7 Quotes by Paul Whetsell

Results from all three of our recent investments have exceeded our initial expectations and contributed significantly to our excellent 2005 results.

Our management team remained focused and active in early 2006. We have taken several actions since year end that will greatly accelerate our capital structure improvement and provide a stronger platform for future growth.

We have substantially and successfully concluded our asset disposition plan and intend to promptly apply these proceeds to repay our senior unsecured notes. These actions will significantly improve our financial flexibility and interest coverage, providing us a much broader ability to address business issues and further enhance shareholder value.

With our focus on upscale, full-service brands in major urban markets, we benefited fully from the continuing growth in transient business demand and the increased competitive strength of our portfolio. We are encouraged that the development pipeline remains conservative, especially in urban markets, where barriers to new competition are the highest.

As Blackstone started to look at some of our assets they made an offer for the whole company which we felt was very attractive.

Following the completion of the Blackstone transaction, we will have sold 25 assets for $586 million since the beginning of 2005. This group of 25 properties contributed over $30 million in adjusted EBITDA2 for the full year 2005. These sales essentially complete our asset disposition program, with only six properties remaining for disposition that are expected to generate approximately $70 million in proceeds. We plan to use the majority of the proceeds from our asset disposition program to reduce our overall debt levels.

The benefits of our renovation program are accelerating. By the end of 2005, nearly every property in our portfolio had significant renovation work completed within the past two years. We believe that our portfolio of hotels now is well positioned for continued future growth.