Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation

The nature of the operations of the hotels exposes the hotels, the Company and the Operating Partnership to the risk of claims and litigation in the normal course of their business. The Company is not presently subject to any material litigation nor, to the Company’s knowledge, is any material litigation threatened against the Company or its properties.

Hotel Ground Rent

The Altoona hotel is subject to a ground lease with an expiration date of April 30, 2029 with an extension option of up to 12 additional terms of five years each. Monthly payments are determined by the quarterly average room occupancy of the hotel. Rent is equal to approximately $7,000 per month when monthly occupancy is less than 85% and can increase up to approximately $20,000 per month if occupancy is 100%, with minimum rent increased on an annual basis by two and one-half percent (2.5%).

At the New Rochelle Residence Inn, there is an air rights lease and garage lease that each expire on December 1, 2104. The lease agreements with the City of New Rochelle cover the space above the parking garage that is occupied by the hotel as well as 128 parking spaces in a parking garage that is attached to the hotel. The annual base rent for the garage lease is the hotel’s proportionate share of the city’s adopted budget for the operations, management and maintenance of the garage and established reserves to fund for the cost of capital repairs.

Future minimum rental payments under the terms of all non-cancellable operating ground leases under which the Company is the lessee are expensed on a straight-line basis regardless of when payments are due. The following is a schedule of the minimum future obligation payments required under the ground, air rights and garages leases as of June 30, 2013, for the remainder of 2013 and for each of the next four calendar years and thereafter (in thousands):



	Amount
2013 (remaining six months)	$	103
2014	207
2015	210
2016	212
2017	214
Thereafter	11,445
Total	$	12,391

Management Agreements

The management agreements with Concord, the manager of the Altoona, Pennsylvania Courtyard by Marriott and the Washington, Pennsylvania SpringHill Suites by Marriott hotels, provide for base management fees equal to 4% of the managed hotel’s gross room revenue. The initial ten-year term of each management agreement expires on February 28, 2017 and will renew automatically for successive one-year terms unless terminated by the TRS lessee or the manager by written notice to the other party no later than 90 days prior to the then current term’s expiration date. The management agreements may be terminated for cause, including the failure of the managed hotel operating performance to meet specified levels. If the Company were to terminate the management agreements during the first nine years of the term other than for breach or default by the manager, the Company would be responsible for paying termination fees to the manager.

In 2012, the Company assumed hotel management agreements in place at six hotels the Company acquired in 2010 — the Boston-Billerica Homewood Suites, Minneapolis-Bloomington Homewood Suites, Nashville-Brentwood Homewood Suites, Dallas Homewood Suites, Hartford-Farmington Homewood Suites and Orlando-Maitland Homewood Suites — all of which were managed by Promus Hotels, Inc., a subsidiary of Hilton Hotels Worldwide (“Hilton”). During 2012, each of these management agreements was terminated and new management agreements were entered into with IHM.

All of the remaining hotels are managed by IHM. The management agreements with IHM have an initial term of five years and may be renewed for two five-year periods at IHM’s option by written notice to us no later than 90 days prior to the then current term’s expiration date. The IHM management agreements provide for early termination at the Company’s option upon sale of any IHM-managed hotel for no termination fee, with six months advance notice. The IHM management agreements may be terminated for cause, including the failure of the managed hotel to meet specified performance levels. Management agreements with IHM provide for a base management fee of 3% of the managed hotel’s gross revenues for the Hampton Inn Houston, TX, Residence Inn Holtsville, NY, Residence Inn White Plains, NY, Residence Inn New Rochelle, NY, Homewood Suites Carlsbad, CA, Portland Hotel, Houston CY Hotel and Pittsburgh Hotel and 2.5% of the managed hotel’s gross revenues for the Residence Inn Garden Grove, CA, Residence Inn San Diego, CA, Homewood Suites San Antonio, TX, Washington Guest Suites, Washington, DC and Residence Inn Tysons Corner, VA and 2% for the six hotels transitioned to IHM from Hilton. Management agreements with IHM also provide for accounting fees up to $1,500 per month per hotel, revenue management fees up to $1,000 per month per hotel and, if certain financial thresholds are met or exceeded, an incentive management fee equal to 10% of the hotel’s net operating income less fixed costs, base management fees and a specified return threshold. The incentive management fee is capped at 1% of gross hotel revenues for the applicable calculation.

Management fees totaled approximately $0.8 million and $0.7 million, respectively, for the three months ended June 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively and approximately $1.5 million and $1.3 million, respectively, for the six months ended June 30, 2013, and 2012.

Franchise Agreements

One of the Company’s TRS Lessees has entered into hotel franchise agreements with Promus Hotels, Inc., a subsidiary of Hilton, for eight Homewood Suites by Hilton hotels. Each of the hotel franchise agreements has an initial term ranging from 15-18 years and will expire between 2025 and 2028. These Hilton hotel franchise agreements provide for a franchise royalty fee up to 6% of the hotel’s gross room revenue and a program fee equal to 4% of the hotel’s gross room revenue. The Hilton franchise agreements provide that the franchisor may terminate the franchise agreement in the event that the applicable franchisee fails to cure an event of default, or in certain circumstances such as the franchisee’s bankruptcy or insolvency, are terminable by Hilton at will.

One of the Company’s TRS Lessees has entered into franchise agreements with Marriott, relating to six Residence Inn properties, two Courtyard properties and the SpringHill Suites property. These franchise agreements have initial terms ranging from 15 to 20 years and will expire between 2025 and 2031. None of the agreements have a renewal option. The Marriott franchise agreements provide for franchise fees ranging from 5.0% to 5.5% of the hotel’s gross room sales and marketing fees ranging from 2.0% to 2.5% of the hotel’s gross room sales. The Marriott franchise agreements are terminable by Marriott in the event that the applicable franchisee fails to cure an event of default or, in certain circumstances such as the franchisee’s bankruptcy or insolvency, are terminable by Marriott at will. The Marriott franchise agreements provide that, in the event of a proposed transfer of the hotel, its TRS Lessee’s interest in the agreement or more than a specified amount of the TRS Lessee to a competitor of Marriott, Marriott has the right to purchase or lease the hotel under terms consistent with those contained in the respective offer and may terminate if our TRS Lessee elects to proceed with such a transfer.

One of the Company’s TRS Lessees has entered into franchise agreements with Hampton Inns Franchise LLC, (“Hampton Inns”), for two Hampton Inn & Suites^®. The franchise agreement for the Houston Hotel has an initial term of approximately 10 years and expires on July 31, 2020. The franchise agreement for the Portland Hotel has an initial term of approximately 20 years and expires on February 29, 2032. The Hampton Inns franchise agreement provides for a monthly program fee equal to 4% of the hotel’s gross rooms revenue and a monthly royalty fees ranging from 5% to 6% of the hotel’s gross rooms revenue. None of the agreements have a renewal option. Hampton Inns may terminate the franchise agreement in the event that the franchisee fails to cure an event of default or, in certain circumstances such as the franchisee’s bankruptcy or insolvency, Hampton Inns may terminate the agreement at will.

One of the Company’s TRS lessees entered into a franchise agreement with Doubletree Franchise LLC (“Doubletree”), relating to the Doubletree Guest Suites by Hilton in Washington, DC. The Doubletree franchise agreement was terminated on January 31, 2013 for no costs, currently the hotel is operating as a Guest Suites and is expected to be re-branded as a Residence Inn by Marriott in September 2013.

One of the Company's TRS lessees entered into a franchise agreement with Hyatt Hotels LLC ("Hyatt"), relating to the Pittsburgh Hotel. The franchise agreement for the Pittsburgh Hotel has an initial term of approximately 17 years and expires on December 2, 2030. The franchise agreement provides for a monthly program fee equal to 5% of the hotel's gross rooms revenue and a monthly royalty fee of approximately 3.5% of the hotel's gross rooms revenue. The Pittsburgh Hotel franchise agreement is not renewable.

Franchise fees totaled approximately $2.2 million and $2.0 million, respectively, for the three months ended June 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively and approximately $4.1 million and $3.7 million, respectively, for the six months ended June 30, 2013 and 2012.