

We anticipate using our senior unsecured revolving credit facility, term loans, senior unsecured notes, common and preferred equity issuances, and mortgage debt financings to fund future acquisitions as well as for property redevelopments, return on investment initiatives and working capital requirements. Subject to market conditions, we intend to repay amounts outstanding under our senior unsecured revolving credit facility from time to time with proceeds from periodic common and preferred equity issuances, long-term debt financings, cash flows from operations and opportunistic or strategic dispositions.

When purchasing hotel properties, we may issue limited partnership interests in our Operating Partnership as full or partial consideration to sellers who may desire to take advantage of tax deferral on the sale of a hotel or participate in the potential appreciation in value of our common shares. To date, we have not issued any limited partnership interests in our Operating Partnership to purchase hotel properties.

Competition

We compete for hotel investment opportunities with institutional investors, private equity investors, other REITs and numerous local, regional and national owners, including franchisors, in each of our target markets. Some of these entities have substantially greater financial resources than we do and may be able and willing to accept more risk than we can prudently manage. Competition generally may increase the bargaining power of property owners seeking to sell and reduce the number of suitable investment opportunities offered to us or purchased by us.

The hotel industry is highly competitive. Our hotels compete with other hotels, and alternative lodging marketplaces, for guests in our markets. Competitive factors include, among others, location, convenience, brand affiliation, room rates, range of services, facilities and guest amenities or accommodations offered and quality of guest service. Competition in the markets in which our hotels operate includes competition from existing, newly renovated and newly developed hotels in the relevant segments. Competition can adversely affect the occupancy, ADR and room revenue per available room ("RevPAR") of our hotels, and thus our financial results, and may require us to provide additional amenities, incur additional costs or make capital improvements that we otherwise might not choose to make, which may adversely affect our profitability.

Seasonality

Demand in the lodging industry is affected by recurring seasonal patterns which are greatly influenced by overall economic cycles, geographic locations, weather and the customer mix at the hotels. Generally, our hotels have lower revenue, operating income and cash flow in the first quarter and higher revenue, operating income and cash flow in the third quarter.

Regulations

Our hotel properties are subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws. Under these laws, courts and government agencies have the authority to require us, as owner of a contaminated property, to clean up the property, even if we did not know of or were not responsible for the contamination. These laws also apply to persons who owned a property at the time it became contaminated, and therefore it is possible we could incur these costs even after we sell a property. In addition to the costs of cleanup, environmental contamination can affect the value of a property and, therefore, an owner's ability to borrow using the property as collateral or to sell the property. Under the environmental laws, courts and government agencies also have the authority to require that a person who sent waste to a waste disposal facility, such as a landfill or an incinerator, pay for the clean-up of that facility if it becomes contaminated and threatens human health or the environment.

Furthermore, various court decisions have established that third parties may recover damages for injury caused by property contamination. For instance, a person exposed to asbestos while staying in a hotel may seek to recover damages if he or she suffers injury from the asbestos. Lastly, some of these environmental laws restrict the use of a property or place conditions on various activities. An example would be laws that require a business using chemicals (such as swimming pool chemicals at a hotel property) to manage them carefully and to notify local officials that the chemicals are being used.

We could be responsible for any of the costs discussed above. The costs to clean up a contaminated property, to defend against a claim, or to comply with environmental laws could be material and could adversely affect the funds available for distribution to our shareholders. Prior to closing a property acquisition, we obtain Phase I environmental site assessments, or ESAs, in order to attempt to identify potential environmental concerns at the properties. These assessments are carried out in accordance with an appropriate level of due diligence and generally include a physical site inspection, a review of relevant federal, state and local environmental and health agency database records, one or more interviews with appropriate site-related personnel, review of the property's chain of title and review of historic aerial photographs and other information on past uses of the property. We may also conduct limited subsurface investigations and test for substances of concern where the results of the Phase I ESAs or other information indicates possible contamination or where our consultants recommend such procedures. However, these Phase I ESAs or other investigations may not reveal all environmental costs that might have a material adverse effect on our business, assets, results of operations or liquidity and may not identify all potential environmental liabilities.

We believe that our hotels are in compliance, in all material respects, with all federal, state and local environmental ordinances and regulations regarding hazardous or toxic substances and other environmental matters, the violation of which could have a material adverse effect on us. We have not received written notice from any governmental authority of any material noncompliance, liability or claim relating to hazardous or toxic substances or other environmental matters in connection with any of our properties.

Our properties must comply with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (the "ADA") to the extent that such properties are “public accommodations” as defined by the ADA. The ADA may require removal of structural barriers to access by persons with disabilities in certain public areas of our properties where such removal is readily achievable. We believe that our properties are in substantial compliance with the ADA and that we will not be required to make substantial capital expenditures to address the requirements of the ADA. However, noncompliance with the ADA could result in litigation, retrofit costs and imposition of fines or an award of damages to private litigants. Additionally, properties which we may acquire may not be in compliance with the requirements of the ADA, and we endeavor to identify such noncompliance prior to our acquisition. The obligation to make readily achievable accommodations is an ongoing one, and we will continue to assess our properties and to make alterations as appropriate in this respect.

Tax Status

We have elected to be taxed as a REIT under Sections 856 through 860 of the Code. As a result, we generally are not subject to corporate federal income tax on that portion of our REIT taxable income that we currently distribute to our shareholders. A REIT is subject to numerous organizational and operational requirements, including requirements concerning the nature of our gross income and assets and specifying generally that we must distribute at least 90 percent of our REIT taxable income each year. We will be subject to federal income tax on our taxable income at regular corporate rates if we fail to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes in any taxable year, or to the extent we distribute less than 100 percent of our REIT taxable income. We will also not be permitted to qualify for treatment as a REIT for federal income tax purposes for four years following the year during which qualification is lost. Even if we continue to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we will be subject to certain state and local income, franchise and property taxes.

For us to qualify as a REIT under the Code, we cannot operate the hotels we own and acquire. Therefore, our Operating Partnership and its subsidiaries lease our hotel properties to our TRS lessees who in turn engage third-party eligible independent contractors to manage our hotels. The properties owned by the Manhattan Collection joint venture are leased to a lessee joint venture in which a wholly owned subsidiary of PHL owns a 49% interest. PHL is treated as a TRS for federal income tax purposes. The earnings of PHL are subject to taxation like other regular C corporations.

Employees

We currently employ 27 full-time employees. None of our employees is a member of a union; however, some employees of the hotel managers at several of our hotels are currently represented by labor unions and are subject to collective bargaining agreements.

Available Information

Our Internet website is located at www.pebblebrookhotels.com. Copies of the charters of the committees of our board of trustees, our code of business conduct and ethics and our corporate governance guidelines are available on our website. All reports that we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") including this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our current reports on Form 8-K, can be obtained free of charge from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or through our website. In addition, all reports filed with the SEC may be read and copied at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549-1090. Further information regarding the operation of the public reference room may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

The following discussion concerns some of the risks associated with our business and should be considered carefully. These risks are interrelated and you should treat them as a whole. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us may also materially and adversely affect our business operations, the value of our shares and our ability to pay dividends to our shareholders. In connection with the forward-looking statements that appear in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, in these risk factors and elsewhere, you should carefully review the section entitled “Forward-Looking Statements.”

Risks Related to Our Business and Properties

We depend on the efforts and expertise of our executive officers and would be adversely affected by the loss of their services.

We depend on the efforts and expertise of our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as our other executive officers, to execute our business strategy. The loss of their services, and our inability to quickly identify and hire

suitable replacements, could have an adverse effect on our business activities, including, without limitation, relationships with shareholders, lenders, management companies, joint venture partners and other industry personnel.

Our returns could be negatively impacted if the third-party management companies that operate our hotels do not manage our hotel properties effectively.

Because federal income tax laws restrict REITs and their subsidiaries from operating or managing a hotel, we do not operate or manage any of our hotel properties. Instead, we lease all of our hotel properties to subsidiaries that qualify as TRSs, under applicable REIT laws, and our TRS lessees retain third-party managers to operate our hotels pursuant to management contracts. Our cash flow from the hotels may be adversely affected if our managers fail to provide quality services and amenities or if they or their affiliates fail to maintain a quality brand name. In addition, our managers or their affiliates may manage, and in some cases may own, invest in or provide credit support or operating guarantees, to hotels that compete with hotel properties that we own or acquire, which may result in conflicts of interest and decisions regarding the operation of our hotels that are not in our best interests.

We do not have the authority to require any hotel property to be operated in a particular manner or to govern any particular aspect of the daily operations of any hotel property (for example, setting room rates). Thus, even if we believe our hotels are being operated inefficiently or in a manner that does not result in satisfactory occupancy rates, RevPAR and ADR, we cannot force the management company to change its method of operating our hotels. We generally will attempt to resolve issues with our managers through discussions and negotiations. However, if we are unable to reach satisfactory results through discussions and negotiations, we may choose to litigate the dispute or submit the matter to third-party dispute resolution. We can only seek redress if a management company violates the terms of the applicable management contract with a TRS lessee, and then only to the extent of the remedies provided for under the terms of the management contract. Additionally, in the event that we need to replace any management company, we may be required by the terms of the management contract to pay substantial termination fees and may experience significant disruptions at the affected hotels.

Our TRS lessee structure subjects us to the risk of increased hotel operating expenses.

Our leases with our TRS lessees require our TRS lessees to pay rent based in part on revenues from our hotels. Our operating risks include decreases in hotel revenues and increases in hotel operating expenses, which would adversely affect our TRS lessees' ability to pay rent due under the leases, including but not limited to increases in: wage and benefit costs, which may include an increase in minimum wages and health benefit costs; repair and maintenance expenses; property taxes; insurance costs; and other operating expenses. Increases in these operating expenses can have a significant adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Our ability to make distributions to our shareholders is subject to fluctuations in our financial performance, operating results and capital improvements requirements.

To qualify for taxation as a REIT, we are required to distribute at least 90 percent of our REIT taxable income (determined before the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gains) each year to our shareholders and we generally expect to make distributions in excess of such amount. In the event of downturns in our operating results, unanticipated capital improvements to our hotel properties or other factors, we may be unable to declare or pay distributions to our shareholders. The timing and amount of distributions are in the sole discretion of our board of trustees which will consider, among other factors, our financial performance, any debt service obligations, any debt covenants and capital expenditure requirements. We cannot assure you that we will generate sufficient cash in order to fund distributions.

We invest primarily in the upper-upscale segment of the lodging market, which is highly competitive and generally subject to greater volatility than most other market segments and could negatively affect our profitability.

The upper-upscale segment of the hotel business is highly competitive. Our hotel properties compete on the basis of location, room rates, quality, service levels, reputation and reservations systems, among many factors. There are many competitors in the upper-upscale segment, and many of these competitors may have substantially greater marketing and financial resources than we have. This competition could reduce occupancy levels and RevPAR at our hotels. In addition, in periods of weak demand, as may occur during a general economic recession, profitability is adversely affected by the relatively high fixed costs of operating upper-upscale hotels.

Restrictive covenants in our management contracts could preclude us from taking actions with respect to the sale or refinancing of a hotel property that would otherwise be in our best interest.

We may enter into management contracts that contain some restrictive covenants or acquire properties subject to existing management contracts that do not allow the flexibility we seek, including management contracts that restrict our ability to

terminate the contract or require us to pay significant termination fees. For example, the terms of some management contracts may restrict our ability to sell a property unless the purchaser is not a competitor of the manager and assumes the related management contract and meets specified other conditions which may preclude us from taking actions that would otherwise be in our best interest or could cause us to incur substantial expense.

Due to our concentration in hotel investments primarily in major gateway urban markets, a downturn in the lodging industry generally or a regional downturn in the markets in which we operate would adversely affect our operations and financial condition.

Our primary business is hotel-related. Therefore, a downturn in the lodging industry, in general, and the segments and markets (especially West Coast major gateway metropolitan markets) in which we operate, in particular, would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Our joint venture investment and other joint venture investments that we may make in the future could be adversely affected by our lack of sole decision-making authority, our reliance on our co-venturers' financial condition and disputes between us and our co-venturers.

We own an interest in a joint venture that owns six hotels in Manhattan. We share major decisions with our joint venture partner with respect to the joint venture and its hotels. The debt of the joint venture, while non-recourse to us, is secured by first mortgages on the hotels owned by the joint venture and any default on such debt could adversely affect our equity investment in the joint venture. In addition, in order to maintain our ownership interest, we may need to invest additional equity into the joint venture in connection with any refinancing of such debt, which would reduce the amount we have available to invest in additional acquisitions or capital improvements to our existing hotels.

We may co-invest in hotels in the future with third parties through partnerships, joint ventures or other entities, acquiring non-controlling interests in or sharing responsibility for a property, partnership, joint venture or other entity. In this event, we would not be in a position to exercise sole decision-making authority regarding the property, partnership, joint venture or other entity. Investments through partnerships, joint ventures, or other entities may, under certain circumstances, involve risks not present were a third party not involved, including the possibility that partners or co-venturers might become bankrupt, fail to fund their share of required capital contributions, make dubious business decisions or block or delay necessary decisions. Partners or co-venturers may have economic or other business interests or goals which are inconsistent with our business interests or goals, and may be in a position to take actions contrary to our policies or objectives. Such investments may also have the potential risk of impasses on decisions, such as a sale, because neither we nor the partner or co-venturer would have full control over the partnership or joint venture. Disputes between us and partners or co-venturers may result in litigation or arbitration that would increase our expenses and prevent our officers and/or trustees from focusing their time and effort on our business. Consequently, action by, or disputes with, partners or co-venturers might result in subjecting properties owned by the partnership or joint venture to additional risk. In addition, we may in certain circumstances be liable for the actions of our third-party partners or co-venturers.

Our hotels operated under franchise agreements are subject to risks arising from adverse developments with respect to the franchise brand and to costs associated with maintaining the franchise license.

Certain of our hotel properties operate under franchise agreements and we anticipate that some of the hotels we acquire in the future will operate under franchise agreements. We are therefore subject to the risks associated with concentrating hotel investments in several franchise brands, including reductions in business following negative publicity related to one of the brands or the general decline of a brand.

Maintenance of franchise licenses for branded hotel properties is subject to franchisors' operating standards and other terms and conditions including the requirement to make certain capital improvements. Franchisors periodically inspect hotel properties to ensure that we and our lessees and management companies follow their standards. Failure by us, one of our TRS lessees or one of our third-party management companies to maintain these standards or other terms and conditions could result in a franchise license being canceled. If a franchise license is canceled due to our failure to make required improvements or to otherwise comply with its terms, we also may be liable to the franchisor for a termination payment, which varies by franchisor and by hotel property.

The loss of a franchise license could materially and adversely affect the operations and the underlying value of the hotel property because of the loss of associated name recognition, marketing support and centralized reservation system provided by the franchisor and adversely affect our revenues, financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Debt service obligations could adversely affect our overall operating results, may require us to sell hotel properties, may jeopardize our qualification as a REIT and could adversely affect our ability to make distributions to our shareholders and the market price of our common shares.

Our business strategy includes the use of both secured and unsecured debt to finance long-term growth. Incurring debt subjects us to many risks, including the risks that our cash flow from operations will be insufficient to make required payments of principal and interest, our debt may increase our vulnerability to adverse economic and industry conditions, we may be required to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our debt, and the terms of any refinancing will not be as favorable as the terms of the debt being refinanced.

We have placed and will continue to place mortgages on certain of our hotel properties to secure debt. To the extent we cannot meet any of our debt service obligations, we may be required to sell or we will risk losing to foreclosure some or all of our mortgaged hotel properties. If we are required to sell one or more of our hotel properties to meet debt service obligations, we may have to accept unfavorable terms. Also, covenants applicable to debt could impair our planned investment strategy and, if violated, result in a default. If we violate covenants relating to indebtedness, we could be required to repay all or a portion of our indebtedness before maturity at a time when we might be unable to arrange financing for such repayment on attractive terms, if at all. In addition, future indebtedness agreements may require that we meet certain covenant tests in order to make distributions to our shareholders.

Higher interest rates could increase debt service requirements on any of our floating rate debt, including our senior unsecured revolving credit facility, and could reduce the amounts available for distribution to our shareholders, as well as reduce funds available for our operations, future business opportunities or other purposes. We have obtained, and we may in the future obtain, one or more forms of interest rate protection - in the form of swap agreements, interest rate cap contracts or similar agreements that are consistent with our intention to remain qualified as a REIT - to “hedge” against the possible negative effects of interest rate fluctuations. However, such hedging incurs costs and we cannot assure you that any hedging will adequately relieve the adverse effects of interest rate increases or that counterparties under these agreements will honor their obligations thereunder. Adverse economic conditions could also cause the terms on which we borrow to be unfavorable.

Our senior executive officers have broad discretion to make investments, and they may make investments where the returns are substantially below expectations or which result in net operating losses.

Our senior executive officers have broad discretion, within the general investment criteria established by our board of trustees, to invest our capital and to determine the timing of such investments. In addition, our investment policies may be revised from time to time at the discretion of our board of trustees, without a vote of our shareholders. Such discretion could result in investments that may not yield returns consistent with expectations.

The purchase of properties we put under contract may not be consummated.

From time to time, we enter into purchase and sale agreements for hotel properties. These transactions, whether or not consummated, require substantial time and attention from management. Furthermore, potential acquisitions require significant expense, including expenses for due diligence, legal fees and related overhead. To the extent we do not consummate one or more of the transactions and fail to acquire any or all of these hotels, these expenses will not be offset by revenues from these properties.

We may use a portion of the net proceeds from our public offerings to make distributions to our shareholders, which would, among other things, reduce our cash available to invest in hotel properties and may reduce the returns on your investment in our common shares.

Prior to the time we have fully invested the net proceeds of our public offerings, we may fund distributions to our shareholders out of the net proceeds of these offerings, which would reduce the amount of cash we have available to invest in hotel properties and may reduce the returns on your investment in our common shares. The use of these net proceeds for distributions to shareholders could adversely affect our financial results. In addition, funding distributions from the net proceeds of these offerings may constitute a return of capital to our shareholders, which would have the effect of reducing each shareholder's tax basis in our common shares.

If we cannot obtain financing, our growth will be limited.

To qualify for taxation as a REIT, we are required to distribute at least 90 percent of our REIT taxable income (determined before the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gains) each year to our shareholders and we generally expect to make distributions in excess of such amount. As a result, our ability to retain earnings to fund acquisitions, redevelopment and development or other capital expenditures is and will continue to be limited. Although our business strategy contemplates future access to debt financing (in addition to our senior unsecured revolving credit facility) to fund acquisitions, redevelopment, development, return on investment initiatives and working capital requirements, there can be no assurance that

we will be able to obtain such financing on favorable terms or at all. Events in the financial markets have adversely impacted the credit markets, and they may do so in the future, and, as a result, credit can become significantly more expensive and difficult to obtain, if available at all. Tightening credit markets may have an adverse effect on our ability to obtain financing on favorable terms, if at all, thereby increasing financing costs and/or requiring us to accept financing with increased restrictions and/or significantly higher interest rates. If adverse conditions in the credit markets-in particular with respect to real estate or lodging industry finance-materially deteriorate, our business could be materially and adversely affected. Our long-term ability to grow through investments in hotel properties will be limited if we cannot obtain additional financing.

Our cash and cash equivalents are maintained in a limited number of financial institutions and the funds in those institutions may not be fully or federally insured.

We maintain cash balances in a limited number of financial institutions. Our cash balances are generally in excess of federally insured limits. The failure or collapse of one or more of these financial institutions may materially adversely affect our ability to recover our cash balances.

Our conflicts of interest policy may not adequately address all of the conflicts of interest that may arise with respect to our activities.

In order to avoid any actual or perceived conflicts of interest with our trustees, officers or employees, we have adopted a conflicts of interest policy to specifically address some of the conflicts relating to our activities. Although under this policy any transaction, agreement or relationship in which any of our trustees, officers or employees has an interest must have the approval of a majority of our disinterested trustees, there is no assurance that this policy will be adequate to address all of the conflicts that may arise or will address such conflicts in a manner that is favorable to us.

Risks Related to Debt and Financing

Our existing indebtedness contains financial covenants that could limit our operations and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

The credit agreement that governs our existing senior unsecured revolving credit facility and unsecured term loan facility contains financial and operating covenants, such as net worth requirements, fixed charge coverage, debt ratios and other limitations that restrict our ability to make distributions or other payments to our stockholders, sell all or substantially all of our assets and engage in mergers, consolidations and certain acquisitions without the consent of the lenders. In addition, our existing property-level debt contains restrictions (including cash management provisions) that may under circumstances specified in the loan agreements prohibit our subsidiaries that own our hotels from making distributions or paying dividends, repaying loans to us or other subsidiaries or transferring any of their assets to us or another subsidiary which could adversely affect our ability to make distributions to our shareholders. Failure to meet our financial covenants could result from, among other things, changes in our results of operations, the incurrence of additional debt or changes in general economic conditions. This could cause one or more of our lenders to accelerate the timing of payments and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders. The terms of our debt may restrict our ability to engage in transactions that we believe would otherwise be in the best interests of our shareholders.

Many of our existing mortgage debt agreements contain “cash trap” provisions that could limit our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Many of our loan agreements contain cash trap provisions that may be triggered if the performance of the hotels securing the loans declines below a threshold. If these provisions are triggered, substantially all of the profit generated by the hotel will be deposited directly into a lockbox account and then swept into a cash management account for the benefit of the lender. In that event, cash would be distributed to us only after certain items are paid, including deposits into leasing and maintenance reserves and the payment of debt service, insurance, taxes, operating expenses and extraordinary capital expenditures and leasing expenses. This could adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

There is refinancing risk associated with our debt.

Our typical debt contains limited principal amortization; therefore, the vast majority of the principal must be repaid at the maturity of the loan in a so-called “balloon payment.” At the maturity of these loans, assuming we do not have sufficient funds to repay the debt, we will need to refinance this debt. If the credit environment is constrained at the time of our debt maturities, we would have a very difficult time refinancing debt or refinancing terms may be at substantially higher interest rates and or lower proceeds. If we are unable to refinance our debt on acceptable terms, we may be forced to choose from a number of unfavorable options. These options include agreeing to otherwise unfavorable financing terms on one or more of our unencumbered assets, selling one or more hotels at disadvantageous terms, including unattractive prices, or defaulting on the

mortgage and permitting the lender to foreclose. Any one of these options could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

If we default on our secured debt in the future, the lenders may foreclose on our hotels.

All of our indebtedness for borrowed money, except our senior unsecured revolving credit facility and term loans, is secured by either single property first mortgage liens or leasehold interests under the ground leases on the applicable hotel. If we default on any of the secured loans, the applicable lender will be able to foreclose on the property pledged to secure the loan.

In addition to causing us to lose the property, a foreclosure may result in taxable income. Under the Code, a foreclosure would be treated as a sale of the property for a purchase price equal to the outstanding balance of the debt secured by the mortgage. If the outstanding balance of the debt secured by the mortgage exceeds our tax basis in the property, we would recognize taxable income on foreclosure even though we did not receive any cash proceeds. As a result, we may then be required to identify and utilize other sources of cash for distributions to our shareholders. If this occurs, our financial condition, cash flow and ability to satisfy our other debt obligations or ability to pay distributions may be adversely affected.

Acquiring outstanding debt secured by a hotel or resort property may expose us to risks of costs and delays in acquiring the underlying property.

We may acquire outstanding debt secured by a hotel or resort property from lenders and investors if we believe we can ultimately foreclose or otherwise acquire ownership of the underlying property in the near-term through foreclosure, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or other means. However, if we do acquire such debt, borrowers may seek to assert various defenses to our foreclosure or other actions and we may not be successful in acquiring the underlying property on a timely basis, or at all, in which event we could incur significant costs and experience significant delays in acquiring such properties, all of which could adversely affect our financial performance and reduce our expected returns from such investments. In addition, we may not earn a current return on such investments particularly if the loan that we acquire is in default.

Risks Related to the Lodging Industry

Current economic conditions may reduce demand for hotel properties and adversely affect hotel profitability.

The performance of the lodging industry has historically been closely linked to the performance of the general economy and, specifically, growth in U.S. GDP. It is also sensitive to business and personal discretionary spending levels. Declines in corporate travel budgets and consumer demand due to adverse general economic conditions, such as declines in U.S. GDP, risks affecting or reducing travel patterns, lower consumer confidence or adverse political conditions can lower the revenues and profitability of hotel properties and therefore the net operating profits of our TRS lessees to whom we lease our hotel properties. Another global economic downturn may lead to a significant decline in demand for products and services provided by the lodging industry, lower occupancy levels and significantly reduced room rates.

We cannot predict the pace or duration of the global economic cycles or the cycles in the lodging industry. A period of economic weakness would likely have an adverse impact on our revenues and negatively affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Our operating results and ability to make distributions to our shareholders may be adversely affected by various operating risks common to the lodging industry.

Our hotel properties have different economic characteristics than many other real estate assets and a hotel REIT is structured differently than many other types of REITs. Our TRS lessees engage hotel managers pursuant to management contracts and pay the managers fees for managing the hotels. The TRS lessees receive all the operating profit or losses of the hotels. Moreover, virtually all hotel guests stay at a hotel for only a few nights at a time, so the rate and occupancy at each of our hotels changes every day. As a result, we may have highly volatile earnings.

In addition, our hotel properties are subject to various operating risks common to the lodging industry, many of which are beyond our control, including the following:


•	competition from other hotel properties and non-hotel properties that provide nightly and short-term rentals in our markets;


•	over-building of hotels in our markets, which could adversely affect occupancy and revenues at our hotel properties;


•	dependence on business and commercial travelers and tourism;


•	increases in energy costs, government taxes and fees, and other expenses affecting travel, which may affect travel patterns and reduce the number of business and commercial travelers and tourists;


•	increases in operating costs due to inflation and other factors that may not be offset by increased room rates;


•	changes in interest rates and in the availability, cost and terms of debt financing;


•	changes in governmental laws and regulations, fiscal policies and zoning ordinances and the related costs of compliance with laws and regulations, fiscal policies and ordinances;


•	adverse effects of international, national, regional and local economic and market conditions;

•

unforeseen events beyond our control, such as terrorist attacks, cyber attacks, travel related health concerns including pandemics and epidemics such as H1N1 influenza (swine flu), avian bird flu and SARS, political instability, regional hostilities, imposition of taxes or surcharges by regulatory authorities, travel related accidents and unusual weather patterns, including natural disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis or earthquakes;


•	adverse effects of a downturn in the lodging industry; and


•	risks generally associated with the ownership of hotel properties and real estate, as we discuss in more detail below.

These factors could reduce the revenues and net operating profits of our TRS lessees, which in turn could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares, and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Competition for acquisitions may reduce the number of properties we can acquire.

We compete for investment opportunities with entities that may have substantially greater financial and other resources than we have. These entities generally may be able to accept more risk than we can prudently manage. This competition may generally limit the number of suitable investment opportunities offered to us or the number of properties that we are able to acquire. This competition may also increase the bargaining power of property owners seeking to sell to us, making it more difficult for us to acquire new properties on attractive terms.

The seasonality of the lodging industry may cause fluctuations in our quarterly revenues that cause us to borrow money to fund distributions to our shareholders.

The lodging industry is seasonal in nature. This seasonality can be expected to cause quarterly fluctuations in our revenues. Our quarterly earnings may be adversely affected by factors outside our control, including weather conditions and poor economic factors. As a result, we may have to enter into short-term borrowings in certain quarters in order to offset these fluctuations in revenues and to make distributions to our shareholders.

The cyclical nature of the lodging industry may cause the returns from our investments to be less than we expect.

The lodging industry is highly cyclical in nature. Fluctuations in lodging demand and, therefore, hotel operating performance, are caused largely by general economic and local market conditions, which subsequently affect levels of business and leisure travel. In addition to general economic conditions, new hotel room supply is an important factor that can affect lodging industry fundamentals, and over-building has the potential to exacerbate the negative impact of poor economic conditions. Room rates and occupancy, and thus RevPAR, tend to increase when demand growth exceeds supply growth. A decline in lodging demand, or a continued growth in lodging supply, could result in continued deterioration in lodging industry fundamentals and returns that are substantially below expectations, or result in losses, which could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Capital expenditure requirements at our properties may be costly and require us to incur debt, postpone improvements, reduce distributions or otherwise adversely affect the results of our operations and the market price of our common shares.

Some of the hotel properties we acquire need renovations and capital improvements at the time of acquisition and all the hotel properties we have acquired and will acquire in the future will have an ongoing need for renovations and other capital improvements, including replacement, from time to time, of furniture, fixtures and equipment. The franchisors, if any, of our hotel properties also require periodic capital improvements as a condition to our maintaining the franchise licenses. In addition, our lenders often require that we set aside annual amounts for capital improvements to our hotel properties. These capital improvements may give rise to the following risks:


•	possible environmental problems;


•	construction cost overruns and delays;


•	the possibility that revenues will be reduced while rooms or restaurants are out of service due to capital improvement projects;


•	a possible shortage of available cash to fund capital improvements and the related possibility that financing for these capital improvements may not be available to us on attractive terms; and


•	uncertainties as to market demand or a loss of market demand after capital improvements have begun.

The costs of renovations and capital improvements could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Hotel and resort development and redevelopment is subject to timing, budgeting and other risks that may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

We may engage in hotel development and redevelopment if suitable opportunities arise. Hotel development and redevelopment involves a number of risks, including risks associated with:


•	construction delays or cost overruns that may increase project costs;


•	the receipt of zoning, occupancy and other required governmental permits and authorizations;


•	development costs incurred for projects that are not pursued to completion;


•	acts of God such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods or fires that could adversely impact a project;


•	the negative impact of construction on operating performance during and soon after the construction period;


•	the ability to raise capital; and


•	governmental restrictions on the nature or size of a project.

We cannot assure you that any development or redevelopment project will be completed on time or within budget. Our inability to complete a project on time or within budget could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

The increasing use by consumers of Internet travel intermediaries and alternative lodging marketplaces may reduce our revenues.

Some of our hotel rooms are booked through Internet travel intermediaries, such as Travelocity.com, Expedia.com and Priceline.com. As bookings through these intermediaries increase, these intermediaries may be able to obtain higher commissions, reduced room rates or other significant contract concessions from the management companies that operate the hotels we own and acquire. Moreover, some of these Internet travel intermediaries are attempting to offer hotel rooms as a commodity, by increasing the importance of price and general indicators of quality (such as “three-star downtown hotel”), at the expense of brand identification or quality of product or service. These intermediaries hope that consumers will eventually develop brand loyalties to their reservations system rather than to lodging brands or properties. Additional sources of competition, such as alternative lodging marketplaces like Airbnb, may, as they become more accepted, lead to a reduced demand for conventional hotel guest rooms and to an increased supply of lodging alternatives. If the amount of bookings made through Internet travel intermediaries or the use of alternative lodging marketplaces prove to be more significant than we expect, profitability may be lower than expected, and our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders may be adversely affected.

We may be adversely affected by increased use of business-related technology which may reduce the need for business-related travel.

The increased use of teleconference and video-conference technology by businesses could result in decreased business travel as companies increase the use of technologies that allow multiple parties from different locations to participate at meetings without traveling to a centralized meeting location. To the extent that such technologies play an increased role in day-to-day business and the necessity for business-related travel decreases, hotel room demand may decrease and our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders may be adversely affected.

We and our hotel managers rely on information technology in our operations, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security failure of that technology could harm our business.

We and our hotel managers rely on information technology networks and systems, including the Internet, to process, transmit and store electronic information, and to manage or support a variety of business processes, including financial transactions and records, personal identifying information, reservations, billing and operating data. We purchase some of our information technology from vendors, on whom our systems depend. We rely on commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmission and storage of confidential customer information, such as individually identifiable information, including information relating to financial accounts. Recently, a number of hotels and hotel management companies have been subject to successful cyber attacks, including those seeking guest credit card information. Although we have taken steps to protect the security of our information systems and the data maintained in those systems, it is possible that our safety and security measures will not be able to prevent the systems' improper functioning or damage, or the improper access or disclosure of personally identifiable information such as in the event of cyber attacks. Security breaches, including physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses, attacks by hackers and similar breaches, can create system disruptions, shutdowns or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information or theft of corporate funds and expose us to claims by guests whose personal information is accessed. Any failure to maintain proper function, security and availability of our information systems could interrupt our operations, damage our reputation, subject us to liability claims or regulatory penalties and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to risks associated with the employment of hotel personnel, particularly with hotels that employ unionized labor.

Our third-party hotel managers are responsible for hiring and maintaining the labor force at each of our hotels. Although we do not directly employ or manage employees at our hotels, we are subject to risks associated with the employment of hotel personnel, particularly at those hotels with unionized labor. From time to time, strikes, lockouts, public demonstrations or other negative actions and publicity may disrupt hotel operations. We also may incur increased legal costs and indirect labor costs as a result of contract disputes or other events. The resolution of labor disputes or new or re-negotiated labor contracts could lead to increased labor costs, either by increases in wages or benefits or by changes in work rules that raise hotel operating costs. Furthermore, collective bargaining agreements, negotiated between the hotel managers and labor unions, may limit the ability of the hotel managers to reduce the size of hotel workforces during economic downturns. We do not have the ability to control negotiations between hotel managers and labor unions. In addition, we believe that unions are generally becoming more aggressive about organizing workers at hotels in certain locations. Potential labor activities at these hotels could significantly increase the administrative, labor and legal expenses of the third-party management companies operating these hotels and reduce the profits we receive. If additional employees at our hotels become unionized, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Terrorist attacks or changes in terror alert levels could adversely affect travel and hotel demand.

Previous terrorist attacks and subsequent terrorist alerts have adversely affected the U.S. travel and hospitality industries over the past several years, often disproportionately to the effect on the overall economy. The impact that terrorist attacks in the U.S. or elsewhere could have on domestic and international travel and our business in particular cannot be definitively determined, but any such attacks or the threat of such attacks could have a material adverse effect on our business, our ability to finance our business, our ability to insure our properties and our results of operations and financial condition.

Uninsured and underinsured losses could result in a loss of capital.

We maintain comprehensive property insurance on each of our hotel properties, including liability, fire and extended coverage, of the type and amount we believe are customarily obtained for or by hotel owners. There are no assurances that coverage will remain available at reasonable rates. Various types of catastrophic losses, like earthquakes and floods, and losses from terrorist activities, may not be insurable in whole or in part or may not be available on terms that we consider acceptable.

In the event of a substantial loss, our insurance coverage may not be sufficient to cover the full market value or replacement cost of our lost investment. Should an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occur, we could lose all or a portion of the capital we have invested in a hotel property, as well as the anticipated future revenue from the property. In that event, we might nevertheless remain obligated for any mortgage debt or other financial obligations related to the property. Inflation, changes in building codes and ordinances, environmental considerations and other factors might also keep us from using insurance proceeds to replace or renovate a hotel after it has been damaged or destroyed. Under those circumstances, the insurance proceeds we receive might be inadequate to restore our economic position on the damaged or destroyed property.

Our hotels may be subject to unknown or contingent liabilities which could cause us to incur substantial costs.

The hotel properties that we own or may acquire are or may be subject to unknown or contingent liabilities for which we may have no recourse, or only limited recourse, against the sellers. In general, the representations and warranties provided

under the transaction agreements related to the sales of the hotel properties may not survive the closing of the transactions. While we will seek to require the sellers to indemnify us with respect to breaches of representations and warranties that survive, such indemnification may be limited and subject to various materiality thresholds, a significant deductible or an aggregate cap on losses. As a result, there is no guarantee that we will recover any amounts with respect to losses due to breaches by the sellers of their representations and warranties. In addition, the total amount of costs and expenses that may be incurred with respect to liabilities associated with these hotels may exceed our expectations, and we may experience other unanticipated adverse effects, all of which may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Noncompliance with environmental laws and regulations could subject us to fines and liabilities which could adversely affect our operating results.

Our hotel properties are subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws. Under these laws, courts and government agencies have the authority to require us, as owner of a contaminated property, to clean up the property, even if we did not know of or were not responsible for the contamination. These laws also apply to persons who owned a property at the time it became contaminated, and therefore it is possible we could incur cleanup costs even after we sell some of the properties we acquire. In addition to the costs of cleanup, environmental contamination can affect the value of a property and, therefore, an owner's ability to borrow funds using the property as collateral or to sell the property. Under the environmental laws, courts and government agencies also have the authority to require that a person who sent waste to a waste disposal facility, such as a landfill or an incinerator, pay for the clean-up of that facility if it becomes contaminated and threatens human health or the environment. A person that arranges for the disposal or transports for disposal or treatment of a hazardous substance at a property owned by another may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of hazardous substances released into the environment at that property.

Furthermore, various court decisions have established that third parties may recover damages for injury caused by property contamination. For instance, a person exposed to asbestos while staying in a hotel may seek to recover damages if he or she suffers injury from the asbestos. Also, some of these environmental laws restrict the use of a property or place conditions on various activities. An example would be laws that require a business using chemicals (such as swimming pool chemicals at a hotel property) to manage them carefully and to notify local officials that the chemicals are being used.

We could be responsible for any of the costs discussed above. The costs to clean up a contaminated property, to defend against a claim, or to comply with environmental laws could be material and could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

As a result, we may become subject to material environmental liabilities. We can make no assurances that future laws or regulations will not impose material environmental liabilities or that the current environmental condition of our hotel properties will not be affected by the condition of the properties in the vicinity of our hotel properties (such as the presence of leaking underground storage tanks) or by third parties unrelated to us.

Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act could require us to incur substantial costs.

Under the ADA, all public accommodations must meet various federal requirements related to access and use by disabled persons. While we believe that our hotels are substantially in compliance with these requirements, a determination to the contrary could require removal of access barriers and non-compliance could result in litigation costs, costs to remediate deficiencies, U.S. government fines or damages to private litigants.

If we are required to make substantial modifications to our hotel properties, whether to comply with the ADA or other changes in governmental rules and regulations, our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders could be adversely affected.

The nature of the operations of our hotels exposes us to the risk of claims and litigation that may arise in the normal course of business.

As owners of hotel properties, we face potential claims, litigation and threatened litigation from guests, visitors to our properties, contractors, sub-contractors and others. These claims and proceedings are inherently uncertain and their costs and outcomes cannot be predicted with certainty. Regardless of their outcomes, such claims and legal proceedings can have an adverse impact on us because of the legal and other costs, diversion of management time and resources and other factors. Although we and our hotel management companies maintain insurance covering some of these matters, it is possible that one or more claims, suits or proceedings may not be covered by insurance and could result in substantial costs, judgments, fines and penalties that could adversely affect our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

A delay in approving a budget and/or continuing appropriation legislation to fund the operations of the federal government, the failure to raise the borrowing limit for the federal government, and other legislative changes could affect travel directly and indirectly and may thereby negatively impact our revenues and cash available for distributions.

The delay in approving a budget and continuing appropriation legislation to fund the operations of the federal government caused many federal agencies to cease or curtail some activities during the fourth quarter of 2013. In addition, in April 2013, the Federal Aviation Administration announced the implementation of furloughs of air traffic controllers, resulting in flight delays throughout the United States until the U.S. Congress passed a bill suspending such furloughs. There can be no assurance that future action or inaction by federal or state government agencies, or other efforts to reduce government expenditures or growth, will not occur in future periods resulting in difficulties and discouraging travel or meetings and conferences. The reduction in income from both businesses and federal government employees and the possibility of another federal government impasse may adversely affect consumer confidence or may discourage both business and leisure travel, resulting in the deferral or cancellation of travel and a negative effect on our group and transient revenues in the future. Such impacts could have a material adverse impact on our consolidated financial statements.

General Risks Related to the Real Estate Industry

Illiquidity of real estate investments could significantly impede our ability to sell hotels or otherwise respond to adverse changes in the performance of our hotel properties.

Because real estate investments are relatively illiquid, our ability to promptly sell one or more hotel properties for reasonable prices in response to changing economic, financial and investment conditions will be limited. The real estate market is affected by many factors beyond our control, including:


•	adverse changes in international, national, regional and local economic and market conditions;


•	changes in interest rates and in the availability, cost and terms of debt financing;


•	changes in governmental laws and regulations, fiscal policies and zoning ordinances and the related costs of compliance with laws and regulations, fiscal policies and ordinances;


•	the ongoing need for capital improvements, particularly in older structures;


•	changes in operating expenses; and


•	civil unrest, acts of God, including earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters, which may result in uninsured losses, and acts of war or terrorism.

We have acquired hotels, and may acquire additional hotels in the future, subject to ground leases or other leasehold interests. Sales of property subject to such leases may require the consent of the lessors. This consent requirement may make it more difficult or expensive to sell or finance the hotels subject to ground leases or other leasehold interests.

We may decide to sell hotel properties in the future. We cannot predict whether we will be able to sell any hotel property for the price or on the terms set by us, or whether any price or other terms offered by a prospective purchaser would be acceptable to us. We also cannot predict the length of time needed to find a willing purchaser and to close the sale of a hotel property.

We may be required to expend funds to correct defects or to make improvements before a hotel property can be sold. We cannot assure you that we will have funds available to correct those defects or to make those improvements. In acquiring a hotel property, we may agree to lock-out provisions that materially restrict us from selling that property for a period of time or impose other restrictions, such as a limitation on the amount of debt that can be placed or repaid on that property. These factors and any others that would impede our ability to respond to adverse changes in the performance of the hotel properties or a need for liquidity could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

If states and localities in which we own material amounts of property or conduct material amounts of business raise their income and property tax rates or amend their tax regimes in a manner that increases our state and local tax liabilities, we would have less cash available for distribution to our shareholders and the market price of our shares could be adversely affected.

We and our subsidiaries are subject to income tax and other taxes by states and localities in which we conduct business. Additionally, we are and will continue to be subject to property taxes in states and localities in which we own property, and our TRS lessees are and will continue to be subject to state and local corporate income tax. States and localities may seek additional sources of revenue to reduce budget deficits and otherwise improve their financial condition or provide more

services, they may, among other steps, raise income and property tax rates and/or amend their tax regimes to eliminate for state income tax purposes the favorable tax treatment REITs enjoy for federal income tax purposes. We cannot predict when or if any states or localities would make any such changes, or what form those changes would take. If states and localities in which we own material amounts of property or conduct material amounts of business make changes to their tax rates or tax regimes that increase our state and local tax liabilities, such increases would reduce the amount of cash available for distribution to our shareholders and could adversely affect the market price of our shares.

The costs of compliance with or liabilities under environmental laws could significantly reduce our profitability.

Operating expenses at our hotels could be higher than anticipated due to the cost of complying with existing or future environmental laws and regulations. In addition, an owner of real property can face liability for environmental contamination created by the presence or discharge of hazardous substances on the property. We may face liability regardless of:


•	our lack of knowledge of the contamination;


•	the timing of the contamination;


•	the cause of the contamination; or


•	the party responsible for the contamination of the property.

Environmental laws also impose ongoing compliance requirements on owners and operators of real property. Environmental laws potentially affecting us address a wide variety of matters, including, but not limited to, asbestos-containing building materials, storage tanks, storm water and wastewater discharges, lead-based paint, mold/mildew and hazardous wastes. Failure to comply with these laws could result in fines and penalties and/or expose us to third-party liability. Some of our properties may have conditions that are subject to these requirements, and we could be liable for such fines or penalties and/or liable to third parties.

Certain hotel properties we own or may own in the future may contain, or may have contained, asbestos-containing building materials ("ACBMs"). Environmental laws require that ACBMs be properly managed and maintained and may impose fines and penalties on building owners and operators for failure to comply with these requirements. Also, certain properties may be adjacent or near other properties that have contained or currently contain storage tanks for the storage of petroleum products or other hazardous or toxic substances. These operations create a potential for the release of petroleum products or other hazardous or toxic substances. Third parties may be permitted by law to seek recovery from owners or operators for property damage and/or personal injury associated with exposure to contaminants, including, but not limited to, petroleum products, hazardous or toxic substances and asbestos fibers.

We have obtained Phase I environmental site assessments ("ESAs") on our hotel properties and expect to do so for the hotel properties we acquire in the future. ESAs are intended to evaluate information regarding the environmental condition of the surveyed property and surrounding properties based generally on visual observations, interviews and certain publicly available databases. These assessments do not typically take into account all environmental issues including, but not limited to, testing of soil or groundwater or the possible presence of asbestos, lead-based paint, radon, wetlands or mold. As a result, these assessments may fail to reveal all environmental conditions, liabilities or compliance concerns. Material environmental conditions, liabilities or compliance concerns may arise after the ESAs and future laws, ordinances or regulations may impose material additional environmental liability. We cannot assure you that costs of future environmental compliance will not affect our ability to make distributions to our shareholders or that such costs or other remedial measures will not be material to us.

The presence of hazardous substances on a property may limit our ability to sell the property on favorable terms or at all, and we may incur substantial remediation costs. The discovery of material environmental liabilities at our properties could subject us to unanticipated significant costs, which could significantly reduce our profitability and the cash available for distribution to our shareholders.

Our properties may contain or develop harmful mold, which could lead to liability for adverse health effects and costs of remediating the problem.

When excessive moisture accumulates in buildings or on building materials, mold growth may occur, particularly if the moisture problem remains undiscovered or is not addressed over a period of time. Some molds may produce airborne toxins or irritants. Concern about indoor exposure to mold has been increasing as exposure to mold may cause a variety of adverse health effects and symptoms, including allergic or other reactions. Some of our properties may contain microbial matter such as mold and mildew. The presence of significant mold at any of our properties could require us to undertake a costly remediation program to contain or remove the mold from the affected property. The presence of significant mold could expose us to liability from hotel guests, hotel employees and others if property damage or health concerns arise.

Risks Related to Our Organization and Structure

Provisions of our declaration of trust may limit the ability of a third party to acquire control of us by authorizing our board of trustees to authorize issuances of additional securities.

Our declaration of trust authorizes our board of trustees to issue up to 500,000,000 common shares and up to 100,000,000 preferred shares. In addition, our board of trustees may, without shareholder approval, amend our declaration of trust to increase the aggregate number of our shares or the number of shares of any class or series that we have the authority to issue and to classify or reclassify any unissued common shares or preferred shares and to set the preferences, rights and other terms of the classified or reclassified shares. As a result, our board of trustees may authorize the issuance of additional shares or establish a series of common or preferred shares that may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of our company, including transactions at a premium over the market price of our shares, even if shareholders believe that a change of control is in their interest.

Provisions of Maryland law may limit the ability of a third party to acquire control of us by requiring our board of trustees or shareholders to approve proposals to acquire our company or effect a change of control.

Certain provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law (the "MGCL") applicable to Maryland real estate investment trusts may have the effect of inhibiting a third party from making a proposal to acquire us or of impeding a change of control under circumstances that otherwise could provide our common shareholders with the opportunity to realize a premium over the then-prevailing market price of such shares, including:

•

“business combination” provisions that, subject to limitations, prohibit certain business combinations between us and an “interested shareholder” (defined generally as any person who beneficially owns 10 percent or more of the voting power of our shares) or an affiliate of any interested shareholder for five years after the most recent date on which the shareholder becomes an interested shareholder, and thereafter imposes special appraisal rights and special shareholder voting requirements on these combinations; and

•

“control share” provisions that provide that our “control shares” (defined as shares which, when aggregated with other shares controlled by the shareholder, entitle the shareholder to exercise one of three increasing ranges of voting power in electing trustees) acquired in a “control share acquisition” (defined as the direct or indirect acquisition of ownership or control of “control shares”) have no voting rights except to the extent approved by our shareholders by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of all the votes entitled to be cast on the matter, excluding all interested shares.

By resolution of our board of trustees, we have opted out of the business combination provisions of the MGCL and provided that any business combination between us and any other person is exempt from the business combination provisions of the MGCL, provided that the business combination is first approved by our board of trustees (including a majority of trustees who are not affiliates or associates of such persons). Pursuant to a provision in our bylaws, we have opted out of the control share provisions of the MGCL. However, our board of trustees may by resolution elect to opt in to the business combination provisions of the MGCL and we may, by amendment to our bylaws, opt in to the control share provisions of the MGCL in the future.

Additionally, Title 8, Subtitle 3 of the MGCL permits our board of trustees, without shareholder approval and regardless of what is currently provided in our declaration of trust or bylaws, to implement certain takeover defenses, such as a classified board. These provisions may have the effect of inhibiting a third party from making an acquisition proposal for us or of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us under the circumstances that otherwise could provide our common shareholders with the opportunity to realize a premium over the then current market price. In October 2015, we opted out of the classified board provision of Title 8, Subtitle 3 of the MGCL and prohibited ourselves from opting back into that provision without prior approval of our shareholders.

The ownership limitations in our declaration of trust may restrict or prevent shareholders from engaging in certain transfers of our common shares.

In order for us to qualify and remain qualified as a REIT, no more than 50 percent in value of our outstanding shares may be owned, directly or indirectly, by five or fewer individuals (as defined in the federal income tax laws to include various kinds of entities) during the last half of any taxable year. To assist us in qualifying as a REIT, our declaration of trust contains a share ownership limit. Generally, any of our shares owned by affiliated owners will be added together for purposes of the share ownership limit.

If anyone transfers our shares in a way that would violate the share ownership limit or prevent us from qualifying as a REIT under the federal income tax laws, those shares instead will be transferred to a trust for the benefit of a charitable beneficiary and will be either redeemed by us or sold to a person whose ownership of the shares will not violate the share ownership limit or we will consider the transfer to be null and void from the outset, and the intended transferee of those shares will be deemed never to have owned the shares. Anyone who acquires our shares in violation of the share ownership limit or the other restrictions on transfer in our declaration of trust bears the risk of suffering a financial loss when the shares are redeemed or sold if the market price of our shares falls between the date of purchase and the date of redemption or sale.

In addition, these ownership limitations may prevent an acquisition of control of us by a third party without our board of trustees' approval, even if our shareholders believe the change of control is in their interest.

Our rights and the rights of our shareholders to take action against our trustees and officers are limited, which could limit shareholders' recourse in the event of actions not in their best interests.

Under Maryland law, generally, a trustee's actions will be upheld if he or she performs his or her duties in good faith, in a manner he or she reasonably believes to be in our best interests and with the care that an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances. In addition, our declaration of trust limits the liability of our trustees and officers to us and our shareholders for money damages, except for liability resulting from:


•	actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or


•	active and deliberate dishonesty by the trustee or officer that was established by a final judgment as being material to the cause of action adjudicated.

Our declaration of trust authorizes us to indemnify our trustees and officers for actions taken by them in those capacities to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law. Our bylaws require us to indemnify each trustee or officer, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, in the defense of any proceeding to which he or she is made, or threatened to be made, a party by reason of his or her service to us. In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our officers and trustees and we may be obligated to fund the defense costs incurred by our trustees and officers. As a result, we and our shareholders may have more limited rights against our trustees and officers than might otherwise exist absent the current provisions in our declaration of trust and bylaws or that might exist with other companies.

Our declaration of trust contains provisions that make removal of our trustees difficult, which could make it difficult for our shareholders to effect changes to our management.

Our declaration of trust provides that a trustee may be removed only for cause (as defined in our declaration of trust) and then only by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast generally in the election of trustees. Our declaration of trust also provides that vacancies on our board of trustees may be filled only by a majority of the remaining trustees in office, even if less than a quorum. These requirements prevent shareholders from removing trustees except for cause and with a substantial affirmative vote and from replacing trustees with their own nominees and may prevent a change in control of our company that is in the best interests of our shareholders.

The ability of our board of trustees to change our major policies without the consent of shareholders may not be in shareholders' interest.

Our board of trustees determines our major policies, including policies and guidelines relating to our acquisitions, leverage, financing, growth, operations and distributions to shareholders. Our board may amend or revise these and other policies and guidelines from time to time without the vote or consent of our shareholders. Accordingly, our shareholders will have limited control over changes in our policies and those changes could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Further issuances of equity securities may be dilutive to current shareholders.

We expect to issue additional common shares or preferred shares to raise the capital necessary to finance hotel acquisitions or improvements, refinance debt or pay portions of future dividends. In addition, we may issue units in our Operating Partnership, which are redeemable on a one-for-one basis for our common shares, to acquire hotels. Such issuances could result in dilution of our shareholders' equity interests.

Future offerings of debt securities or preferred shares, which would be senior to our common shares upon liquidation and for the purpose of distributions, may cause the market price of our common shares to decline.

We have issued three series of preferred shares. In the future, we may increase our capital resources by making additional offerings of debt or equity securities, which may include senior or subordinated notes, classes of preferred shares and/or

common shares. We will be able to issue additional common shares or preferred shares without shareholder approval, unless shareholder approval is required by applicable law or the rules of any stock exchange or automated quotation system on which our securities may be listed or traded. Upon liquidation, holders of our debt securities and preferred shares and lenders with respect to other borrowings will receive a distribution of our available assets prior to the holders of our common shares. Additional equity offerings could significantly dilute the holdings of our existing shareholders or reduce the market price of our common shares, or both. Holders of our common shares are not entitled to preemptive rights or other protections against dilution. Preferred shares and debt, if issued, have a preference on liquidating distributions or a preference on dividend or interest payments that could limit our ability to make a distribution to the holders of our common shares. Because our decision to issue securities will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings. Thus, our shareholders bear the risk of our future securities issuances reducing the market price of our common shares and diluting their interest.

Holders of our outstanding preferred shares have dividend, liquidation and other rights that are senior to the rights of the holders of our common shares.

Our board of trustees has the authority to designate and issue preferred shares with liquidation, dividend and other rights that are senior to those of our common shares. As of December 31, 2015, 5,600,000 shares of our 7.875% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares (the “Series A Preferred Shares”), 3,400,000 shares of our 8.00% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares (the “Series B Preferred Shares”) and 5,000,000 shares of our 6.50% Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares (the “Series C Preferred Shares”) were issued and outstanding. The aggregate liquidation preference with respect to the outstanding preferred shares is approximately $350.0 million, and aggregate annual dividends on our outstanding preferred shares are approximately $26.0 million. Holders of Series A Preferred Shares, Series B Preferred Shares or Series C Preferred Shares are entitled to cumulative dividends before any dividends may be declared or set aside on our common shares. Upon our voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up, before any payment is made to holders of our common shares, holders of these preferred shares are entitled to receive a liquidation preference of $25.00 per share plus any accrued and unpaid distributions. This will reduce the remaining amount of our assets, if any, available to distribute to holders of our common shares. In addition, holders of these preferred shares have the right to elect two additional trustees to our board of trustees whenever dividends on the preferred shares are in arrears for six or more quarterly dividends, whether or not consecutive.

The change of control conversion and redemption features of the Series A Preferred Shares, the Series B Preferred Shares and the Series C Preferred Shares may make it more difficult for a party to take over our company or discourage a party from taking over our company.

Upon the occurrence of a change of control (as defined in our declaration of trust) as the result of which our common shares and the common securities of the acquiring or surviving entity (or American Depositary Receipts representing such securities) are not listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”), the NYSE MKT or NASDAQ or listed or quoted on an exchange or quotation system that is a successor to the NYSE, the NYSE MKT or NASDAQ, holders of Series A Preferred Shares, Series B Preferred Shares or Series C Preferred Shares will have the right (unless, as provided in our declaration of trust, we have provided or provide notice of our election to redeem the applicable series) to convert some or all of their preferred shares into our common shares (or equivalent value of alternative consideration), and under these circumstances we will also have a special optional redemption right to redeem such shares. Upon such a conversion, holders of Series A Preferred Shares will be limited to a maximum number of our common shares equal to 2.3234 multiplied by the number of Series A Preferred Shares converted, holders of Series B Preferred Shares will be limited to a maximum number of our common shares equal to 3.4483 multiplied by the number of Series B Preferred Shares converted and holders of Series C Preferred Shares will be limited to a maximum number of our common shares equal to 2.0325 multiplied by the number of Series C Preferred Shares converted. In addition, those features of the Series A Preferred Shares, the Series B Preferred Shares and the Series C Preferred Shares may have the effect of inhibiting a third party from making an acquisition proposal for our company or of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of our company under circumstances that otherwise could provide the holders of our common shares, Series A Preferred Shares, Series B Preferred Shares or Series C Preferred Shares with the opportunity to realize a premium over the then-current market price or that shareholders may otherwise believe is in their best interests.

We have entered into an agreement with each of our executive officers that requires us to make payments in the event the officer's employment is terminated by us without cause, by the officer for good reason or under certain circumstances following a change of control of our company.

The agreements that we have entered into with our executive officers provide benefits under certain circumstances that could make it more difficult or expensive for us to terminate these officers and may prevent or deter a change of control of our company that would otherwise be in the interest of our shareholders.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately determine our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, our shareholders could lose confidence in our financial results, which could harm our business and the value of our common shares.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and effectively prevent fraud. We may in the future discover areas of our internal controls that need improvement. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us to evaluate and report on our internal controls over financial reporting and have our independent auditors annually issue their own opinion on our internal controls over financial reporting. We cannot be certain that we will be successful in maintaining adequate internal controls over our financial reporting and financial processes. Furthermore, as we grow our business, our internal controls will become more complex, and we will require significantly more resources to ensure our internal controls remain effective. If we or our independent auditors discover a material weakness, the disclosure of that fact, even if quickly remedied, could reduce the market value of our common shares. Additionally, the existence of any material weakness or significant deficiency would require management to devote significant time and incur significant expense to remediate any such material weaknesses or significant deficiencies and management may not be able to remediate any such material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in a timely manner.

Federal Income Tax Risk Factors

Our failure to qualify, or to remain qualified, as a REIT would result in higher taxes and reduced cash available for distribution to our shareholders.

We have elected to be taxed as a REIT for federal income tax purposes. However, qualification as a REIT involves the application of highly technical and complex provisions of the Code, for which only a limited number of judicial and administrative interpretations exist. Even an inadvertent or technical mistake could jeopardize our REIT qualification. Our qualification as a REIT depends on our satisfaction of certain asset, income, organizational, distribution, shareholder ownership and other requirements on a continuing basis.

Moreover, new tax legislation, administrative guidance or court decisions, in each instance potentially applicable with retroactive effect, could make it more difficult or impossible for us to qualify as a REIT. If we were to fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year, we would be subject to federal income tax, including any applicable alternative minimum tax, on our taxable income at regular corporate rates, and distributions to shareholders would not be deductible by us in computing our taxable income. Any such corporate tax liability could be substantial and would reduce the amount of cash available for distribution to our shareholders, which in turn could have an adverse impact on the value of our shares. If, for any reason, we failed to qualify as a REIT and we were not entitled to relief under certain Code provisions, we would be unable to elect REIT status for the four taxable years following the year during which we ceased to so qualify which would negatively impact the value of our shares.

Failure to make required distributions would subject us to tax, which would reduce the cash available for distribution to our shareholders.

To qualify and maintain our qualification as a REIT, we must distribute to our shareholders each calendar year at least 90 percent of our REIT taxable income (including certain items of non-cash income), determined before the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gain. To the extent that we satisfy the 90 percent distribution requirement, but distribute less than 100 percent of our REIT taxable income, we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed income. In addition, we will incur a 4 percent nondeductible excise tax on the amount, if any, by which our distributions in any calendar year are less than the sum of:


•	85 percent of our REIT ordinary income for that year;


•	95 percent of our REIT capital gain net income for that year; and


•	any undistributed REIT taxable income from prior years.

We have distributed, and we intend to continue to distribute, our REIT taxable income to our shareholders in a manner intended to satisfy the 90 percent distribution requirement and to avoid both corporate income tax and the 4 percent nondeductible excise tax. However, there is no requirement that TRSs distribute their after tax net income to their parent REIT or their shareholders.

Our REIT taxable income may substantially exceed our net income as determined based on U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP, because, for example, realized capital losses will be deducted in determining our U.S. GAAP net income, but may not be deductible in computing our REIT taxable income. Differences in timing between the recognition of income and the related cash receipts or the effect of required debt amortization payments could require us to borrow money or sell properties at prices or at times that we regard as unfavorable in order to pay out enough of our REIT

taxable income to satisfy the distribution requirement and to avoid corporate income tax and the 4 percent nondeductible excise tax in a particular year.

We may pay taxable dividends partly in shares and partly in cash, in which case shareholders may sell our shares to pay tax on such dividends, placing downward pressure on the market price of our shares.

The Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") has issued private letter rulings to other REITs treating certain distributions that are paid partly in cash and partly in shares as dividends that would satisfy the REIT annual distribution requirement and qualify for the dividends paid deduction for federal income tax purposes. Those rulings may be relied upon only by the taxpayers to whom they were issued, but we could request a similar ruling from the IRS. In addition, the IRS previously issued a revenue procedure authorizing publicly traded REITs to make elective cash/share dividends, but that revenue procedure has expired. Accordingly, it is unclear whether and to what extent we will be able to make taxable dividends payable in cash and shares. Although we have no current intention of paying dividends in the form of our own shares, if in the future we choose to pay dividends in our own shares, our shareholders may be required to pay tax in excess of the cash that they receive. If a U.S. shareholder sells the shares that it receives as a dividend in order to pay this tax, the sales proceeds may be less than the amount included in income with respect to the dividend, depending on the market price of our shares at the time of the sale. Furthermore, with respect to certain non-U.S. shareholders, we may be required to withhold U.S. federal income tax with respect to such dividends, including in respect of all or a portion of such dividend that is payable in shares. If we pay dividends in our own shares and a significant number of our shareholders determine to sell our shares in order to pay taxes owed on dividends, it may put downward pressure on the trading price of our shares.

Our TRS lessees increase our overall tax liability.

Our TRS lessees are subject to federal and state income tax on their taxable income, which consists of the revenues from the hotel properties leased by our TRS lessees, net of the operating expenses (including management fees) for such hotel properties and rent payments to us. Accordingly, although our ownership of our TRS lessees allows us to participate in the operating income from our hotel properties in addition to receiving rent, that operating income is fully subject to income tax. The after-tax net income of our TRS lessees is available for distribution to us.

Our ownership of our TRSs is limited and our transactions with our TRSs will cause us to be subject to a 100 percent penalty tax on certain income or deductions if those transactions are not conducted on arm's-length terms.

A REIT may own up to 100 percent of the stock of one or more TRSs. A TRS may hold assets and earn income that would not be qualifying assets or income if held or earned directly by a REIT, including gross operating income from hotel operations pursuant to hotel management contracts. Both the subsidiary and the REIT must jointly elect to treat the subsidiary as a TRS. A corporation of which a TRS directly or indirectly owns more than 35 percent of the voting power or value of the stock will automatically be treated as a TRS. Overall, no more than 25 percent (20 percent for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017) of the value of a REIT's assets may consist of stock or securities of one or more TRSs. In addition, the TRS rules limit the deductibility of interest paid or accrued by a TRS to its parent REIT to assure that the TRS is subject to an appropriate level of corporate taxation. The rules also impose a 100 percent excise tax on certain transactions between a TRS and its parent REIT that are not conducted on an arm's-length basis.

Our TRSs are subject to applicable federal, foreign, state and local income tax on their taxable income, and their after-tax net income will be available for distribution to us but is not required to be distributed to us. We believe that the aggregate value of the stock and securities of our TRSs is and will continue to be less than 25 percent (20 percent for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017) of the value of our total assets (including our TRS stock and securities). Furthermore, we will monitor the value of our respective investments in our TRSs for the purpose of ensuring compliance with TRS ownership limitations. In addition, we will scrutinize all of our transactions with our TRSs to ensure that they are entered into on arm's-length terms to avoid incurring the 100 percent excise tax described above. There can be no assurance, however, that we will be able to comply with the 25 percent and 20 percent limitations discussed above or to avoid application of the 100 percent excise tax discussed above.

If the leases of our hotel properties to our TRS lessees are not respected as true leases for federal income tax purposes, we would fail to qualify as a REIT and would be subject to higher taxes and have less cash available for distribution to our shareholders.

To qualify as a REIT, we must satisfy two gross income tests, under which specified percentages of our gross income must be derived from certain sources, such as “rents from real property.” Rents paid to our Operating Partnership by our TRS lessees pursuant to the lease of our hotel properties constitute substantially all of our gross income. In order for such rent to qualify as “rents from real property” for purposes of the gross income tests, the leases must be respected as true leases for

federal income tax purposes and not be treated as service contracts, joint ventures or some other type of arrangement. If our leases are not respected as true leases for federal income tax purposes, we would fail to qualify as a REIT.

If our Operating Partnership failed to qualify as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, we would cease to qualify as a REIT and would be subject to higher taxes and have less cash available for distribution to our shareholders and suffer other adverse consequences.

We believe that our Operating Partnership qualifies to be treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. As a partnership, our Operating Partnership is not subject to federal income tax on its income. Instead, each of its partners, including us, is required to pay tax on its allocable share of our Operating Partnership's income. No assurance can be provided, however, that the IRS will not challenge its status as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, or that a court would not sustain such a challenge. If the IRS were successful in treating our Operating Partnership as a corporation for tax purposes, we would fail to meet the gross income tests and certain of the asset tests applicable to REITs and, accordingly, cease to qualify as a REIT. Also, the failure of our Operating Partnership to qualify as a partnership would cause it to become subject to federal and state corporate income tax, which would reduce significantly the amount of cash available for debt service and for distribution to its partners, including us.

If our hotel managers do not qualify as “eligible independent contractors,” we would fail to qualify as a REIT and would be subject to higher taxes and have less cash available for distribution to our shareholders.

Rent paid by a lessee that is a “related party tenant” of ours will not be qualifying income for purposes of the two gross income tests applicable to REITs. We lease all of our hotels to our TRS lessees. So long as any TRS lessee qualifies as a TRS, it will not be treated as a “related party tenant” with respect to our properties that are managed by an independent hotel management company that qualifies as an “eligible independent contractor.” We believe that our TRSs qualify to be treated as TRSs for federal income tax purposes, but there can be no assurance that the IRS will not challenge the status of a TRS for federal income tax purposes or that a court would not sustain such a challenge. If the IRS were successful in disqualifying any of our TRSs lessees from treatment as a TRS, it is possible that we would fail to meet the asset tests applicable to REITs and substantially all of our income would fail to qualify for the gross income tests. If we failed to meet either the asset or gross income tests, we would likely lose our REIT qualification for federal income tax purposes.

Additionally, if our hotel managers do not qualify as “eligible independent contractors,” we will fail to qualify as a REIT. Each of the hotel management companies that enter into a management contract with our TRS lessees must qualify as an “eligible independent contractor” under the REIT rules in order for the rent paid to us by our TRS lessees to be qualifying income for purposes of the REIT gross income tests. Among other requirements, in order to qualify as an eligible independent contractor a manager must not own, directly or through its shareholders, more than 35 percent of our outstanding shares, taking into account certain ownership attribution rules. The ownership attribution rules that apply for purposes of these 35 percent thresholds are complex. Although we intend to monitor ownership of our shares by our hotel managers and their owners, there can be no assurance that these ownership levels will not be exceeded.

Dividends payable by REITs do not qualify for the reduced tax rates available for some dividends.

The maximum tax rate applicable to “qualified dividend income” payable to U.S. shareholders that are taxed at individual rates is 20 percent. Dividends payable by REITs, however, generally are not eligible for the reduced rates. The more favorable rates applicable to regular corporate qualified dividends could cause investors who are taxed at individual rates to perceive investments in REITs to be relatively less attractive than investments in the stocks of non-REIT corporations that pay dividends, which could adversely affect the value of the shares of REITs, including our shares.

Complying with REIT requirements may limit our ability to hedge our liabilities effectively and may cause us to incur tax liabilities.

The REIT provisions of the Code substantially limit our ability to hedge our liabilities. Any income from a hedging transaction we enter into to manage risk of interest rate changes, price changes or currency fluctuations with respect to borrowings made or to be made to acquire or carry real estate assets does not constitute “gross income” for purposes of the 75 percent or 95 percent gross income tests. To the extent that we enter into other types of hedging transactions, the income from those transactions is likely to be treated as non-qualifying income for purposes of both of the gross income tests. As a result of these rules, we may need to limit our use of advantageous hedging techniques or implement those hedges through a TRS. This could increase the cost of our hedging activities because our TRS would be subject to tax on gains or expose us to greater risks associated with changes in interest rates than we would otherwise want to bear. In addition, losses in our TRSs will generally not provide any tax benefit, except for being carried forward against future taxable income in the TRSs.

Complying with REIT requirements may cause us to forego otherwise attractive business opportunities or liquidate otherwise attractive investments.

To qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we must continually satisfy tests concerning, among other things, the sources of our income, the nature and diversification of our assets, the amounts we distribute to our shareholders and the ownership of our shares. In order to meet these tests, we may be required to forego investments we might otherwise make. Thus, compliance with the REIT requirements may hinder our performance.

In particular, we must ensure that at the end of each calendar quarter, at least 75 percent of the value of our assets consists of cash, cash items, government securities and qualified real estate assets. The remainder of our investment in securities (other than government securities and qualified real estate assets) generally cannot include more than 10 percent of the outstanding voting securities of any one issuer or more than 10 percent of the total value of the outstanding securities of any one issuer. In addition, in general, no more than 5 percent of the value of our assets (other than government securities and qualified real estate assets) can consist of the securities of any one issuer, no more than 25 percent (20 percent for taxable years beginning December 31, 2017) the value of our total assets can be represented by the securities of one or more TRSs and no more than 25 percent of our assets can be represented by debt of "publicly offered REITs" that is not secured by real property or interests in real property. The Code provides that temporary investments of new capital in stock or debt instruments for the period of one year beginning on the date on which we receive the new capital will be considered qualified real estate assets for purposes of the above requirements. If we fail to comply with these requirements at the end of any calendar quarter, we must correct the failure within 30 days after the end of the calendar quarter or qualify for certain statutory relief provisions to avoid losing our REIT qualification and suffering adverse tax consequences. As a result, we may be required to liquidate otherwise attractive investments. These actions could have the effect of reducing our income and amounts available for distribution to our shareholders.

If our subsidiary REITs failed to qualify as REITs, we could be subject to higher taxes and could fail to remain qualified as REITs.

Our Operating Partnership owns 100% of the common shares of a subsidiary REIT that has elected to be taxed as a REIT under the federal income tax laws and 100% of the common shares of a subsidiary REIT that will elect to be taxed as a REIT under the federal income tax laws. Our subsidiary REITs are subject to the various REIT qualification requirements and other limitations described herein that are applicable to us. If one or both of our subsidiary REITs were to fail to qualify as a REIT, then (i) such subsidiary REITs would become subject to federal income tax and (ii) our ownership of shares in such subsidiary REITs would cease to be a qualifying asset for purposes of the asset tests applicable to REITs. If our subsidiary REITs were to fail to qualify as a REIT, it is possible that we would fail certain of the asset tests applicable to REITs, in which event we would fail to qualify as a REIT unless we could avail ourselves of certain relief provisions. We have made “protective” TRS elections with respect to each of our subsidiary REITs and may implement other protective arrangements intended to avoid such an outcome if our subsidiary REITs were not to qualify as a REIT, but there can be no assurance that such “protective” elections and other arrangements will be effective to avoid the resulting adverse consequences to us. Moreover, even if the “protective” TRS elections were to be effective in the event of the failure of our subsidiary REITs to qualify as a REIT, such subsidiary REITs would be subject to federal income tax and we cannot assure you that we would not fail to satisfy the requirement that not more than 25% (20% for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017) of the value of our total assets may be represented by the securities of one or more TRSs. In this event, we would fail to qualify as a REIT unless we or such subsidiary REITs could avail ourselves or themselves of certain relief provisions.

The ability of our board of trustees to revoke our REIT qualification without shareholder approval may subject us to federal and state income tax and reduce distributions to our shareholders.

Our declaration of trust provides that our board of trustees may revoke or otherwise terminate our REIT election, without the approval of our shareholders, if it determines that it is no longer in our best interest to continue to qualify as a REIT. If we cease to be a REIT, we would become subject to federal income tax on our taxable income and would no longer be required to distribute most of our taxable income to our shareholders, which may have adverse consequences on our total return to our shareholders and on the market price of our common shares.

We may be subject to adverse legislative or regulatory tax changes that could increase our tax liability, reduce our operating flexibility and reduce the market price of our shares.

At any time, the federal income tax laws governing REITs or the administrative and judicial interpretations of those laws may be amended. We cannot predict when or if any new federal income tax law, regulation or administrative and judicial interpretation, or any amendment to any existing federal income tax law, regulation or administrative or judicial interpretation, will be adopted, promulgated or become effective and any such law, regulation or interpretation may take effect retroactively.

We and our shareholders could be adversely affected by any such change in, or any new, federal income tax law, regulation or administrative and judicial interpretation.

The share ownership restrictions of the Code for REITs and the 9.8 percent share ownership limit in our declaration of trust may inhibit market activity in our shares and restrict our business combination opportunities.

In order to qualify as a REIT for each taxable year, five or fewer individuals, as defined in the Code, may not own, actually or constructively, more than 50 percent in value of our issued and outstanding shares at any time during the last half of a taxable year. Attribution rules in the Code determine if any individual or entity actually or constructively owns our shares under this requirement. Additionally, at least 100 persons must beneficially own our shares during at least 335 days of each taxable year. To help insure that we meet these tests, our declaration of trust restricts the acquisition and ownership of our shares.

Our declaration of trust, with certain exceptions, authorizes our trustees to take such actions as are necessary and desirable to preserve our qualification as a REIT. Unless exempted by our board of trustees, our declaration of trust prohibits any person from beneficially or constructively owning more than 9.8 percent (measured by value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive) of any class or series of our shares. Our board of trustees may not grant an exemption from these restrictions to any proposed transferee whose ownership in excess of 9.8 percent of the value of our outstanding shares would result in the termination of our qualification as a REIT. These restrictions on transferability and ownership will not apply, however, if our board of trustees determines that it is no longer in our best interest to continue to qualify as a REIT.

These ownership limits could delay or prevent a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for our shares or otherwise be in the best interest of the shareholders.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Properties.

We lease our headquarters located at 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, 1100 West, Bethesda, Maryland 20814.

At December 31, 2015, we had 31 wholly owned hotels with a total of 7,408 guest rooms and had a 49% equity interest in 6 hotels with a total of 1,787 guest rooms.

The following table sets forth certain information about the hotels we wholly owned as of December 31, 2015, all of which are consolidated in our financial statements.



	Property		Date Acquired	Location	Number of Guest Rooms
1.	DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bethesda -Washington DC		June 4, 2010	Bethesda, MD	270
2.	Sir Francis Drake		June 22, 2010	San Francisco, CA	416
3.	InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta		July 1, 2010	Buckhead, GA	422
4.	Hotel Monaco Washington DC	^{(1) (2)}	September 9, 2010	Washington, D.C.	183
5.	The Grand Hotel Minneapolis		September 29, 2010	Minneapolis, MN	140
6.	Skamania Lodge		November 3, 2010	Stevenson, WA	254
7.	Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica		November 19, 2010	Santa Monica, CA	310
8.	Sofitel Philadelphia	⁽¹⁾	December 3, 2010	Philadelphia, PA	306
9.	Argonaut Hotel	^{(1) (2)}	February 16, 2011	San Francisco, CA	252
10.	The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter	⁽¹⁾	April 6, 2011	San Diego, CA	450
11.	Hotel Monaco Seattle		April 7, 2011	Seattle, WA	189
12.	Mondrian Los Angeles		May 3, 2011	West Hollywood, CA	236
13.	Viceroy Miami		May 26, 2011	Miami, FL	148
14.	W Boston		June 8, 2011	Boston, MA	235
15.	Hotel Zetta		April 4, 2012	San Francisco, CA	116
16.	Hotel Vintage Seattle		July 9, 2012	Seattle, WA	125
17.	Hotel Vintage Portland		July 9, 2012	Portland, OR	117
18.	W Los Angeles - West Beverly Hills		August 23, 2012	Los Angeles, CA	297
19.	Hotel Zelos (formerly Hotel Palomar San Francisco)	^{(1) (3)}	October 25, 2012	San Francisco, CA	202
20.	Embassy Suites San Diego Bay - Downtown	⁽¹⁾	January 29, 2013	San Diego, CA	341
21.	The Redbury Hollywood		August 8, 2013	Hollywood, CA	57
22.	Hotel Modera	⁽¹⁾	August 28, 2013	Portland, OR	174
23.	Hotel Zephyr Fisherman's Wharf	⁽²⁾	December 9, 2013	San Francisco, CA	361
24.	The Prescott Hotel San Francisco	⁽³⁾	May 22, 2014	San Francisco, CA	164
25.	The Nines, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Portland		July 17, 2014	Portland, OR	331
26.	The Westin Colonnade Coral Gables		November 12, 2014	Miami, FL	157
27.	Hotel Palomar Los Angeles - Beverly Hills	⁽²⁾	November 20, 2014	Los Angeles, CA	264
28.	Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection	⁽²⁾	December 10, 2014	Nashville, TN	125
29.	Revere Hotel Boston Common		December 18, 2014	Boston, MA	356
30.	LaPlaya Beach Resort and LaPlaya Beach Club		May 21, 2015	Naples, FL	189
31.	The Tuscan Fisherman's Wharf, a Best Western Plus Hotel		June 11, 2015	San Francisco, CA	221
	Total number of guest rooms				7,408

	⁽¹⁾ This property is subject to mortgage debt at December 31, 2015.
	⁽²⁾This property is subject to a long-term ground lease.
	⁽³⁾This property is subject to a long-term hotel lease.

The following table sets forth certain information about the six hotels in which we own a 49% equity interest through the Manhattan Collection joint venture as of December 31, 2015. Operating results for these hotels are included in our consolidated financial statements using the equity method.



Property	Date Acquired	Location	Number of Guest Rooms
1. Manhattan NYC ⁽¹⁾	July 29, 2011	New York, NY	618
2. Shelburne NYC ⁽¹⁾	July 29, 2011	New York, NY	325
3. Dumont NYC ⁽¹⁾	July 29, 2011	New York, NY	252
4. Fifty NYC ⁽¹⁾	July 29, 2011	New York, NY	251
5. Gardens NYC ⁽¹⁾	July 29, 2011	New York, NY	132
6. The Benjamin ⁽¹⁾	July 29, 2011	New York, NY	209
Total number of guest rooms			1,787

⁽¹⁾ This property is subject to mortgage debt at December 31, 2015.

Hotel Managers and Hotel Management Agreements

We are a party to hotel management agreements with Benchmark Hospitality International, Davidson Hotels and Resorts, Denihan Hospitality Group, Destination Hotels and Resorts, HEI Hotels and Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, Morgans Hotel Group, Noble House Hotels & Resorts, OLS Hotels and Resorts, Pyramid Hotel Group, Sage Hospitality Resources, sbe Hotel Group, Sofitel (Accor SA), Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Viceroy Hotel Group.

Our management agreements generally have the terms described below:


•	Base Management Fees. Our management agreements generally provide for the payment of base management fees between 2% and 4% of the applicable hotel's revenues, as determined in the agreements.

•

Incentive Management and Other Fees. Some of our management agreements provide for the payment of incentive management fees. Generally, incentive management fees are 10% to 20% of net operating income above a specified return on project costs or as a percentage of net operating income above various net operating income thresholds. Some of our management agreements provide for an incentive fee of the lesser of 1% of revenues or the amount by which net operating income exceeds a threshold. Two of our management agreements have a maximum incentive fee of 2.5% of revenue.


•	Terms. The terms of our management agreements range from 5 years to 20 years not including renewals, and 5 years to 52 years including renewals.

•

Ability to Terminate. Many of our management agreements are terminable at will by us upon payment of a termination fee and some are terminable upon sale of the property. Most of the agreements also provide us the ability to terminate based on failure to achieve defined operating performance thresholds. Termination fees range from zero to up to five times the annual base management and incentive management fees, depending on the agreement and the reason for termination.


•	Operational Services. Each manager has exclusive authority to supervise, direct and control the day-to-day hotel operation and management including establishing all room rates, processing reservations, procuring inventories, supplies and services, hiring and firing employees and independent contractors and preparing public relations, publicity and marketing plans for the hotel.


•	Executive Supervision and Management Services. Each manager supervises all managerial and other hotel employees, reviews hotel operation and maintenance, prepares reports, budgets and projections, and provides other administrative and accounting support services for the hotel. Under certain management agreements, we have approval rights over certain key management personnel at the hotel.

•

Chain Services. Our management agreements with major hotel franchisors require the managers to furnish chain services that are generally made available to other hotels managed by such operators. Such services may, for example, include: the development and operation of computer systems and reservation services; management and administrative services; marketing and sales services; human resources training services; and additional services as may from time to time be more efficiently performed on a national, regional or group level.


•	Working Capital. Our management agreements typically require us to maintain working capital for a hotel and to fund the cost of supplies such as linens and other similar items. We are also responsible for providing funds to meet the cash needs for the hotel operations if at any time the funds available from the hotel operations are insufficient to meet the financial requirements of the hotel.

•

Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment Replacements. We are required to invest in the hotels and to provide all the necessary furniture, fixtures and equipment for the operation of the hotels (including funding any required furniture, fixture and equipment replacements). Our management agreements generally provide that once a year the managers will prepare a list of furniture, fixtures and equipment to be acquired and certain routine capital repairs to be performed in the following year and an estimate of funds that are necessary for our review and approval. To fund the furniture, fixtures and equipment replacements, a specified percentage of the gross revenues of each hotel (typically 4.0%) is either deposited by the manager in an escrow account or held by us, as owner.

•

Building Alterations, Improvements and Renewals. Our management agreements generally require the managers to prepare an annual estimate of the expenditures necessary for major capital repairs, alterations, improvements, renewals and replacements to the structural, mechanical, electrical, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, plumbing and vertical transportation elements of the hotels. In addition to the foregoing, the management agreements generally provide that the managers may propose such changes, alterations and improvements to the hotels as are required by reason of laws or regulations or, in the manager's reasonable judgment, to keep the hotels in a safe, competitive and efficient operating condition.


•	Sale of a Hotel. Certain of our management agreements limit our ability to sell, lease or otherwise transfer a hotel, unless the transferee assumes the related management agreement and meets other specified conditions.

Franchise Agreements

We have franchise agreements for the following hotels: the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bethesda -Washington DC; the Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica; the Embassy Suites San Diego Bay - Downtown; The Nines, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Portland; The Westin Colonnade Coral Gables; Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection; and The Tuscan Fisherman's Wharf, a Best Western Plus Hotel. Pursuant to these franchise agreements, we pay franchise fees based on a percentage of gross room revenues, as well as certain other fees for marketing and reservations services. Franchise fees for room revenues are approximately four to five percent of gross room revenues. The franchise agreements for the respective hotels expire as follows:



Property		Expiration Date
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bethesda -Washington DC		June 2020
Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica		September 2033
Embassy Suites San Diego Bay - Downtown		January 2028
The Nines, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Portland		October 2033
The Westin Colonnade Coral Gables		January 2017
Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection		January 2032
The Tuscan Fisherman's Wharf, a Best Western Plus Hotel		November 2016

Ground and Hotel Lease Agreements

The Hotel Monaco Washington DC and Argonaut Hotel are subject to long-term ground lease agreements that cover all of the land underlying these hotels. These ground leases require us to make rental payments, based on the greater of a base rent or a percentage of gross hotel revenues and gross food and beverage revenues in excess of certain thresholds, as defined in the agreements. The agreements also contain certain restrictions on modifications that can be made to the structures due to their status as national historic landmarks. Both of these lease agreements expire in 2059.

The Hotel Zelos (formerly Hotel Palomar San Francisco) is subject to a long-term hotel lease agreement that covers the hotel premises. The hotel lease agreement requires us to make rental payments, based on the greater of a base rent or a percentage of gross hotel revenues and gross food and beverage revenues in excess of certain thresholds, as defined in the agreement. This hotel lease agreement expires in 2097.

The Hotel Zephyr Fisherman's Wharf is subject to a long-term primary ground lease agreement and secondary sublease agreements that cover all the land underlying the hotel and retail suites of the property. Through 2016, the primary ground lease requires us to make base rental payments and percentage rental payments based on a percentage of hotel and retail revenues attributed to guest rooms and retail space added to the hotel property in 1998. Beginning in 2017, the primary ground lease requires us to pay percentage rent based on total hotel, retail and parking revenues. The secondary sublease requires us to make rental payments based on hotel net income, as defined in the agreement, related to the rooms and retail space in existence prior to the 1998 renovation. The primary ground lease expires in 2062. The secondary sublease expires in April 2016 at which time the hotel will only be subject to the primary ground lease through its maturity in 2062.

The Prescott Hotel San Francisco is subject to a long-term hotel lease for the right to use floors three through seven, the basement and the roof of an adjacent, attached building containing 64 of the 164 guest rooms at the property. The hotel lease expires in 2059, with a one-time extension option of 30 years. We are required to pay annual base rent of approximately $0.5 million, beginning in October 2017. The annual base rent is subject to a fixed increase every year during the remaining lease term.

The Hotel Palomar Los Angeles - Beverly Hills is subject to a long-term ground lease agreement on the land underlying the hotel. The ground lease expires in 2107, including 19 five-year extension options. We are required to pay annual base rent of approximately $3.5 million through January 2016 which is adjusted for consumer price index ("CPI") increases at each five-year extension.

The Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection is subject to a long-term ground lease agreement on the land underlying the hotel. The ground lease expires in 2105. We are required to pay the greater of annual base rent of $0.1 million or annual real property taxes.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

The nature of the operations of our hotels exposes the hotels and us to the risk of claims and litigation in the normal course of business. We are not presently subject to any material litigation nor, to our knowledge, is any litigation threatened against us, other than routine actions for negligence or other claims and administrative proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business, some of which are expected to be covered by liability insurance and all of which collectively are not expected to have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations or our financial condition.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Market Information

Our common shares began trading on the NYSE on December 9, 2009 under the symbol “PEB.” The following table sets forth, for the period indicated, the high and low closing prices per share and the cash dividends declared per share:



	2015						2014
	High		Low		Dividend		High		Low		Dividend
First Quarter	$	50.11	$	44.59	$	0.31	$	35.09	$	29.36	$	0.23
Second Quarter	$	46.57	$	41.35	$	0.31	$	37.12	$	33.23	$	0.23
Third Quarter	$	46.24	$	35.00	$	0.31	$	39.17	$	36.40	$	0.23
Fourth Quarter	$	38.52	$	27.67	$	0.31	$	46.88	$	36.76	$	0.23

The closing price per share of our common shares on December 31, 2015, as reported by the NYSE, was $28.02.

Shareholder Information

On February 15, 2016, there were 33 holders of record of our common shares. However, because the vast majority of our common shares are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of shareholders, we believe that there are considerably more beneficial holders of our common shares than record holders.

The following graph provides a comparison of the cumulative total return on our common shares from December 31, 2010, to the NYSE closing price per share on December 31, 2015, with the cumulative total return on the Russell 2000 Index (the “Russell 2000 Index”) and the FTSE National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts Equity REITs Index (the “FTSE NAREIT Equity Index”) for the same period. Total return values were calculated assuming a $100 investment on December 31, 2010 with reinvestment of all dividends in (i) our common shares, (ii) the Russell 2000 Index and (iii) the FTSE NAREIT Equity Index. The total return values do not include any dividends declared, but not paid, during the period.

The actual returns shown on the graph above are as follows:



Name	Value of Initial Investment at December 31, 2010		Value of Investment at December 31, 2011		Value of Investment at December 31, 2012		Value of Investment at December 31, 2013		Value of Investment at December 31, 2014		Value of Investment at December 31, 2015
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	$	100.00	$	96.86	$	119.12	$	162.30	$	246.62	$	156.58
Russell 2000 Index	$	100.00	$	95.82	$	111.53	$	154.82	$	162.40	$	155.24
FTSE NAREIT Equity Index	$	100.00	$	108.29	$	129.73	$	133.44	$	170.85	$	175.68

Distributions

Distributions to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits for federal income tax purposes generally will be taxable to a shareholder as ordinary income. Distributions in excess of current and accumulated earnings and profits generally will be treated as a nontaxable reduction of the shareholder's basis in such shareholder's shares, to the extent thereof,

and thereafter as taxable capital gain. Distributions that are treated as a reduction of the shareholder's basis in its shares will have the effect of increasing the amount of gain, or reducing the amount of loss, recognized upon the sale of the shareholder's shares.

The declaration of distributions by our company is in the sole discretion of our board of trustees and depends on our actual cash flow, financial condition, capital expenditure requirements for our hotels, the annual distributions requirements under the REIT provisions of the Code and such other factors as our board of trustees deems relevant.

For income tax purposes, distributions paid per share were characterized as follows:



	2015				2014				2013
	Amount		%		Amount		%		Amount		%
Common Shares:
Ordinary income	$	1.1715	98.21	%	$	0.9108	100.00	%	$	0.6000	100.00	%
Qualified dividend	0.0213		1.79	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Capital gain	—		—	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Return of capital	—		—	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Total	$	1.1928	100.00	%	$	0.9108	100.00	%	$	0.6000	100.00	%

Series A Preferred Shares:
Ordinary income	$	1.9336	98.21	%	$	2.3948	100.00	%	$	2.0349	100.00	%
Qualified dividend	0.0352		1.79	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Capital gain	—		—	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Return of capital	—		—	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Total	$	1.9688	100.00	%	$	2.3948	100.00	%	$	2.0349	100.00	%

Series B Preferred Shares:
Ordinary income	$	1.9643	98.21	%	$	2.4328	100.00	%	$	2.0672	100.00	%
Qualified dividend	0.0357		1.79	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Capital gain	—		—	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Return of capital	—		—	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Total	$	2.0000	100.00	%	$	2.4328	100.00	%	$	2.0672	100.00	%

Series C Preferred Shares:
Ordinary income	$	1.5960	98.22	%	$	1.9767	100.00	%	$	0.9890	100.00	%
Qualified dividend	0.0290		1.78	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Capital gain	—		—	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Return of capital	—		—	%	—		—	%	—		—	%
Total	$	1.6250	100.00	%	$	1.9767	100.00	%	$	0.9890	100.00	%

The common and preferred share distributions declared on December 15, 2012 and paid on January 15, 2013 were treated as 2013 distributions for tax purposes.

The common distribution declared on December 13, 2013 and paid on January 15, 2014 was treated as a 2014 distribution for tax purposes. For tax purposes, $0.4261, $0.4328 and $0.3517 of the Series A, Series B and Series C preferred share distributions, respectively, declared on December 13, 2013 and paid on January 15, 2014 were treated as 2014 distributions.

Of the common distribution declared on December 15, 2014 and paid on January 15, 2015, $0.1692 was treated as a 2015 distribution for tax purposes. The preferred share distributions declared on December 15, 2014 and paid on January 15, 2015, were treated as 2014 distributions for tax purposes.

Of the common distribution declared on December 15, 2015 and paid on January 15, 2016, $0.2164 was treated as a 2016 distribution for tax purposes. The preferred share distributions declared on December 15, 2015 and paid on January 15, 2016, were treated as 2015 distributions for tax purposes.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plan

The following table sets forth information regarding securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plan, our 2009 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended and restated, as of December 31, 2015. See Note 8 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements for additional information regarding our 2009 Equity Incentive Plan.



Plan Category	Number of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding options, warrants and rights	Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights	Number of securities remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders	—	—	762,013
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders	—	—	—
Total	—	—	762,013

During the year ended December 31, 2015, certain of our employees chose to have us acquire from such employees an aggregate of 84,835 common shares to pay taxes due upon vesting of restricted common shares granted pursuant to share award agreements. The average price paid by the Company for these shares was $48.25 per share.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

The following table includes selected historical financial information which has been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements. The following information should be read in conjunction with “Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Item 8. Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” and all of the financial statements and notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.



	For the year ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013			2012			2011
	(In thousands, except share and per-share data)
Revenues:
Room	$	526,573		$	410,600		$	321,630		$	239,218		$	177,479
Food and beverage	190,852			148,114			136,531			117,752			92,898
Other operating	53,439			40,062			31,056			23,718			17,610
Total revenues	770,864			598,776			489,217			380,688			287,987
Expenses:
Hotel operating expenses:
Room	124,090			102,709			83,390			63,213			47,570
Food and beverage	128,816			104,843			100,244			86,369			65,783
Other direct and indirect	215,169			166,435			140,564			112,002			88,001
Total hotel operating expenses	468,075			373,987			324,198			261,584			201,354
Depreciation and amortization	95,872			68,324			55,570			42,794			30,945
Real estate taxes, personal property taxes, property insurance and ground rent	46,947			36,878			31,052			20,187			14,709
General and administrative	27,649			26,349			17,166			16,777			11,460
Hotel acquisition costs	4,686			1,973			3,376			2,234			3,392
Total operating expenses	643,229			507,511			431,362			343,576			261,860
Operating income (loss)	127,635			91,265			57,855			37,112			26,127
Interest income	2,511			2,529			2,620			224			868
Interest expense	(38,774		)	(27,065		)	(23,680		)	(14,932		)	(13,653		)
Other	—			—			—			—			85
Equity in earnings (loss) of joint venture	6,213			10,065			7,623			5,970			2,336
Income (loss) before income taxes	97,585			76,794			44,418			28,374			15,763
Income tax (expense) benefit	(2,590		)	(3,251		)	(1,226		)	(1,866		)	(564		)
Net income (loss)	94,995			73,543			43,192			26,508			15,199
Net income (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests	327			677			274			429			343
Net income (loss) attributable to the Company	94,668			72,866			42,918			26,079			14,856
Distributions to preferred shareholders	(25,950		)	(25,079		)	(22,953		)	(17,825		)	(10,413		)
Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders	$	68,718		$	47,787		$	19,965		$	8,254		$	4,443
Net income (loss) per share available to common shareholders, basic	$	0.95		$	0.72		$	0.32		$	0.14		$	0.08
Net income (loss) per share available to common shareholders, diluted	$	0.94		$	0.71		$	0.32		$	0.14		$	0.08
Weighted-average number of common shares, basic	71,715,870			65,646,712			61,498,389			55,806,543			47,921,200
Weighted-average number of common shares, diluted	72,384,289			66,264,118			61,836,741			55,955,497			47,966,307



	As of December 31,
	2015		2014		2013		2012		2011
	(In thousands)
Balance Sheet Data:
Investment in hotel properties, net	$	2,673,584	$	2,343,690	$	1,717,611	$	1,417,229	$	1,127,484
Investment in joint venture	248,794		258,828		260,304		283,011		171,765
Cash and cash equivalents	26,345		52,883		55,136		85,900		65,684
Total assets	3,062,930		2,770,484		2,116,931		1,846,162		1,416,632
Senior unsecured revolving credit facility	165,000		50,000		—		—		—
Term loans	525,000		300,000		100,000		100,000		—
Senior unsecured notes	100,000		—		—		—		—
Mortgage debt	320,054		493,987		454,247		368,508		251,539
Total shareholders' equity	1,758,389		1,781,091		1,473,339		1,312,951		1,113,251

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this report. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is a Maryland real estate investment trust that conducts its operations so as to qualify as a REIT under the Code. Substantially all of the operations are conducted through Pebblebrook Hotel, L.P. (our "Operating Partnership"), a Delaware limited partnership of which Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is the sole general partner. In this report, we use the terms "the Company", "we" or "our", to refer to Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Overview

The U.S. lodging industry continued to exhibit positive fundamentals in 2015, though at more moderate levels than what was expected and experienced in previous years. The slowing global economy, weaker job gains, the strength of the U.S. dollar relative to other foreign currencies and softer international inbound travel demand are likely to produce more modest hotel demand growth for 2016. As a result of these factors and greater supply on average in many of the larger urban markets like New York and Washington, D.C., we expect that the urban markets will continue to under-perform the U.S. lodging industry’s RevPAR growth in 2016. We remain encouraged with the opportunities throughout our portfolio, as well as the momentum we have been gaining at our recently renovated and redeveloped hotels. We believe that our properties have opportunities to continue to achieve significant growth in their operating cash flows and long-term economic values.

During the year ended December 31, 2015, we acquired two hotel properties, the 189-room LaPlaya Beach Resort and LaPlaya Beach Club, in Naples, Florida, for $185.5 million and the 221-room The Tuscan Fisherman's Wharf, a Best Western Plus Hotel, in San Francisco, California for $122.0 million. We also increased the borrowing capacity of our senior unsecured revolving credit facility by $150.0 million to $750.0 million, and executed two new unsecured term loans and two new unsecured notes for aggregate proceeds of $325.0 million. In addition, we repaid all the mortgage loans of $162.3 million in aggregate on The Nines, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Portland, InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, Skamania Lodge and DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bethesda -Washington DC.

While we do not operate our hotel properties, both our asset management team and our executive management team monitor and work cooperatively with our hotel managers by advising and making recommendations in all aspects of our hotels’ operations, including property positioning and repositioning, revenue and expense management, operations analysis, physical design, renovation and capital improvements, guest experience and overall strategic direction. Through these efforts, we seek to improve property efficiencies, lower costs, maximize revenues and enhance property operating margins, which we expect will enhance returns to our shareholders.

Key Indicators of Financial Condition and Operating Performance

We measure hotel results of operations and the operating performance of our business by evaluating financial and non-financial metrics such as room revenue per available room ("RevPAR"); average daily rate ("ADR"); occupancy rate ("occupancy"); funds from operations ("FFO"); and earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization

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("EBITDA"). We evaluate individual hotel and company-wide performance with comparisons to budgets, prior periods and competing properties. ADR, occupancy and RevPAR may be impacted by macroeconomic factors as well as regional and local economies and events. See "Non-GAAP Financial Matters" for further discussion of FFO and EBITDA.

Hotel Operating Statistics

The following table represents the key same-property hotel operating statistics for our wholly owned hotels for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.



	For the year ended December 31,
	2015			2014
Total Wholly Owned Portfolio
Same-Property Occupancy	83.3		%	84.3		%
Same-Property ADR	$	241.39		$	227.77
Same-Property RevPAR	$	200.99		$	192.07

The table above includes information from all of the hotels we owned as of December 31, 2015, except for the LaPlaya Beach Resort and LaPlaya Beach Club and The Tuscan Fisherman's Wharf, a Best Western Plus Hotel for the first and second quarters of both 2015 and 2014 and Hotel Vintage Portland for the first quarter of both 2015 and 2014 because it was closed during the first quarter of 2015 for renovation and The Prescott Hotel San Francisco for the fourth quarter of both 2015 and 2014 because it was closed during the fourth quarter of 2015 for renovation. The table above does not include the hotel results of the Manhattan Collection joint venture. These hotel results for the respective periods include information reflecting operational performance for some hotels prior to our ownership of those hotels.

Results of Operations

At December 31, 2015 and 2014, we had 31 and 29 wholly owned properties and leasehold interests, respectively. All properties owned during these periods have been included in our results of operations during the respective periods since their dates of acquisition. Based on when a property was acquired, operating results for certain properties are not comparable for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013. The properties listed in the table below are hereinafter referred to as "non-comparable properties" for the periods indicated and all other properties are considered and referred to as "comparable properties":

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			Non-comparable property for the
Property	Location	Acquisition Date	Years ended 2015 and 2014	Years ended 2014 and 2013
Embassy Suites San Diego Bay - Downtown	San Diego, CA	January 29, 2013		X
The Redbury Hollywood	Hollywood, CA	August 8, 2013		X
Hotel Modera	Portland, OR	August 28, 2013		X
Hotel Zephyr Fisherman's Wharf	San Francisco, CA	December 9, 2013		X
The Prescott Hotel San Francisco	San Francisco, CA	May 22, 2014	X	X
The Nines, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Portland	Portland, OR	July 17, 2014	X	X
The Westin Colonnade Coral Gables	Miami, FL	November 12, 2014	X	X
Hotel Palomar Los Angeles - Beverly Hills	Los Angeles, CA	November 20, 2014	X	X
Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection	Nashville, TN	December 10, 2014	X	X
Revere Hotel Boston Common	Boston, MA	December 18, 2014	X	X
LaPlaya Beach Resort and LaPlaya Beach Club	Naples, FL	May 21, 2015	X	X
The Tuscan Fisherman's Wharf, a Best Western Plus Hotel	San Francisco, CA	June 11, 2015	X	X

Comparison of the year ended December 31, 2015 to the year ended December 31, 2014

Revenues — Total hotel revenues increased by $172.1 million, of which $21.9 million was contributed by the comparable properties and $150.2 million was contributed by the non-comparable properties. The increase from the comparable properties is primarily a result of increases in ADR at the Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica, The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, Embassy Suites San Diego Bay - Downtown and W Boston, offset by a reduction in revenues due to the closing of the restaurant at the W Los Angeles - West Beverly Hills.

Hotel operating expenses — Total hotel operating expenses increased by $94.1 million. The comparable properties contributed $4.9 million of the increase, which was partially offset primarily by a reduction of $3.6 million in expenses due to the closing of the restaurant at the W Los Angeles - West Beverly Hills. The non-comparable properties contributed $89.2 million to the increase.

Depreciation and amortization — Depreciation and amortization expense increased by $27.5 million primarily due to the additional depreciation for the non-comparable properties.

Real estate taxes, personal property taxes, property insurance and ground rent — Real estate taxes, personal property taxes, insurance and ground rent increased by $10.1 million primarily due to the non-comparable properties.

Corporate general and administrative — Corporate general and administrative expenses increased by $1.3 million primarily as a result of increases in pre-opening and management and franchise transition costs offset by a reduction in non-cash share-based compensation costs. In July 2015, we replaced the hotel management company at the Hotel Zelos (formerly Hotel Palomar San Francisco), Argonaut Hotel, The Prescott Hotel San Francisco and The Tuscan Fisherman's Wharf, a Best Western Plus Hotel and incurred approximately $1.4 million in costs related to such replacement. Corporate general and administrative expenses consist of employee compensation costs, legal and professional fees, insurance, state franchise taxes and other expenses.

Hotel acquisition costs — Hotel acquisition costs increased by $2.7 million due to transfer taxes and other acquisition-related costs incurred in connection with the acquisitions of the two properties acquired during the period compared to the prior period. Typically, hotel property acquisition costs consist of legal fees, other professional fees, transfer taxes and other direct costs associated with our pursuit of hotel investments. As a result, these costs are generally higher when more properties are acquired or when we have significant ongoing acquisition activity.

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Interest income — Interest income remained consistent with the prior period.

Interest expense — Interest expense increased by $11.7 million, a result of additional term loans, issuance of senior unsecured notes and credit facility borrowings in connection with the acquisition of the non-comparable properties.

Equity in earnings (losses) of joint venture — Equity in earnings of joint venture decreased $3.9 million due to a decrease in revenues primarily as a result of decreases in ADR at the Manhattan Collection joint venture properties.

Income tax (expense) benefit — Income tax expense decreased $0.7 million due to lower net income at our TRS compared to the prior year.

Non-controlling interests — Non-controlling interests represent the allocation of income or loss of our Operating Partnership to the common units held by the LTIP unit holders.

Distributions to preferred shareholders — Distributions to preferred shareholders increased $0.9 million as a result of the issuance of additional Series C Preferred Shares in September 2014.

Other comprehensive income (loss) — Other comprehensive loss increased as a result of the change in the fair values of our interest rate swaps.

Comparison of the year ended December 31, 2014 to the year ended December 31, 2013

Revenues — Total hotel revenues increased by $109.6 million, of which $28.6 million was contributed by the comparable properties and $81.0 million was contributed by the non-comparable properties. The increase from the comparable properties is primarily a result of increases in revenues from our West Coast properties as a result of increases in ADR as well as an increase in revenue from Hotel Zetta, which was closed for renovation in late 2012 and, after re-opening in March 2013, was ramping up operations throughout 2013.

Hotel operating expenses — Total hotel operating expenses increased by $49.8 million. The comparable properties contributed $3.7 million of the increase, which is a result of cost increases resulting from increased revenues, partially offset by cost reduction initiatives, including closing and leasing restaurant space to third parties at the W Boston, Mondrian Los Angeles and W Los Angeles - West Beverly Hills. The remaining $46.1 million of the increase was contributed by the non-comparable properties.

Depreciation and amortization — Depreciation and amortization expense increased by $12.8 million primarily due to the additional depreciation for the non-comparable properties.

Real estate taxes, personal property taxes, property insurance and ground rent — Real estate taxes, personal property taxes, insurance and ground rent increased by $5.8 million primarily due to the 2013 and 2014 acquisitions, of which the Hotel Zephyr Fisherman's Wharf, The Prescott Hotel San Francisco, Hotel Palomar Los Angeles - Beverly Hills and the Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection are subject to ground or hotel leases.

Corporate general and administrative — Corporate general and administrative expenses increased by $9.2 million primarily as a result of increases in non-cash share-based employee compensation costs. Corporate general and administrative expenses consist of employee compensation costs, legal and professional fees, insurance, state franchise taxes and other expenses.

Hotel acquisition costs — Hotel acquisition costs decreased by $1.4 million due to termination fees incurred in connection with the acquisition of the Embassy Suites San Diego Bay - Downtown in January 2013 and transfer taxes related to the acquisition of the Hotel Zephyr Fisherman's Wharf in December 2013.

Interest income — Interest income remained consistent with the prior period.

Interest expense — Interest expense increased by $3.4 million as a result of higher debt balances from mortgage assumptions in connection with the non-comparable properties.

Equity in earnings (losses) of joint venture — Equity in earnings of joint venture increased $2.4 million due to increases in revenues as a result of increases in ADR at the Manhattan Collection joint venture hotels.

Income tax (expense) benefit — Income tax expense increased $2.0 million due to higher net income of our TRS compared to the prior period.

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Non-controlling interests — Non-controlling interests represent the allocation of income or loss of our Operating Partnership to the common units held by the LTIP unit holders. Non-controlling interests increased $0.4 million due to higher income allocation.

Distributions to preferred shareholders — Distributions to preferred shareholders increased $2.1 million as a result of the issuance of Series C Preferred Shares in September 2014.

Other comprehensive income (loss) — Other comprehensive loss increased as a result of the change in the fair values of our interest rate swaps.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Non-GAAP financial measures are measures of our historical or future financial performance that are different from measures calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We report FFO and EBITDA, which are non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are useful to investors as key measures of our operating performance.

We calculate FFO in accordance with standards established by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), which defines FFO as net income (calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP), excluding real estate related depreciation and amortization, gains (losses) from sales of real estate, impairments of real estate assets, the cumulative effect of changes in accounting principles and adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures. Historical cost accounting for real estate assets implicitly assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time. Since real estate values instead have historically risen or fallen with market conditions, most industry investors consider presentations of operating results for real estate companies that use historical cost accounting to be insufficient by themselves. By excluding the effect of real estate related depreciation and amortization including our share of the joint venture depreciation and amortization and gains (losses) from sales of real estate, both of which are based on historical cost accounting and which may be of lesser significance in evaluating current performance, we believe that FFO provides investors a useful financial measure to evaluate our operating performance.

The following table reconciles net income (loss) to FFO and FFO available to common share and unit holders for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 (in thousands):



	For the year ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013
Net income (loss)	$	94,995		$	73,543		$	43,192
Adjustments:
Depreciation and amortization	95,634			68,136			55,398
Depreciation and amortization from joint venture	8,574			9,025			8,892
FFO	$	199,203		$	150,704		$	107,482
Distribution to preferred shareholders	(25,950		)	(25,079		)	(22,953		)
FFO available to common share and unit holders	$	173,253		$	125,625		$	84,529

EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. We believe that EBITDA provides investors a useful financial measure to evaluate our operating performance, excluding the impact of our capital structure (primarily interest expense) and our asset base (primarily depreciation and amortization).

The following table reconciles net income (loss) to EBITDA for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 (in thousands):

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	For the year ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013
Net income (loss)	$	94,995	$	73,543	$	43,192
Adjustments:
Interest expense	38,774		27,065		23,680
Interest expense from joint venture	9,137		9,137		8,902
Income tax expense (benefit)	2,590		3,251		1,226
Depreciation and amortization	95,872		68,324		55,570
Depreciation and amortization from joint venture	8,574		9,025		8,892
EBITDA	$	249,942	$	190,345	$	141,462

Neither FFO nor EBITDA represent cash generated from operating activities as determined by U.S. GAAP and neither should be considered as an alternative to U.S. GAAP net income (loss), as an indication of our financial performance, or to U.S. GAAP cash flow from operating activities, as a measure of liquidity. In addition, FFO and EBITDA are not indicative of funds available to fund cash needs, including the ability to make cash distributions.

Critical Accounting Policies

We consider these policies critical because they require estimates about matters that are inherently uncertain, involve various assumptions and require significant management judgment, and because they are important for understanding and evaluating our reported financial results. These judgments affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and our disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting periods. Applying different estimates or assumptions may result in materially different amounts reported in our financial statements.

Hotel Properties

Investment in Hotel Properties

Estimation and judgment is required to allocate the purchase price to elements of our acquired hotel properties. Upon acquisition, we allocate the purchase price based on the fair value of the acquired land, land improvements, building, furniture, fixtures and equipment, identifiable intangible assets or liabilities, other assets and assumed liabilities. Identifiable intangible assets or liabilities typically arise from contractual arrangements assumed in connection with the transaction, including terms that are above or below market compared to an estimated market agreement at the acquisition date. We determine the acquisition-date fair values of all assets and assumed liabilities using methods similar to those used by independent appraisers (e.g., discounted cash flow analysis) and that utilize appropriate discount and/or capitalization rates and available market information. Estimates of future cash flows are based on a number of factors including historical operating results, known and anticipated trends, and market and economic conditions. Acquisition costs are expensed as incurred.

Hotel renovations and/or replacements of assets that improve or extend the life of the asset are capitalized and depreciated over their estimated useful lives. Furniture, fixtures and equipment under capital leases are carried at the present value of the minimum lease payments. Repair and maintenance costs are expensed as incurred.

Held for Sale

We will classify a hotel as held for sale when a binding agreement to purchase the property has been signed under which the buyer has committed a significant amount of nonrefundable cash, no significant financing contingencies exist, and the sale is expected to close within one year. If these criteria are met and if the fair value less costs to sell is lower than the carrying amount of the hotel, we will record an impairment loss and will cease recording depreciation expense. We will classify the loss, together with the related operating results, as discontinued operations on the statements of operations and classify the assets and related liabilities as held for sale on the balance sheet.

Depreciation and Amortization

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Hotel properties are carried at cost and depreciated using the straight-line method over an estimated useful life of 10 to 40 years for buildings, land improvements and building improvements and one to 10 years for furniture, fixtures and equipment. Intangible assets arising from contractual arrangements are typically amortized over the life of the contract.

We are required to make subjective assessments as to the useful lives and classification of our properties for purposes of determining the amount of depreciation expense to reflect each year with respect to the assets. These assessments may impact our results of operations.

Impairment

We review our investments in hotel properties for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of the hotel properties may not be recoverable. Events or circumstances that may cause a review include, but are not limited to, when a hotel property experiences a current or projected loss from operations, when it becomes more likely than not that a hotel property will be sold before the end of its useful life, adverse changes in the demand for lodging at the properties due to declining national or local economic conditions and/or new hotel construction in markets where the hotels are located. When such conditions exist, we perform an analysis to determine if the estimated undiscounted future cash flows from operations and the proceeds from the ultimate disposition of a hotel exceed its carrying value. If the estimated undiscounted future cash flows are less than the carrying amount of the asset, an adjustment to reduce the carrying amount to the related hotel's estimated fair market value is recorded and an impairment loss recognized. In the evaluation of impairment of our hotel properties, we make many assumptions and estimates including projected cash flows both from operations and eventual disposition, expected useful life and holding period, future required capital expenditures, and fair values, including consideration of capitalization rates, discount rates, and comparable selling prices. We will adjust our assumptions with respect to the remaining useful life of the hotel property when circumstances change, such as an expiring ground lease or it is more likely than not that the hotel property will be sold prior to its previously expected useful life.

Investment in Joint Venture

Judgment is required with respect to the consolidation of partnership and joint venture entities in terms of the evaluation of control, including assessment of the importance of rights and privileges of the partners based on voting rights, as well as financial variable interests that are not controllable through voting interests. Investments in joint ventures which we do not control but for which we have the ability to exercise significant influence over operating and financial policies are accounted for under the equity method of accounting. We employ the equity accounting method because we do not control the joint venture and are not the primary beneficiary of the joint venture pursuant to the applicable authoritative accounting guidance. We review the investment in our joint venture for impairment in each reporting period pursuant to the applicable authoritative accounting guidance. The investment is impaired when its estimated fair value is less than the carrying amount of our investment and that impairment is other than temporary.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue consists of amounts derived from hotel operations, including the sales of rooms, food and beverage and other ancillary amenities. Revenue is recognized when rooms are occupied and services have been rendered. For retail operations, revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lives of the retail leases. The Company recognizes revenue related to membership initiation fees and deposits over the expected life of an active membership. For membership initiation deposits, the difference between the amount paid by the member and the present value of the refund obligation is deferred and recognized within other revenues on the consolidated statements of operations over the expected life of an active membership. These revenue sources are affected by conditions impacting the travel and hospitality industry as well as competition from other hotels and businesses in similar markets.

Share-Based Compensation

We have adopted an equity incentive plan that provides for the grant of common share options, share awards, share appreciation rights, performance units and other equity-based awards. Equity-based compensation is measured at the fair value of the award on the date of grant and recognized as an expense on a straight-line basis over the vesting period. Share-based compensation awards that contain a performance condition are reviewed at least quarterly to assess the achievement of the performance condition. Compensation expense will be adjusted when a change in the assessment of achievement of the specific performance condition level is determined to be probable. The determination of fair value of these awards is subjective and involves significant estimates and assumptions including expected volatility of our stock, expected dividend yield, expected term, and assumptions of whether these awards will achieve parity with other operating partnership units or achieve

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performance thresholds. We believe that the assumptions and estimates utilized are appropriate based on the information available to management at the time of grant.

Income Taxes

To qualify as a REIT, we must meet a number of organizational and operational requirements, including a requirement that we currently distribute at least 90 percent of our adjusted taxable income to our shareholders. As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal corporate income tax on that portion of our taxable income that is currently distributed to shareholders. We may be subject to certain state and local taxes on our income and property, and to federal income and excise taxes on our undistributed taxable income. In addition, our wholly owned TRS, which leases our hotels from our Operating Partnership, is subject to federal and state income taxes. We account for income taxes using the asset and liability method under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Valuation allowances are provided if, based upon the weight of the available evidence, it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We expect to meet our short-term liquidity requirements through net cash provided by operations, existing cash balances and, if necessary, short-term borrowings under our senior unsecured revolving credit facility. We expect our existing cash balances and cash provided by operations will be adequate to fund operating requirements, service debt and fund dividends in accordance with the REIT requirements of the federal income tax laws.

We expect to meet our long-term liquidity requirements, such as hotel property acquisitions, property redevelopment, investments in existing or new joint ventures, and debt principal payments and debt maturities, through the net proceeds from additional issuances of common shares, additional issuances of preferred shares, issuances of units of limited partnership interest in our Operating Partnership, secured and unsecured borrowings, and cash provided by operations. The success of our business strategy may depend in part on our ability to access additional capital through issuances of debt and equity securities, which is dependent on favorable market conditions.

We strive to maintain prudent debt leverage and intend to opportunistically enhance our capital position.

Senior Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility, Unsecured Term Loan Facilities and Senior Unsecured Notes

On October 16, 2014, we amended and restated the credit agreement governing our unsecured revolving credit facility and unsecured term loan facility. On May 19, 2015, we exercised the agreement's accordion feature to increase the aggregate borrowing capacity by $150.0 million to $750.0 million. Our $750.0 million unsecured credit facility provides for a $450.0 million unsecured revolving credit facility (the "Revolver") and a $300.0 million unsecured term loan (the "First Term Loan"). The Revolver matures in January 2019 with options to extend the maturity date to January 2020 and the First Term Loan matures in January 2020.

As of December 31, 2015, we had $165.0 million outstanding under the Revolver and $300.0 million outstanding under the First Term Loan. As of December 31, 2015, we had $285.0 million borrowing capacity remaining under the Revolver. We have the ability to further increase the aggregate borrowing capacity under the credit agreement to up to $1.0 billion, subject to lender approval. We intend to repay indebtedness incurred under the Revolver from time to time out of cash flows from operations and from the net proceeds of issuances of additional equity and debt securities, as market conditions permit.

Interest is paid on the periodic advances under the senior unsecured revolving credit facility at varying rates, based upon either LIBOR or the alternate base rate, plus an additional margin amount. The interest rate depends upon our leverage ratio pursuant to the provisions of the credit facility agreement. We entered into interest rate swaps to effectively fix the interest rates of the First Term Loan. At December 31, 2015, the First Term Loan had a weighted-average effective interest rate of 2.93% through July 13, 2017 and a weighted-average effective interest rate of 3.51% from July 13, 2017 through January 15, 2020, based on the Company's leverage ratio at December 31, 2015.

On April 13, 2015, we entered into a second unsecured term loan facility (the "Second Term Loan"). The Second Term Loan has a $100.0 million capacity, which may be increased up to $200.0 million, subject to lender approval, and matures in April 2022. We borrowed $100.0 million under this new facility in 2015. The Second Term Loan bears interest at a variable rate of LIBOR plus 1.70% to 2.55%, depending on our leverage ratio. We entered into interest rate swaps to effectively fix the LIBOR rate for the entire duration of the term loan, resulting in a weighted-average effective interest rate of 3.46%, based on the Company's leverage ratio at December 31, 2015.

On June 10, 2015, we entered into a third unsecured term loan facility (the "Third Term Loan"). The Third Term Loan has a $125.0 million capacity, which may be increased up to $250.0 million, subject to lender approval, and matures in January

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2021. The Third Term Loan bears interest at a variable rate of LIBOR plus 1.45% to 2.20%, depending on the Company's leverage ratio. On July 10, 2015, we borrowed $125.0 million under this facility and entered into interest rate swaps to effectively fix the LIBOR rate for the entire duration of the term loan, resulting in a weighted-average effective interest rate of 3.29%, based on the Company's leverage ratio at December 31, 2015.

On November 12, 2015, we issued $60.0 million of senior unsecured notes (the "Series A Notes") bearing a fixed interest rate of 4.70% per annum and maturing in December 2023. On November 12, 2015, we issued $40.0 million of senior unsecured notes (the "Series B Notes") bearing a fixed interest rate of 4.93% per annum and maturing in December 2025.

On January 5, 2016, we exercised the accordion options on our Second Term Loan and Third Term Loan and increased the borrowing capacities of both by $75.0 million to $175.0 million and $200.0 million, respectively. We drew down a total of $150.0 million from both facilities. The additional borrowing on the Second Term Loan remains floating at a variable rate of LIBOR plus 1.70% to 2.55%, depending on our leverage ratio. We entered into interest rate swap agreements to effectively fix the LIBOR rate for the entire duration of the Third Term Loan, resulting in a weighted-average effective interest rate of 3.21%, based on the Company's leverage ratio at December 31, 2015.

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Debt Summary

Debt as of December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 consisted of the following (dollars in thousands):



			Balance Outstanding as of
	Interest Rate	Maturity Date	December 31, 2015		December 31, 2014
Senior unsecured revolving credit facility	Floating ⁽¹⁾	January 2019	$	165,000	$	50,000

Term loans
First Term Loan	Floating⁽²⁾	January 2020	300,000		300,000
Second Term Loan	Floating⁽²⁾	April 2022	100,000		—
Third Term Loan	Floating⁽²⁾	January 2021	125,000		—
Total term loans			525,000		300,000

Senior unsecured notes
Series A Notes	4.70%	December 2023	60,000		—
Series B Notes	4.93%	December 2025	40,000		—
Total senior unsecured notes			100,000		—

Mortgage loans
The Nines, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Portland ⁽³⁾	7.39%	March 2015	—		50,725
InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta	4.88%	January 2016	—		49,320
Skamania Lodge	5.44%	February 2016	—		29,308
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bethesda -Washington DC	5.28%	February 2016	—		34,575
Embassy Suites San Diego Bay - Downtown	6.28%	June 2016	63,116		64,462
Hotel Modera	5.26%	July 2016	22,833		23,225
Hotel Monaco Washington DC	4.36%	February 2017	42,895		43,756
Argonaut Hotel	4.25%	March 2017	42,823		44,006
Sofitel Philadelphia	3.90%	June 2017	45,668		46,968
Hotel Zelos (formerly Hotel Palomar San Francisco)	5.94%	September 2017	26,098		26,461
The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter	3.69%	January 2020	75,040		77,155
Mortgage loans at stated value			318,473		489,961
Mortgage loan premiums ⁽⁴⁾			1,581		4,026
Total mortgage loans			$	320,054	$	493,987
Total debt			$	1,110,054	$	843,987

_____________

⁽¹⁾ Borrowings bear interest at floating rates equal to, at our option, either (i) LIBOR plus an applicable margin or (ii) an Adjusted Base Rate (as defined in the senior unsecured credit agreement) plus an applicable margin. We have two six-month extension options.

⁽²⁾ Borrowings under our term loan facilities bear interest at floating rates equal to, at our option, either (i) LIBOR plus an applicable margin or (ii) a Base Rate plus an applicable margin. We entered into interest rate swaps to effectively fix the interest rate for the First Term Loan, the Second Term Loan and the Third Term Loan. At December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, we had interest rate swaps on the full amounts outstanding.

⁽³⁾ The interest rate of 7.39% represents a weighted-average interest rate of the three non-recourse mortgage loans assumed in conjunction with the acquisition of The Nines, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Portland. On March 5, 2015, we repaid these mortgage loans.

⁽⁴⁾ Loan premiums on assumed mortgages recorded in purchase accounting for the Hotel Zelos (formerly Hotel Palomar San Francisco), Embassy Suites San Diego Bay - Downtown, Hotel Modera, and The Nines, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Portland.

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On October 6, 2015, we repaid the $48.6 million mortgage loan on the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta. On November 6, 2015, we repaid the $28.9 million mortgage loan on the Skamania Lodge and the $34.1 million mortgage loan on the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bethesda -Washington DC.

Issuance of Shares of Beneficial Interest

On March 5, 2014, we entered into equity distribution agreements (collectively, the “Equity Distribution Agreements”) with each of Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Raymond James & Associates, Inc. (collectively, the “Sales Agents”), providing for our sale of our common shares having an aggregate offering price of up to $175.0 million from time to time, pursuant to a prospectus supplement we filed with the SEC, through any of the Sales Agents, acting as sales agent and/or principal, through an at-the-market offering program (our “ATM program”). At the same time, we terminated our prior $170.0 million ATM program. No common shares were issued or sold under our ATM program during the year ended December 31, 2015. As of December 31, 2015, $159.8 million in common shares remained available for issuance under the $175.0 million ATM program.

Sources and Uses of Cash

Our principal sources of cash are cash from operations, borrowings under mortgage financings and other debt, draws on our credit facility and the proceeds from offerings of our equity securities. Our principal uses of cash are asset acquisitions, debt service, capital investments, operating costs, corporate expenses and dividends.

Cash Provided by Operations. Our cash provided by operating activities was $220.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2015. Our cash from operations includes the operating activities of our 31 wholly owned hotels and cash distributions of $13.9 million from the Manhattan Collection joint venture. Our cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2014 was $161.3 million and relates principally to the 29 wholly owned hotels and operating cash flow distributions of $9.2 million received from the Manhattan Collection joint venture.

Cash Used in Investing Activities. Our cash used in investing activities was $399.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2015. During the year ended December 31, 2015, we purchased two hotels investing $305.1 million, invested $99.8 million in improvements to our hotel properties, placed deposit of $3.0 million for property under contract for purchase, received $3.0 million from a note receivable and had a decrease in restricted cash of $5.3 million. During the year ended December 31, 2014, we used $631.3 million of cash, of which we invested $575.7 million to purchase six hotels, invested $52.6 million in improvements to our hotel properties, used $1.1 million to purchase corporate equipment and furniture and received $1.1 million in property insurance proceeds.

Cash Provided by Financing Activities. Our cash provided by financing activities was $152.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2015. During the year ended December 31, 2015, we borrowed $490.0 million under the Revolver, repaid $375.0 million under the Revolver, borrowed $225.0 million under our term loan facilities, borrowed $100.0 million by issuing unsecured notes, repaid $171.5 million of mortgage debt, repurchased $4.1 million of common shares for tax withholding for vested share-based equity awards, paid $3.3 million in deferred financing fees, paid $110.0 million in distributions and had other financing activities of $1.5 million. For the year ended December 31, 2014, cash flows provided by financing activities was $467.8 million, which consisted of the issuance of 7.5 million common shares and 1.0 million Series C Preferred Shares for net proceeds totaling $316.9 million. We also borrowed $180.0 million under the Revolver, repaid $130.0 million from the Revolver, borrowed $200.0 million under our term loan facility, repaid $9.1 million of mortgage debt, paid $80.4 million in distributions and paid $9.6 million in other transactions.

Capital Investments

We maintain and intend to continue maintaining all of our hotels, including each hotel that we acquire in the future, in good repair and condition and in conformity with applicable laws and regulations and when applicable, in accordance with the franchisor’s standards and the agreed-upon requirements in our management agreements. Routine capital investments will be administered by the hotel management companies. However, we maintain approval rights over the capital investments as part of the annual budget process and as otherwise required from time to time.

From time to time, certain of our hotel properties may undergo renovations as a result of our decision to upgrade portions of the hotels, such as guestrooms, meeting space and restaurants, in order to better compete with other hotels in our markets. In addition, after we acquire a hotel property, we are often required by the franchisor or brand manager, if there is one, to complete a property improvement plan (“PIP”) in order to bring the hotel property up to the franchisor’s or brand’s standards. Generally, we expect to fund renovations and improvements with available cash, restricted cash, borrowings under our credit facility, or proceeds from new mortgage debt or equity offerings.

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For the year ended December 31, 2015, we invested $99.8 million in capital investments to reposition and improve the properties we own. We expect to invest approximately $95.0 million to $105.0 million in capital investments for our wholly owned hotels in 2016. In March 2015, the Hotel Vintage Plaza Portland was re-opened as Hotel Vintage Portland, after being closed in January 2015 for a $10.0 million renovation. The $23.5 million renovation of the W Los Angeles - West Beverly Hills was substantially completed at March 31, 2015 and the $32.0 million renovation of the Hotel Zephyr Fisherman's Wharf (formerly Radisson Hotel Fisherman's Wharf) was substantially completed at June 30, 2015. We expect to invest in a $15.0 million to $20.0 million renovation of The Westin Colonnade Coral Gables which began in the third quarter of 2015, $35.0 million renovation at The Prescott Hotel San Francisco which began in the fourth quarter of 2015, and a $16.0 million renovation at the Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection. The Westin Colonnade Coral Gables and Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection will remain open during its renovation. The renovation of The Prescott Hotel San Francisco commenced, and the hotel was closed, in November 2015 and the hotel will be re-opened as Hotel Zeppelin San Francisco upon completion, which is expected to occur by the second quarter of 2016.

Contractual Obligations and Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

The table below summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2015 and the effect such obligations are expected to have on our liquidity and cash flow in future periods (in thousands):



	Payments due by period
	Total		Less than 1 year		1 to 3 years		3 to 5 years		More than 5 years
Mortgage loans⁽¹⁾	$	341,768	$	104,512	$	166,330	$	70,926	$	—
Term loans ⁽²⁾	609,408		16,633		35,705		327,069		230,001
Unsecured notes ⁽¹⁾	142,899		4,872		9,717		9,730		118,580
Borrowings under credit facility ⁽³⁾	175,386		3,422		6,824		165,140		—
Hotel and ground leases ⁽⁴⁾	744,602		6,873		13,937		14,229		709,563
Capital lease obligation	36,543		—		368		643		35,532
Membership initiation deposits ⁽⁵⁾	32,088		398		—		—		31,690
Purchase commitments ⁽⁶⁾	22,472		22,472		—		—		—
Corporate office lease	3,930		368		766		808		1,988
Total	$	2,109,096	$	159,550	$	233,647	$	588,545	$	1,127,354

____________________


⁽¹⁾	Amounts include principal and interest.

⁽²⁾

Amounts include principal and interest. Borrowings under the term loan facilities bear interest at floating rates equal to, at the Company's option, either (i) LIBOR plus an applicable margin or (ii) a Base Rate plus an applicable margin. The Company entered into interest rate swaps to effectively fix the interest rates for all three of the term loans. At December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the Company had interest rate swaps on the full amounts outstanding.


⁽³⁾	Amounts include principal and interest. Interest expense is calculated based on the weighted-average interest rate for all outstanding credit facility borrowings as of December 31, 2015. It is assumed that the outstanding borrowings will be repaid upon maturity with fixed interest-only payments until then.

⁽⁴⁾

The long-term ground leases on the Hotel Monaco Washington DC and Argonaut Hotel provide for the greater of base or percentage rent, adjusted for CPI increases. The long-term hotel lease on the Hotel Zelos (formerly Hotel Palomar San Francisco) provides for base rent plus percentage rent, adjusted for CPI increases and contains a base rent floor and ceiling. The long-term leases on the Hotel Zephyr Fisherman's Wharf (formerly Radisson Hotel Fisherman's Wharf) provide for base plus percentage rent through 2016 and rent as a percentage of revenues and net income, as adjusted and defined in the agreements, in 2017 and thereafter. The long-term hotel lease on The Prescott Hotel San Francisco was determined to be both an operating and capital lease. The lease contains a fixed base rental increase every year during the lease term. The long-term ground lease on the Hotel Palomar Los Angeles - Beverly Hills provides for base rent, adjusted for CPI increases every five years. This lease has 19 five-year renewal options and the table assumes the exercise of all 19 renewal options. The long-term ground lease on the Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection provides for annual base rent equal to the greater of $0.1 million or annual real property taxes. The table above reflects only minimum base rent for all periods presented and does not include assumptions for CPI adjustments.


⁽⁵⁾	Represents refundable initiation membership deposits from club members at our LaPlaya Beach Resort and LaPlaya Beach Club.

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⁽⁶⁾	Amounts represent purchase orders and contracts that have been executed for renovation projects at the properties. We are committed to these purchase orders and contracts and anticipate making similar arrangements in the future with the existing properties or any future properties that we may acquire.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements – Joint Venture Indebtedness

We have a 49% equity interest in the Manhattan Collection joint venture, which owns six properties in New York City that have mortgage debt secured by these properties. We exercise significant influence over, but do not control, the joint venture and therefore account for our investment in the joint venture using the equity method of accounting.

As of December 31, 2015, the joint venture had $460.0 million in first mortgage debt, consisting of a single $410.0 million loan secured by five of the properties (excluding Dumont NYC) owned by the joint venture, a $50.0 million loan secured by the Dumont NYC and a $50.0 million unsecured special loan. The $410.0 million loan bears interest at an annual fixed rate of 3.67% and requires interest-only payments through maturity on January 5, 2018. The $50.0 million secured loan bears interest at an annual fixed interest rate of 3.14% and requires interest-only payments through maturity on May 1, 2018. In 2012, we provided the joint venture a $50.0 million unsecured special loan which matures at the earlier of July 4, 2018, the closing of any refinancing of the secured loan or the closing date of a portfolio sale (as defined in the loan agreement). The unsecured special loan bears interest at an annual fixed rate of 9.75% and requires interest-only payments through maturity. The unsecured special loan is pre-payable by the joint venture at any time.

The joint venture was in compliance with all of its debt covenants as of December 31, 2015. At December 31, 2015, the five hotel properties securing the joint venture’s $410.0 million loan entered a cash trigger period, as defined in the loan agreement, because their aggregate net operating income on a trailing 12-month basis was below a minimum threshold. As a result, the joint venture may not make distributions of cash generated by such hotel properties to its partners, including us, until the minimum net operating income from such hotel properties on a trailing 12-month basis exceeds the minimum threshold.

Inflation

We rely on the performance of the hotels to increase revenues to keep pace with inflation. Generally, our hotel operators possess the ability to adjust room rates daily, except for group or corporate rates contractually committed to in advance, although competitive pressures may limit the ability of our operators to raise rates faster than inflation or even at the same rate.

Seasonality

Demand in the lodging industry is affected by recurring seasonal patterns which are greatly influenced by overall economic cycles, geographic locations, weather and customer mix at the hotels. Generally, our hotels have lower revenue, operating income and cash flow in the first quarter of each year and higher revenue, operating income and cash flow in the third quarter of each year.

Derivative Instruments

In the normal course of business, we are exposed to the effects of interest rate changes. We may enter into derivative instruments including interest rate swaps, caps and collars to manage or hedge interest rate risk. Derivative instruments are subject to fair value reporting at each reporting date and the increase or decrease in fair value is recorded in net income (loss) or accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), based on the applicable hedge accounting guidance. Derivatives expose the Company to credit risk in the event of non-performance by the counterparties under the terms of the interest rate hedge agreements. The Company believes it minimizes the credit risk by transacting with major creditworthy financial institutions.

As of December 31, 2015, we had interest rate swaps with an aggregate notional amount of $300.0 million to hedge the variable interest rate on the First Term Loan and, as a result, the First Term Loan had a weighted-average effective interest rate of 2.93% through July 13, 2017 and a weighted-average effective interest rate of 3.51% from July 13, 2017 through January 15, 2020, based on our leverage ratio at December 31, 2015.

During 2015, we entered into swap agreements to hedge the variable interest rates on the full amounts outstanding on the Second Term Loan and the Third Term Loan. The Second Term Loan and the Third Term Loan had weighted-average effective interest rates of 3.46% and 3.29%, respectively, based on the Company’s leverage ratio at December 31, 2015.

We have designated these pay-fixed, receive-floating interest rate swap derivatives as cash flow hedges. For the year ended December 31, 2015, there was $4.4 million in unrealized loss recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income. The ineffectiveness of our interest rate swap derivatives was immaterial for the year ended December 31, 2015.

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Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

Interest Rate Sensitivity

We are exposed to market risk from changes in interest rates. We seek to limit the impact of interest rate changes on earnings and cash flows and to lower our overall borrowing costs by closely monitoring our variable rate debt and converting such debt to fixed rates when we deem such conversion advantageous. From time to time, we may enter into interest rate swap agreements or other interest rate hedging contracts. While these agreements are intended to lessen the impact of rising interest rates, they also expose us to the risks that the other parties to the agreements will not perform, we could incur significant costs associated with the settlement of the agreements, the agreements will be unenforceable and the underlying transactions will fail to qualify as highly effective cash flow hedges under guidance included in ASC 815 "Derivatives and Hedging."

The table below provides information about financial instruments that are sensitive to changes in interest rates, including mortgage obligations, bonds and lines of credit. For debt obligations, the table presents scheduled maturities, including annual amortization of principal, and related weighted-average interest rates for the debt maturing in each specified period (dollars in thousands).



	2016			2017			2018			2019			2020			Thereafter			Total
Liabilities
Fixed rate debt	$	91,993		$	155,908		$	2,366		$	2,456		$	65,752		$	100,000		$	418,475
Average interest rate	5.88		%	4.45		%	3.69		%	3.69		%	3.69		%	4.79		%	4.72		%
Variable rate debt	$	—		$	—		$	—		$	165,000		$	300,000		$	225,000		$	690,000
Average interest rate ⁽¹⁾	—		%	—		%	—		%	2.04		%	3.51		%	3.37		%	3.11		%
Total	$	91,993		$	155,908		$	2,366		$	167,456		$	365,752		$	325,000		$	1,108,475

____________
⁽¹⁾See discussion of our debt under Liquidity and Capital Resources and Derivative Instruments.

This table reflects indebtedness outstanding as of December 31, 2015 and does not reflect indebtedness, if any, incurred after that date. Our ultimate exposure to interest rate fluctuations depends on the amount of indebtedness that bears interest at variable rates, the time at which the interest rate is adjusted, the amount of adjustment, the ability to prepay or refinance variable rate indebtedness and hedging strategies used to reduce the impact of any increases in rates. As of December 31, 2015, the estimated fair value of our fixed rate debt was $465.4 million.

As of December 31, 2015, $165.0 million of the Company's aggregate indebtedness (15% of total indebtedness) was subject to variable interest rates, excluding amounts outstanding under the term loan facilities that have been effectively swapped into fixed rates. If interest rates on our unhedged variable rate debt increase or decrease by 0.1 percent, our annual interest expense will increase or decrease by approximately $0.2 million, respectively.

Item 8. Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

See Financial Statements and index beginning on page F-1.

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting Financial Disclosure.

None.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we have evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this report, these disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by us in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management's Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the original framework in Internal Control - Integrated Framework issued in 2013 by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on our evaluation under the framework in Internal Control - Integrated Framework, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2015.

We acquired the The Tuscan Fisherman's Wharf, a Best Western Plus Hotel on June 11, 2015 and have excluded the hotel operations of this property from our assessment of effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015. This hotel has aggregate hotel-level assets and liabilities of $0.4 million and $1.3 million, respectively, and hotel revenues and expenses of $12.1 million and $6.0 million, respectively, as of and for the year ended December 31, 2015.

KPMG LLP, a registered independent accounting firm, has audited our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and, as part of its audit, has issued its report, included herein on page F-3, on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

There was no change to our internal control over financial reporting during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2015 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Item 9B. Other Information.

None.

PART III

Item 10. Trustees, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.