TYSONS, Va., Feb. 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (“Park” or the “Company”) (NYSE: PK) today announced results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022 and provided an operational update.

Selected Statistical and Financial Information

(unaudited, amounts in millions, except RevPAR, ADR, Total RevPAR and per share data)

Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “I am extremely pleased by our fourth quarter results, which exceeded our expectations and guidance that we provided mid-December, and am encouraged by the positive trends continuing into early 2023. Group business continued to accelerate in the fourth quarter, with group revenue approximately 83% of the fourth quarter of 2019. Business transient demand continues to grow, and despite some seasonal moderation, leisure demand continued to improve at our urban markets. During the fourth quarter, average rates at our resort and airport hotels exceeded 2019 levels by 21% and 8%, respectively, while rate at our urban and suburban hotels exceeded 2019 levels by approximately 2%. Additionally, Park executed on its capital allocation priorities over the past year by completing $435 million of non-core asset sales and recycling this capital into repurchases of nearly $260 million of our common stock and repayments of over $100 million of debt, while also amending and extending our Revolver, further improving the Company's financial flexibility. Looking ahead into 2023, I am excited by the continued positive momentum across our portfolio, with improving city-wide calendars and the return of international travel. We currently do not see recession concerns making a significant impact on our business, and we remain well positioned with approximately $1.9 billion of liquidity to ramp up our dividend distributions and ROI capex spend this year while prudently making opportunistic investments, whether it be additional share repurchases or acquisitions."

Additional Highlights

• Reopened all previously suspended hotels by May 2022;

• Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Park’s outlook to Stable from Negative;

• Reinstated Park's quarterly dividend in the first quarter of 2022, declaring a total of $0.28 per share to stockholders for the year, including a dividend of $0.25 per share declared for the fourth quarter of 2022 to common stockholders of record as of December 30, 2022, which was paid on January 17, 2023;

• Converted the Casa Marina Key West from a Waldorf Astoria Resort to a Curio in March 2022;

• During 2022, repurchased a total of 12.7 million shares at an average price of $17.82 per share, or $227 million, with an additional 2.5 million shares repurchased in January 2023 at an average price of $11.64 per share, or $30 million;

• Exited the covenant relief period under Park's credit and term loan facilities in July 2022, one quarter earlier than the scheduled end of the waiver period;

• Amended and restated Park's revolving credit facility ("Revolver") in December 2022, which increased total capacity from $901 million to $950 million, extended the maturity date by three years to December 2026 and released all collateral securing the Revolver and Park's senior notes consisting of pledges of equity interests in Park-affiliated entities owning certain unencumbered properties;

• In December 2022, fully repaid (i) the remaining $78 million balance on the unsecured delayed draw term loan facility ("2019 Term Facility") using $50 million of the Revolver and available cash on hand as well as (ii) the $26 million mortgage loan secured by the Hilton Checkers;

• Opened the newly constructed 13,000 square foot ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria Bonnet Creek in Orlando in December 2022;

• During 2022, Park has sold its interests in seven non-core hotels for total gross proceeds of approximately $317 million, or 14.0x the hotels’ combined 2019 Adjusted EBITDA (or 12.9x when excluding anticipated capital expenditures), and at an average capitalization rate of 6.2% on the hotels’ combined 2019 net operating income (or 6.7% excluding anticipated maintenance capital expenditures); and

• In February 2023, sold the 508-room Hilton Miami Airport for gross proceeds of $118.25 million, or $233,000 per key, 14.0x the hotel's 2019 Adjusted EBITDA (or 11.1x when excluding anticipated capital expenditures), and at a capitalization rate of 6.2% on the hotel's 2019 net operating income (or 7.9% excluding anticipated capital expenditures). Park utilized $50 million of the net proceeds to fully repay the outstanding balance on the Revolver.

Operational Update

Changes in Park's 2022 Comparable ADR, Occupancy and RevPAR compared to the same periods in 2021 and 2019, and 2022 Comparable Occupancy were as follows:

Changes in Park's 2022 Comparable ADR, Occupancy and RevPAR for the three months and year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same periods in 2021 and 2019, and 2022 Comparable Occupancy for the three months and year ended December 31, 2022 by hotel type were as follows:

For the fourth quarter of 2022 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, excluding Park's San Francisco hotels, Comparable Occupancy was 69.9%, or 90% of 2019 levels, with an increase in Comparable rate of 14.1% and Comparable RevPAR at 2019 levels. Additionally, for the fourth quarter of 2022, Comparable Occupancy at Park's urban hotels, excluding its San Francisco hotels, was 67.5%, or 90% of 2019 levels, with an increase in Comparable rate of 12.0% and Comparable RevPAR at approximately 98% of 2019 levels.

Domestic leisure transient demand continues to grow compared to 2021 as a result of the easing of domestic restrictions; however, some restrictions on international travel remain in place. The Comparable Rooms Revenue mix for the three months and years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019 were as follows:

Park saw an improvement in demand beginning in mid-February 2022 as restrictions declined across the country, business travel accelerated and group demand began to return to its urban hotels. Park continues to see group business materialize, and during the fourth quarter of 2022, recognized $13 million of additional group revenue for business booked during the quarter. As of the end of December 2022, group bookings for 2023 continued to increase with the addition of approximately 200,000 room nights as compared to the end of September 2022. As of the end of December 2022, group bookings for 2023 were 74% of what 2019 group bookings were as of the end of December 2018, an increase of 180 basis points from the end of September 2022, with average group rates exceeding 2019 average group rates by over 5% for the same time period. In addition, Group Revenue Pace for 2023, as of the end of December 2022, was 78% as compared to 2019 as of the end of December 2018.

Results for Park's Comparable hotels in each of the Company’s key markets are as follows: