Exhibit 5.1

November 9, 2018

Board of Trustees

Chesapeake Lodging Trust

4300 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 625

Arlington, Virginia 22203

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We are acting as counsel to Chesapeake Lodging Trust, a Maryland real estate investment trust (the “Trust”), in connection with its registration statement on Form S-8 (the “Registration Statement”), filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, relating to the proposed offering of up to 1,250,000 newly issued common shares of beneficial interest, par value $.01 per share (the “Common Shares”) of the Trust (the “Shares”), all of which may be issued by the Trust pursuant to the Chesapeake Lodging Trust Equity Plan, as amended and restated as of June 14, 2018 (the “Plan”). This opinion letter is furnished to you at your request to enable you to fulfill the requirements of Item 601(b)(5) of Regulation S-K, 17 C.F.R. § 229.601(b)(5), in connection with the Registration Statement.

For purposes of this opinion letter, we have examined copies of such agreements, instruments and documents as we have deemed an appropriate basis on which to render the opinions hereinafter expressed. In our examination of the aforesaid documents, we have assumed the genuineness of all signatures, the legal capacity of all natural persons, the accuracy and completeness of all documents submitted to us, the authenticity of all original documents, and the conformity to authentic original documents of all documents submitted to us as copies (including telecopies). We also have assumed that the Shares will not be issued in violation of the ownership limit contained in the Trust’s Articles of Amendment and Restatement of Declaration of Trust. As to all matters of fact, we have relied on the representations and statements of fact made in the documents so reviewed, and we have not independently established the facts so relied on. This opinion letter is given, and all statements herein are made, in the context of the foregoing.

This opinion letter is based as to matters of law solely on Title 8 of the Corporations and Associations Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland and applicable provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law, as amended. We express no opinion herein as to any other laws, statutes, ordinances, rules, or regulations.

Based upon, subject to and limited by the foregoing, we are of the opinion that following (i) effectiveness of the Registration Statement, (ii) issuance of the Shares pursuant to the terms of the Plan and the applicable award agreements, and (iii) receipt by the Trust of the consideration for the Shares specified in the applicable resolutions of the Board of Trustees or Compensation Committee thereof, and in the Plan and the applicable award agreements, the Shares will be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable.

This opinion letter has been prepared for your use in connection with the Registration Statement. We assume no obligation to advise you of any changes in the foregoing subsequent to the effective date of the Registration Statement.

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion letter as Exhibit 5.1 to the Registration Statement. In giving this consent, we do not thereby admit that we are an “expert” within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Very truly yours,

/s/ POLSINELLI PC