Hotel real estate investment trusts reported healthy fourth-quarter earnings buoyed by an improved operating environment that allowed for rate increases and higher revenue per available room.
Bethesda, Md.-based Pebblebrook Hotel Trust had fourth-quarter net income of $4.8 million compared to $2.6 million at the same time last year. For the full year, net income was $20 million, more than double the earnings of $8.3 million in 2012.
It is forecasting 2014 net income of as much as $69.1 million. In 2013, Pebblebrook acquired four hotels for a total of $326 million: the Redbury in Los Angeles; the Radisson Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco; Hotel Modera in Portland, Ore.; and the San Diego Embassy Suites.
Chesapeake Lodging Trust said fourth-quarter funds from operations increased to $21.5 million up from $15.9 million in the same period last year.
Revenues increased to $111.6 million from $85.1 million last year. In 2013, Chesapeake acquired such hotels as the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf (pictured) in San Francisco, the W New Orleans and the Hyatt Santa Barbara.
At LaSalle Hotel Properties, RevPAR grew to $157.05 in the fourth quarter, up from $149.24 a year earlier—a 5.2-percent bump.
Last August, the REIT announced it had acquired three hotels in Key West, Fla., and one in San Francisco. In Florida, LaSalle acquired the 260-room Southernmost Hotel Collection for $184.5 million. The Collection consists of three separate hotels: Southernmost on the Beach, Southernmost Hotel in the USA and La Mer Hotel & Dewey House.
On the other side of the U.S., it acquired the 236-room Serrano Hotel in San Francisco for $71.5 million.
LaSalle's RevPAR number excluded the Park Central Hotel in New York, which LaSalle closed on in January 2012. Including the Park Central, RevPAR was up 3.3 percent for the quarter.
The one blip was Sunstone Hotel Investors, which said fourth-quarter funds from operations decreased to $38.29 million from $39.40 million in the same period last year.
Revenues increased to $243.90 million from $232.97 million last year. Two of Sunstone's bigger deals in 2013 were the acquisitions of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco and the Boston Park Plaza.