NOTE 9 — COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Ground Leases

We lease land for one hotel property in Duluth, GA under the terms of an operating ground lease agreement expiring April 1, 2069. We also have two prepaid land leases for two hotel properties in Portland, OR which expire in June of 2084 and have a remaining prepaid balance of $3.3 million and $3.4 million at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. We have one option to extend these leases for an additional 14 years. We lease land for one hotel property in Houston (Galleria Area), TX under the terms of an operating ground lease agreement with an initial termination date of April 20, 2053 with one option to extend for an additional 10 years. We lease land for one hotel property in Austin, TX with an initial lease termination date of May 31, 2050. We lease land for one hotel property in Baltimore (Hunt Valley), MD with a lease termination date of December 31, 2019 and twelve remaining options to extend for five additional years per extension. Total rent expense for these leases for 2015, 2014 and 2013 was $1.2 million, $1.1 million, and $0.5 million, respectively.

Future minimum rental payments for noncancelable operating leases with a remaining term in excess of one year are as follows (in thousands):

2016	$	1,241
2017	1,247
2018	1,138
2019	1,129
2020	1,198
Thereafter	106,928

	$	112,881

In addition, we lease land for one hotel property in Garden City, NY under a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) lease. We pay a reduced amount of property tax each year of the lease as rent. The lease expires on December 31, 2019. Upon expiration of the lease, we expect to exercise our right to acquire a fee simple interest in the hotel for nominal consideration.

Franchise Agreements

All of our hotel properties operate under franchise agreements with major hotel franchisors. The terms of our franchise agreements generally range from 10 to 20 years with various extension provisions. Each franchisor receives franchise fees ranging from 2% to 6% of each hotel property’s gross revenue, and some agreements require that we pay marketing fees of up to 4% of gross revenue. In addition, some of these franchise agreements require that we deposit a percentage of the hotel property’s gross revenue, generally not more than 5%, into a reserve fund for capital expenditures. In 2015, 2014, and 2013, we expensed fees related to our franchise agreements of $37.8 million, $33.6 million, and $27.7 million, respectively.

Management Agreements

Our hotel properties operate pursuant to management agreements with various third-party management companies. The terms of our management agreements range from three to twenty-five years with various extension provisions. Each management company receives a base management fee, generally a percentage of total hotel property revenues. In some cases there are also monthly fees for certain services, such as accounting, based on number of guestrooms. Generally there are also incentive fees based on attaining certain financial thresholds. In 2015, 2014, and 2013, we expensed fees related to our hotel management agreements of $18.6 million, $16.1 million, and $13.5 million, respectively.

Litigation

We are involved from time to time in litigation arising in the ordinary course of business; however, we are not currently aware of any actions against us that we believe would have a material effect on our financial condition or results of operations.