Organization and Description of Business

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization and Description of Business

Organization and Description of Business

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc., together with its subsidiaries (“Ashford Trust”), is a real estate investment trust (“REIT”). While our portfolio currently consists of upscale hotels and upper upscale full-service hotels, our investment strategy is predominantly focused on investing in upper upscale full-service hotels in the U.S. that have revenue per available room (“RevPAR”) generally less than twice the U.S. national average, and in all methods including direct real estate, equity, and debt. Future investments will predominantly be in upper upscale hotels. We own our lodging investments and conduct our business through Ashford Hospitality Limited Partnership (“Ashford Trust OP”), our operating partnership. Ashford OP General Partner LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ashford Trust, serves as the sole general partner of our operating partnership. In this report, terms such as the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our” refer to Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. and all entities included in its consolidated financial statements.

Our hotel properties are primarily branded under the widely recognized upscale and upper upscale brands of Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Intercontinental Hotel Group. As of March 31, 2021, we owned interests in the following assets:

•102 consolidated hotel properties, including 100 directly owned and two owned through a majority-owned investment in a consolidated entity, which represent 22,569 total rooms (or 22,542 net rooms excluding those attributable to our partner);

•90 hotel condominium units at WorldQuest Resort in Orlando, Florida (“WorldQuest”); and

•17.1% ownership in OpenKey with a carrying value of $2.7 million.

For U.S. federal income tax purposes, we have elected to be treated as a REIT, which imposes limitations related to operating hotels. As of March 31, 2021, our 102 hotel properties were leased or owned by our wholly-owned or majority-owned subsidiaries that are treated as taxable REIT subsidiaries for U.S. federal income tax purposes (collectively, these subsidiaries are referred to as “Ashford TRS”). Ashford TRS then engages third-party or affiliated hotel management companies to operate the hotels under management contracts. Hotel operating results related to these properties are included in the consolidated statements of operations.

We are advised by Ashford Hospitality Advisors LLC (“Ashford LLC”), a subsidiary of Ashford Inc., through an advisory agreement. All of the hotel properties in our portfolio are currently asset-managed by Ashford LLC. We do not have any employees. All of the services that might be provided by employees are provided to us by Ashford LLC.

We do not operate any of our hotel properties directly; instead we employ hotel management companies to operate them for us under management contracts. Remington Hotels, a subsidiary of Ashford Inc., manages 68 of our 102 hotel properties and WorldQuest. Third-party management companies manage the remaining hotel properties.

Ashford Inc. also provides other products and services to us or our hotel properties through certain entities in which Ashford Inc. has an ownership interest. These products and services include, but are not limited to project management services, debt placement and related services, audio visual services, real estate advisory services, insurance claims services, hypoallergenic premium rooms, investment management services, broker-dealer and distribution services and mobile key technology.

In June 2020, our board of directors approved a reverse stock split of our issued and outstanding common stock at a ratio of 1-for-10. This reverse stock split converted every ten issued and outstanding shares of common stock into one share of common stock. The reverse stock split was effective as of the close of business on July 15, 2020. As a result of the reverse stock split, the number of outstanding shares of common stock was reduced from approximately 104.8 million shares to approximately 10.5 million shares on that date. Additionally, the number of outstanding common units, Long-Term Incentive Plan (“LTIP”) units and Performance LTIP units was reduced from approximately 20.5 million units to approximately 2.1 million units on that date. All common stock, common units, LTIP units, Performance LTIP units, performance stock units and restricted stock units as well as per share data related to these classes of equity have been revised in the accompanying consolidated financial statements to reflect this reverse stock split for all periods presented.

COVID-19, Management’s Plans and Liquidity

In December 2019, COVID-19 was identified in Wuhan, China, subsequently spread to other regions of the world, and has resulted in significant travel restrictions and extended shutdown of numerous businesses in every state in the United States. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. Since late February 2020, we have

experienced a significant decline in occupancy and RevPAR and we expect the significant occupancy and RevPAR declines associated with COVID-19 to continue as we are experiencing significant reservation cancellations as well as a significant reduction in new reservations. The prolonged presence of the virus has resulted in health and other government authorities imposing widespread restrictions on travel and other businesses. The hotel industry and our portfolio have experienced the postponement or cancellation of a significant number of business conferences and similar events. Following the government mandates and health official orders, in March 2020, the Company temporarily suspended operations at 23 of its 116 hotels and dramatically reduced staffing and expenses at its hotels that remained operational. As of March 31, 2021, operations at one of the Company’s hotels remained temporarily suspended. COVID-19 has had a significant negative impact on the Company’s operations and financial results to date. The full financial impact of the reduction in hotel demand caused by the pandemic cannot be reasonably estimated at this time due to uncertainty as to its severity and duration. In addition, one or more possible recurrences of COVID-19 cases could result in further reductions in business and personal travel and could cause state and local governments to reinstate travel restrictions. The Company expects that the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to have a significant negative impact on the Company’s results of operations, financial position and cash flow throughout 2021 and for the foreseeable future. As a result, the Company suspended the quarterly cash dividend on its common stock beginning in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020, suspended the quarterly cash dividend on its preferred stock beginning in the second quarter of fiscal year 2020, reduced planned capital expenditures, and worked closely with its hotel managers to significantly reduce its hotels’ operating expenses.

Beginning on April 1, 2020, the Company did not make principal or interest payments under nearly all of our loans, which constituted an “Event of Default” as such term is defined under the applicable loan documents. Pursuant to the terms of the applicable loan documents, such an Event of Default caused an automatic increase in the interest rate on our outstanding loan balance for the period such Event of Default remains outstanding. Following an Event of Default, our lenders can generally elect to accelerate all principal and accrued interest payments that remain outstanding under the applicable loan agreement and foreclose on the applicable hotel properties that are security for such loans.

The Company continues to have discussions with its lenders about potential loan modifications on its property level debt. At this time, forbearance agreements have been executed on most, but not all of our loans. In the aggregate, as of March 31, 2021 the Company has entered into forbearance and other agreements with varying terms and conditions that conditionally waive or defer payment defaults for loans with a total outstanding principal balance of approximately $3.6 billion out of approximately $3.7 billion in property level debt outstanding as of March 31, 2021. See note 7.

On January 15, 2021, the Company entered into a senior secured term loan facility with Oaktree Capital Management L.P. comprising of (a) initial term loans in an aggregate principal amount of $200 million, (b) initial delayed draw term loans in an aggregate principal amount of up to $150 million and (c) additional delayed draw term loans in an aggregate principal amount of up to $100 million. See note 7.

When preparing financial statements for each annual and interim reporting period management has the responsibility to evaluate whether there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, that create substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. In applying the accounting guidance, the Company considers its current financial condition and liquidity sources, including current funds available, forecasted future cash flows and its unconditional obligations due over the next 12 months.

As of March 31, 2021, the Company held cash and cash equivalents of $225.4 million and restricted cash of $67.7 million. We are currently experiencing significant variability in the operating cash flows of our hotel properties. We cannot predict when hotel operating levels will return to normalized levels after the effects of the pandemic subside, whether our hotels will be forced to shut down operations or whether one or more governmental entities may impose additional travel restrictions due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the future. As a result of these factors arising from the impact of the pandemic, we are unable to estimate future financial performance with certainty. However, based on our completed senior secured term loan facility with Oaktree Capital Management L.P. and forbearance and other agreements with our property-level lenders, our current unrestricted and restricted cash on hand, our current cash utilization and forecast of future operating results for the next 12 months from the date of this report, and the actions we have taken to improve our liquidity, the Company has concluded that management’s current plan alleviates the substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. Facts and circumstances could change in the future that are outside of management’s control, such as additional government mandates, health official orders, travel restrictions and extended business shutdowns due to COVID-19.