SHARE BASED PAYMENTS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

Our shareholders approved the Hersha Hospitality Trust 2012 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, (the “2012 Plan”) for the purpose of attracting and retaining executive officers, employees, trustees and other persons and entities that provide services to the Company. Pursuant to the 2012 Plan, equity may be awarded in the form of stock awards, LTIP Units, or performance share awards issuable.

The Short Term Incentive Program ("STIP") and the Long-Term Incentive Program ("LTIP") were incentive compensation programs the Compensation Committee of our Board of Trustees established to align executive compensation with the performance of the Company. Prior to 2019, executives participated in our legacy incentive compensation programs, including the Multi-Year Long Term Equity Incentive Program ("Multi-Year EIP").

On April 10, 2020, based on the achievement of certain metrics established under the 2019 STIP for the performance period ended December 31, 2019, the Compensation Committee awarded 833,539 LTIP Units. The awards issued pursuant to the STIP vest on December 31, 2021, the two year anniversary following the end of the performance period. On April 13, 2020, the Compensation Committee awarded 240,923 LTIP Units based on the achievement of certain metrics established under the 2017 Multi-Year EIP for the performance period ended December 31, 2019. Following the three year performance period, the awards issued pursuant to the 2017 Multi-Year EIP vest 50% on the date of issuance and 50% on December 31, 2020. The LTIP Units awarded under both the 2019 STIP and the 2017 Multi-Year EIP were determined by dividing the dollar amount of award earned by $3.58, the per share volume weighted average trading price of the Company’s common shares on the NYSE for the 20 trading days prior to April 13, 2020, the date of issuance.

On August 3, 2020, the Compensation Committee approved the 2020 STIP. This program has a performance period ending on December 31, 2020. As of September 30, 2020, no shares have been issued to the executive officers in settlement of the 2020 STIP awards.

On August 3, 2020, the Compensation Committee approved the 2020 LTIP. This program has a three-year performance period which commenced on January 1, 2020 and ends December 31, 2022. As of September 30, 2020, no shares or LTIP Units have been issued to the executive officers in settlement of 2020 LTIP awards.

A summary of our share based compensation activity from January 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 is as follows:


	LTIP Unit Awards			Restricted Share Awards			Share Awards
	Number of Units	Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value		Number of Restricted Shares	Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value		Number of Shares	Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value

Unvested Balance as of December 31, 2019	441,201	$	17.99	92,102	$	17.07	—

Granted	1,112,862	5.24		189,851	5.34		—	N/A
Vested	(120,459)	5.23		(78,962)	12.49		—	N/A
Forfeited	—	N/A		(113)	18.00		—	N/A

Unvested Balance as of September 30, 2020	1,433,604	$	9.16	202,878	$	7.87	—

The following table summarizes share based compensation expense for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 and unearned compensation as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019:


	Share Based Compensation Expense								Unearned Compensation
	For the Three Months Ended				For the Nine Months Ended				As of
	9/30/2020		9/30/2019		9/30/2020		9/30/2019		9/30/2020		12/31/2019

Issued Awards
LTIP Unit Awards	$	1,169	$	1,428	$	4,120	$	4,218	$	3,071	$	2,878
Restricted Share Awards	428		334		1,103		1,128		958		1,051
Share Awards	—		—		—		402		—		—
Unissued Awards
Market Based	339		388		968		1,078		2,285		2,739
Performance Based	—		(141)		—		615		—		—

Total	$	1,936	$	2,009	$	6,191	$	7,441	$	6,314	$	6,668

The weighted-average period of which the unrecognized compensation expense will be recorded is approximately 1.5 years for LTIP Unit Awards and 0.7 years for Restricted Share Awards.

The remaining unvested target units are expected to vest as follows:


	2020	2021	2022	2023

LTIP Unit Awards	535,478	898,126	—	—
Restricted Share Awards	3,784	187,393	8,170	3,531

	539,262	1,085,519	8,170	3,531