Earnings call transcript: Sotherly Hotels Faces Revenue Miss in Q2 2025

Sotherly Hotels Inc. reported its Q2 2025 earnings, revealing a revenue miss compared to forecasts. The company posted a revenue of $48.8 million, falling short of the $51.8 million forecast, marking a 5.81% negative surprise. The earnings per share (EPS) also disappointed, coming in at -$0.02. Despite these results, the stock saw a 2.15% pre-market increase, trading at $0.807. According to InvestingPro analysis, the stock appears undervalued based on its Fair Value calculation, though investors should note the company’s challenging financial metrics, including a concerning current ratio of 0.31.

Key Takeaways

• Sotherly Hotels reported a 5.81% revenue miss for Q2 2025.
• EPS was -$0.02, below expectations.
• Pre-market stock price rose by 2.15%.
• Ongoing restoration and capital expenditures are planned for Hotel Alba and other properties.
• Macroeconomic challenges, including reduced government travel, impacted performance.

Company Performance

Sotherly Hotels experienced a challenging quarter, with total revenue decreasing by 3.7% year-over-year. The company attributed the decline to macroeconomic factors such as elevated interest rates and reduced government-related travel. Despite these challenges, the company maintains a strong position in upscale and upper-upscale assets, with a resilient average daily rate (ADR) reflecting the strength of high-end travelers.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $48.8 million, down 3.7% year-over-year.
• Hotel EBITDA: $13.9 million, an 11.5% decrease.
• Adjusted FFO: $4.8 million, down $2.7 million.
• Total cash: $26.5 million.
• Outstanding debt: $315.8 million at a 5.89% weighted average interest rate.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Sotherly Hotels missed its revenue forecast by 5.81%, with actual revenue at $48.8 million against the expected $51.8 million. The EPS of -$0.02 also fell short of expectations, underscoring the impact of ongoing economic pressures on the hotel’s performance.

Market Reaction

Despite the earnings miss, Sotherly Hotels’ stock price increased by 2.15% in pre-market trading, reaching $0.807. This movement may reflect investor confidence in the company’s strategic plans and potential recovery in the latter half of 2025.

Outlook & Guidance

For the full year 2025, Sotherly Hotels projects revenue between $185.2 million and $188.2 million. The company anticipates flat RevPAR compared to 2024, with Hotel EBITDA expected to range from $45.3 million to $45.8 million. Capital expenditures are planned at $7.1 million, focusing on property improvements.

Executive Commentary

Dave, an executive at Sotherly Hotels, expressed confidence in the company’s ability to adapt and execute targeted sales strategies, noting, "We remain confident in our operators’ ability to adapt quickly and execute targeted sales and revenue strategies." Scott, another executive, added, "We’re not expecting further pullback necessarily," highlighting a cautiously optimistic outlook.

Risks and Challenges

• Macroeconomic headwinds, including elevated interest rates.
• Reduced government-related travel impacting revenue.
• Inflationary pressures affecting consumer spending.
• Softening demand in leisure and business travel segments.
• Challenges in the hotel mortgage market.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the impact of reduced government-related business, which represents a high single-digit percentage of the portfolio. Executives also discussed expected improvements in group bookings for the second half of 2025 and addressed challenges in the hotel mortgage market.

Full transcript - Sotherly Hotels Inc (SOHO) Q2 2025:

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Sutherland Hotels q two twenty twenty five conference call and webcast will begin shortly with your host, Mac Sims. We appreciate your patience as we prepare your session today. During the call, we encourage participants to raise any questions they may have. You can raise a question by pressing star followed by one on the telephone keypad. And to move yourself to line with questioning, it will be star followed by two.

As a reminder, raise a question, will be star followed by one. We will begin shortly.

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: Good morning all,

Conference Operator: and thank you for joining us for the Certainly Sales q two twenty twenty five conference call and webcast. My name is Carly, and I’ll be coordinating your call today. If you’d like to register a question during the call, you can do so by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad to remove the line of questioning. We start followed by two. I’d now like to hand over to our host, Max Sims, Vice President of Operations.

The floor

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: is yours. Thank you, and good morning, everyone. If you did not receive a copy of the earnings release, you may access it on our website at southerlyhotels.com. In the release, the company has reconciled all non GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure in accordance with Reg G requirements. Any statements made during this call, which are not historical, may constitute forward looking statements.

Although we believe the expectations reflected in any forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that these expectations will be attained. Factors and risks that can cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward looking statements are detailed in today’s press release and from time to time in the company’s filings with the SEC. The company does not undertake a duty to update or revise any forward looking statements. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Scott. Thanks, Mac.

I’ll start off today’s call with a review of our portfolio’s key operating metrics for the second quarter. Looking at the second quarter results, the composite portfolio compared to 2024, RevPAR decreased 5.4% driven by a 3.5% decrease in occupancy and a 1.9% decrease in ADR. Stripping out Tampa from the results due to continued impact of the property from Hurricane Helene, which struck Tampa in late September twenty twenty four. The second quarter’s composite portfolio RevPAR decreased slightly better 5% compared to prior year, driven by a 2.3% decrease in occupancy and a 2.8 decrease in ADR. Year to date RevPAR performance for the composite portfolio represents a decrease of 0.5% from the same period in 2024, driven by a 0.9% increase in occupancy and a 1.5% decrease in rate.

Once again stripping out Tampa from the results, composite portfolio delivered slightly better results, decreasing 0.1% compared to prior year driven by a 2.1% increase in occupancy and a 2.1% decrease in rate. During the second quarter, our portfolio of hotels underperformed expectations against the backdrop of growing economic uncertainty and softening demand. While certain leisure destinations share pockets of stability, overall performance impacted by a pullback in government related travel due to Doge program spending cuts as well as more cautious consumer behavior in the face of persistent inflation and economic unease. Doge related spending cuts had a notable impact on group and business traveler demand at our Washington D. C.

MSA properties in Arlington and Laurel. Our hotels in Savannah and Atlanta where association business represents a meaningful share of group room nights were also adversely affected. Additionally, uncertainty around national tariff policies contributed hesitancy among business travelers, particularly in several of our secondary and drive thru markets. These factors create a more challenging operating environment than we had anticipated, and we remain focused on disciplined cost management and targeted revenue strategies as we navigate the remainder of the year. Despite these macroeconomic headwinds, our portfolio’s ADR remains resilient, reflecting the strength of higher end travelers as well as our overall pricing strategy.

As previously noted, Hotel Alba in Tampa continued to experience some operational disruption in the second quarter due to elevated repairs following flood damage from Hurricane Helene. While restoration is ongoing, we are making steady progress and anticipate a full return to normal operations later this month. Importantly, our headline operating metrics occupancy, ADR and RevPAR reflect a temporary impact on a pre insurance basis, while our reported revenue and profitability benefited from business interruption insurance proceeds, helping to mitigate the financial effects during the quarter. Looking at some highlights from a few key assets in the portfolio during the quarter. Hotel Ballast and Wilmington posted another solid performance in the quarter exceeding budgeted expectations.

RevPAR increased 1.3% year over year, driven by a 2.7% gain in average rate, partially offset by a modest 1.3% decline in occupancy. The hotel benefited from continued strength in group demand along with strong banquet and catering revenue. Hotel Dallas remained a market leader finishing the quarter with a RevPAR index of 119.6% versus competitive set. The DoubleTree Philadelphia Airport delivered a solid second quarter performance surpassing budget expectations despite ongoing softness in market ADR. While RevPAR declined 5.3% year over year driven by a 6% decrease in ADR, this decline primarily reflects the absence of several onetime events that boosted results in the prior year.

Looking ahead, we remain optimistic about the hotel’s outlook supported by improving group bookings and strengthening citywide demand drivers. The Hyde Beach House delivered strong results in the second quarter, outperforming both budgeted and prior year expectations. RevPAR increased 12.7%, driven by an 18.5% gain in occupancy, partially offset by a 4.9% decline in ADR. Performance was bolstered by robust spring break leisure demand and increased demand related to the FIFA Club World Cup. Profitability remained solid, supported by diversified revenue streams including centralized housekeeping and parking operations.

Looking at portfolio profitability. Hotel EBITDA margin declined by 2.5% year over year for the quarter, primarily due to RevPAR softness in Savannah, Atlanta and Jacksonville. While these results came in below our expectations, we believe the outsized impact from those related spending cuts and tariff policies is temporary in nature. Encouragingly, our operators were able to maintain rate discipline despite these headwinds, signaling that demand among higher income customers remains resilient. Looking ahead, we expect margin trends to remain relatively stable, supported by normalized staffing levels, steady Mendi offerings and easing wage pressures across the portfolio.

Turning to corporate activity. We are proactively managing upcoming debt maturities tied to our assets in Atlanta and Hollywood. While broader debt market conditions remain uncertain, we are confident in our ability to work constructively with our lending partners. As disclosed in early July, we engaged a consultant that is in the process of helping us negotiate a loan extension with a special servicer for the Georgian Terrace Hotel in Atlanta. Looking ahead, we are also confident in our ability to address the upcoming maturity of the mortgage loan secured by the Doubletree in Hollywood, Florida.

We remain committed to a disciplined conservative approach to capital management supported by a well staggered maturity schedule that offers meaningful flexibility in the current financing environment. With that, I’ll now turn the call over to Tony. Thank you, Scott. Reviewing performance for the period ended 06/30/2025. For the second quarter, total revenue was approximately $48,800,000 representing a decrease of 3.7% over the same quarter in 2024.

Year to date, total revenue was approximately $97,100,000 representing a decrease of 0.1% from the same period last year. Hotel EBITDA for the quarter was approximately $13,900,000 representing a decrease of 11.5% from the same quarter in 2024. Year to date, hotel EBITDA was approximately $26,800,000 representing a decrease of 4.4% over the same period last year. For the quarter, adjusted FFO was approximately $4,800,000 representing a decrease of approximately $2,700,000 from the same quarter in 2024. And year to date adjusted FFO was approximately $9,300,000 representing a decrease of $3,400,000 from the same period last year.

Please note that our adjusted FFO includes charges related to the early extinguishment of debt, unrealized gains and losses on derivative instruments, charges related to aborted or abandoned securities offerings, ESOP and stock compensation expense as well as other items. Hotel EBITDA excludes these charges as well as interest expense, interest income, corporate, general and administrative expenses, realized gains and losses on derivative instruments, the current portion of our income tax provision and other items as well. Please refer to our earnings release for additional detail. Looking at our balance sheet. As of December as of 06/30/2025, the company had total cash of approximately $26,500,000 consisting of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of approximately $10,500,000 as well as approximately $16,500,000 which was reserved for real estate taxes, insurance, capital improvements and certain other items.

At the end of the quarter, we had principal balances of approximately $315,800,000 of outstanding debt at a weighted average interest rate of 5.89%. Approximately 84.4% of the company’s debt carried a fixed rate of interest when taking into account the company’s interest rate hedges. We anticipate routine capital expenditures for the replacement and refurbishment of furniture fixtures and equipment will amount to approximately $7,100,000 for calendar year 2025. Significant portion of the product improvement plans at the DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Airport and the DoubleTree by Hilton Jacksonville Riverfront will occur during the year with anticipated capital expenditures related to both these projects totaling $5,600,000 for calendar year 2025. Turning to guidance.

We’re issuing updated guidance to reflect full year 2025 accounting for current and expected performance within the portfolio, taking into account market conditions as well. We’re projecting total revenue in the range of $185,200,000 to $188,200,000 for full year 2025. And at the midpoint of the guidance, this represents a 2.6% increase over the prior year. Hotel EBITDA is projected in the range of 45,300,000.0 to $45,800,000 At the mid midpoint of the guidance, this represents a 2.6% decrease from the prior year. And adjusted FFO is projected to remain to $6,900,000 to $7,500,000 or $0.34 to $0.37 per share.

And I’ll now turn the call over to Dave. Thank you, Tony. Good morning, everyone. In the second quarter, we experienced a modest reduction in hotel demand across the portfolio, with the majority of our competitive set properties reporting year over year RevPAR declines. This softening aligns with broader macroeconomic headwinds, including elevated interest rates and the continued impact of tariff related policies.

Despite these pressures, business transient demand remained relatively steady with only a slight year over year dip, underscoring the resilience of this high value segment. Group booking pace for the remainder of the year also remains intact with only minor reductions compared to 2024, supporting our expectation for a gradual recovery stabilize. From a macro standpoint, recent federal policies introduced a higher level of uncertainty, contributing to reduced near term visibility across the lodging sector. This backdrop is weighed on consumer sentiment and resulted in softer softer overall demand. Government related travel has also slowed, particularly at our hotels in the Washington, D.

C. Area, Savannah and Atlanta, markets where government and association business represent a meaningful share of revenue. We believe tariff related policies have had a direct impact on the leisure segment, particularly among price sensitive and international travelers. Inflationary pressures and rising costs on consumer goods have constrained discretionary spending, leading to shorter booking windows, lower average length of stay and more cautious travel behavior overall. These effects were especially pronounced in our drive to leisure markets where weekend demand has historically been strong.

Savannah, in particular, saw an outsized impact during the quarter with RevPAR down nearly 10% year over year. Despite these results, we remain confident in the long term fundamentals of the Savannah market and expect performance to recover as macro pressures ease. On the group side, total production declined 7% in the second quarter. That said, group pace for the remainder of the year remains healthy, and we have not seen the widespread cancellations that typically accompany more severe economic downturns. In some markets, such as Arlington, where second quarter group revenue increased 42% over prior year, our operators were able to offset declines in government business by backfilling with additional group bookings.

As overall demand trends for our portfolio moderated, we’re approaching the back half of the year with a more measured outlook. Still, we remain confident in our operators’ ability to adapt quickly and execute targeted sales and revenue strategies to navigate the current environment effectively. As Scott referenced in his prepared remarks, the mortgage markets continue to challenge borrowers as loans mature and refinancing assets remain difficult. We continue to navigate this environment with loan restructuring, extensions, modifications asset sales. For example, as we recently disclosed, we have entered into a purchase and sale agreement to sell our parking garage in Atlanta adjacent to the Georgian Terrace Hotel.

This sale coupled with a new mortgage loan on the hotel will allow for the extinguishment of the existing CMBS loan that matured in the second quarter. We further expect that a change in interest rates will provide a much needed lift to commercial real estate lending. Southerly will benefit from such developments as well as an environment characterized by more stable macroeconomic conditions. As we look towards the second half of the year, we remain cautiously optimistic about the overall trajectory of the lodging industry. While elevated interest rates, persistent inflationary pressures and geopolitical uncertainty continue to weigh on consumer and corporate sentiment, we’re taking a more measured view of the near term pace of hotel demand.

That said, our portfolio is well positioned to navigate these challenges. We believe our concentration in upscale and upper upscale assets will allow us to outperform the broader market in 2025. Booking trends remain relatively healthy. And at this time, we anticipate full year 2025 RevPAR for the actual portfolio to be approximately flat compared to last year. Supported by continued proactive asset management, we remain confident in our ability to deliver strong relative performance in a complex operating environment.

And with that, operator, we can open the call up to questions.

Conference Operator: First question comes from Alexander Goldsop from Piper Sandler. Alexander, your line is now open.

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: Good morning down there.

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: Good morning.

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: Dave, just hey. I have a few questions here. The first one, was interested I think if I heard you correctly, you said Savannah was the hardest hit hotel in the quarter. And I can understand Arlington and Laurel given Doge. But can you just talk a little bit more about Savannah?

Maybe there’s more government there than I thought. But comment stuck out to me for why that hotel would have been the hardest hit again, if I heard you correctly.

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: Well, I don’t think I’d say it was the hardest hit. It had some outsized negative impact. Quarterly RevPAR was down significantly in the market. Part of it was transient travel was off. And we do have surprisingly, there is a lot of government business that was impacted by the Doge related activities in the quarter.

And Scott, you got anything to add? Yes. Mean that’s twofold. Again, think leisure travel in Savannah has reached a crest of a bit. I think we’ve really seen a tremendous growth from the leisure segment there over the past five years and then we’ve topped out for at least for the time being.

But on the group side, as Dave mentioned, I think what we’ve been a bit surprised by as the dose cuts have really unfolded is how far that money goes and the type of group business that we typically book at hotels outside the DC MSA that benefit from government related funding. So Savannah and Atlanta I think as we mentioned and Jacksonville as well, we’re seeing group cancellations or just a pullback in certain group leads that ultimately are related to government funding that you wouldn’t traditionally expect to be government related business. Think of association school education associations, those type of things that you don’t immediately think of as a government group, but ultimately with the funding from the government.

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: Okay. And maybe along that line, again, this is all sort of learning more about the portfolio and the reach of government. What percent of your as you look at your portfolio, what percent is government? Is it like 20%, 30%, 10%? Like what if we had to break out your portfolio between government, group business and transient, what would be the mix between those three segments?

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: Yes, Alex. I mean, I don’t want to give you a firm number because, again, it’s we would traditionally have a firm government group number that I could probably tell you. But what we’re seeing, and that’s probably in the high single digits low double probably high single digits I would guess again mainly focused on the CC hotels that is truly government group related business and then a little bit throughout the rest of the portfolio. What we’re seeing now are group bookings that, again, nobody would ever tie them directly to the government and they aren’t officially government tied. Just the funding, the way the flow of funds has been coming through the government and has been restricted, you’ve just seen a pullback in near term booking pay for lead generation.

So again, I don’t think it’s necessarily people that have gotten their funds cut. There are groups that I think are hesitant to proceed forward until they have a clear picture what all funding they’re going to be getting on the foreseeable future. Yes. Alex, the I mean, it’s like having a private consulting firm that looks has a group booking at a hotel, but all of its revenues come from the federal government. So when they have a pullback, then that corporate account cancels its booking.

But it’s all ultimately tied to the government. But it’s kind of difficult to disaggregate all that and give you a percentage number. Yes. And I think the final piece on there is, again, we’re not really seeing cancellations per se. It’s been either groups that follow through at their meeting but are more hesitant to overspend on banquet and catering like they’ve traditionally done.

I think that we saw a lot of that impacting Savannah on a year over year basis. We’ve had a lot

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: of groups in house. Last

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: year they bought the kitchen sink in terms of banquet and catering amenities this year. They spent less because they weren’t sure what their full funding outlook looks like. Or the lead generation has just temporarily stalled for kind of end of year, fourth of year bookings. And I think that’s certainly a temporary impact that’s going to just burn

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: back up here. And then your guidance reduction, that reflects further government related pullback? Or you think that this level where you’re at in the second quarter is the new level?

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: From a revenue perspective, that reflects our most recent forecast for the entire year. So we’ve reforecasted the entire portfolio for the balance of the year with all the trends that we’re currently seeing both on group and leisure side of the equation. And that’s I think that’s our best outlook based on the trends we’re currently seeing.

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: But directionally, Scott, you think between government, group and leisure, do you think that they’ll maintain second quarter that sort of annualized pace? Or you’re expecting further declines across all three, maybe just government? I’m just trying to get a little bit sort of like Thomas’ nooks and crannies. I’m just trying to get a little nooks and crannies on those three different buckets for the balance of the year.

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: Yes. We’re not expecting further pullback necessarily. We actually have pretty solid group bookings for the back half of So we’re seeing some growth from a group perspective for the back half of the year on a year over year basis.

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: And what about leisure and government?

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: Government, I think, again, it’s declined, and we assume it’s going to kind of stay steady state going forward for the balance of the year until things unlock. And leisure is a market by market analysis. But we’re not expecting that to further grow beyond what we’ve seen thus far.

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: Okay. So really, group, you expect to rebound?

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: That’s right. Second quarter the second quarter, unfortunately, was a step backwards on a year over year basis for group. We expect that to be a step forward on a year over year basis for the second half of the year, the bookings we have on revenue we have on.

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: Okay. Perfect. And then going on sources of capital, obviously, you announced the parking garage at Georgian Terrace. Are there other asset sales plans, whether it’s perhaps a hotel, but more likely another type of parking lot or something that’s tangential to a hotel that you may be able to sell?

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: Yes. There are options that we are always looking at. So the parking garage in Atlanta is a good example of an option like that, but also we have a lot of equity in some of our hotels that also we can tap into and we plan to tap into for refinancing to raise liquidity. But there are things here and there, whether it’s a parking garage or a parking lot at various hotels. Sale of an asset may be online if that’s necessary for the company, although we certainly don’t want to do that.

Alexander Goldsop, Analyst, Piper Sandler: Okay. And then just final question. I appreciate your time. In other property sectors, even like office, we’re seeing the mortgage market come back for office, not all office, but obviously, if it’s a good quality asset. Presumably, hotels have fully recovered since the pandemic.

Why is the mortgage market for hotels still challenged? Is it that the lenders still don’t view the industry as recovered? Or was it just LTVs back in the day were still meaningfully higher than where terms are today? I’m just trying to get a better sense for why the hotels would still be challenged in the debt market.

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: Alex, we look at that all the time. And lenders, whether they are conduit lenders or insurance companies or banks, debt yields are still stubbornly high, at least compared to the debt yield climate that existed before the pandemic. So there are still several 100 basis of variance between the underwriting that occurred prior to the pandemic and what we’re seeing now. Interest rates obviously are elevated, but they have come in, and we expect them to come in further. And debt service coverage ratios covenants are simply a lot tougher than they used to be, and it’s the lenders’ caution that creates that environment.

So you add up all of those various factors, and the lodging industry is still either not in favor with the lending community or just having to recover from a more buoyant lending environment that occurred five or six years ago. So I think we’re seeing cracks there that seeing debt service coverage ratios ease in underwriting. We’re underwriting a lot of properties right now. We’re seeing debt yields stop rising. So they’re seeing some stabilization there, and we’re seeing rates come in.

So I think things, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we’re seeing the climate alter to the better, at least for lodging borrowers, and we think that will continue.

Conference Operator: As a reminder, you would like to raise a question, please signal by pressing star followed by 1. We’ll ask the moment for any further questions to fill through. We currently have no further questions. So I’d like

Mac Sims, Vice President of Operations, Southerly Hotels: to hand back to David Folsom for any further remarks. Thank you, operator, and thank you for everyone who dialed in today. And I wish everybody have a good day, and we’ll talk to you next quarter.

Conference Operator: As we conclude today’s call, we’d like to thank everyone for joining. You may disconnect your

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