IRVING, Texas– (www.hospitalitybusinessnews.com) –FelCor Lodging Trust Incorporated, owner of 78 primarily upper-upscale hotels and resorts, today reported operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011.

Summary:

• Revenue per available room (“RevPAR”) for 67 comparable hotels increased 6.2% for the quarter.
• Same-store Hotel EBITDA margin increased 144 basis points for the quarter. Hotel EBITDA increased 11% during the quarter, representing more than two times hotel revenue growth.
• Adjusted FFO per share was $0.13 and Adjusted EBITDA was $64.3 million for the quarter. Before asset sales and debt transactions, Adjusted FFO per share would have been $0.16.
• Sold six hotels during 2011, including three in July, for gross proceeds of $100 million.
• Repaid almost $450 million of debt this year, with proceeds from asset sales and the senior notes and equity offerings, reducing average interest rate by 50 basis points during the quarter.
• Purchased the Royalton and Morgans hotels in midtown Manhattan for $140 million.
• Net loss was $42.3 million for the quarter.

Second Quarter Operating Results:

RevPAR (for 67 comparable hotels) was $102.28, a 6.2% increase compared to the same period in 2010. The increase was driven by a 3.7% increase in average daily rate (“ADR”) to $131.86 and a 2.4% increase in occupancy to 77.6%. Comparable hotels exclude the eight hotels marketed for sale, three hotels in discontinued operations and two hotels acquired in 2011.

“We continue to successfully execute our strategy to improve our portfolio quality and long-term growth and to restructure our balance sheet. We issued senior notes at a very favorable rate and used the proceeds to acquire two strategic hotels in Manhattan and retire higher cost debt. We also sold six non-strategic hotels this year and used the net proceeds to repay debt. We are mid-way through the first group of asset sales, which have progressed faster than anticipated, and expect to complete the sale of these remaining hotels this year,” said Richard A. Smith, FelCor’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

“RevPAR growth continues to accelerate, but slower than expected. The U.S. economy is expanding, but headwinds lingered in the second quarter. Our transient RevPAR was strong, increasing 8% compared to prior year, although group RevPAR increased only 1%. We expect stronger RevPAR in the second half of the year, reflecting improved group booking pace and continued improvement in transient rates. Our aggressive asset management philosophy continues to show positive results. We remain the best performing hotel REIT by RevPAR growth, since we completed the renovation program in 2008 and implemented significant operational changes. We remain focused on limiting cost increases as occupancy recovers. This produced better hotel EBITDA margins than expected during the second quarter, which allowed us to meet the low-end of our expectations, and our cost per occupied room remains more than $3 below 2008,” added Mr. Smith.

Hotel EBITDA was $70.9 million, compared to $63.7 million for the same period in 2010, an 11% increase. Hotel EBITDA and other same-store metrics reflect 75 consolidated hotels at the end of the quarter (67 comparable hotels plus eight hotels marketed for sale). The same-store metrics include the Fairmont Boston, which was acquired in August 2010, and exclude five hotels owned at June 30 (three Embassy Suites Hotels sold in July, which were classified as discontinued operations, and Royalton and Morgans, which were acquired in May 2011). Hotel EBITDA margin was 28.0%, a 144 basis point increase compared to the same period in 2010.

Adjusted EBITDA (which includes our pro rata share of joint ventures) was $64.3 million compared to $56.5 million for the same period in 2010, a 14% increase. Same-store Adjusted EBITDA was $61.6 million for the quarter, a 12.6% increase, compared to the same period in 2010.

Adjusted funds from operations (“FFO”) was $16.4 million, or $0.13 per share, compared to $6.7 million, or $0.10 per share, for the same period in 2010, a $0.03 per share improvement.

Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $51.9 million, or $0.42 per share for the quarter, compared to net income of $11.9 million, or $0.17 per share, for the same period in 2010. Our 2011 net loss included $23.7 million of net losses from debt extinguishment and $12.3 million of impairment charges, which were partially offset by $6.7 million of net gains on asset sales. Our 2010 net income included a $46.1 million gain from debt extinguishment.

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, same-store Adjusted EBITDA, Hotel EBITDA, Hotel EBITDA margin, FFO, Adjusted FFO and Adjusted FFO per share are all non-GAAP financial measures. See our discussion of “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” beginning on page 15 for a reconciliation of each of these measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measure and for information regarding the use, limitations and importance of these non-GAAP financial measures.

Balance Sheet:

In May, we completed the sale of $525 million of 6.75% senior secured notes maturing in 2019. Combined with the $158 million in net proceeds from the April equity offering, we raised $669 million in net proceeds, after fees and expenses, which were used to fund the $140 million acquisition of the Royalton and Morgans hotels in New York, redeem $144 million of 10% senior secured notes due 2014 (for total consideration of $158 million), retire the remaining $46 million of 9% senior notes that matured in June 2011, retire a $7.3 million CMBS loan that matured in June 2011 and repay the balance under our line of credit ($145 million at March 31).

In June, we refinanced $24.0 million of a $27.8 million CMBS loan that bore interest at 8.77% and was scheduled to mature in 2013. The remaining $3.8 million principal was forgiven as part of a prior agreement with the special servicer.

At June 30, 2011, we had $1.6 billion of consolidated debt, with an average interest rate of 7.4% and weighted average maturity of five years. We had $231.0 million of cash and cash equivalents and full availability under our $225 million line of credit, providing the company with over $400 million of liquidity.

We have one remaining debt maturity in 2011: a $178.2 million CMBS principal amount that is secured by nine hotels. We repaid $45.3 million of the original $250 million principal balance in the second quarter, and an additional $26.5 million in July, using proceeds from the sales of three hotels that secured the loan. We expect to refinance the remaining balance prior to maturity.

“We are very pleased with our recent senior note offering. The interest rate and eight-year term are very attractive and fit our strategy to lower financing costs and stagger maturities. Proceeds from our recent equity and bond offerings were used to repay higher-cost debt, and we reduced our average interest rate by 50 basis points this quarter. The full availability under our line of credit, combined with over $200 million of cash, provides tremendous financial flexibility. As we sell additional hotels, we will continue to look for accretive ways to refinance or repay existing debt to lower our average interest rate and stagger maturities. We expect our leverage to continue to decline from improved operations and from asset sales,” stated Andrew J. Welch, FelCor’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Portfolio Management:

For the quarter, we spent $36.3 million on capital improvements at our hotels (including our pro rata share of joint venture expenditures). During 2011, we intend to spe
nd approximately $85 million on capital improvement and ROI projects. Approximately $60 million, or 6% of our annual revenue, will be focused on renovating seven hotels, as part of our long-term capital program to maintain our portfolio quality and competitive positioning. In May, we completed the construction of a new $5 million, stand-alone, high-efficiency laundry facility at Kingston Plantation in Myrtle Beach that services approximately 700 condominiums and our two hotels. We expect our return on investment to be greater than our original projection (less than a five-year payback). Next year, we intend to further increase our return by providing services to other hotels. Moving this facility also frees valuable first-floor space at the Embassy Suites, which allows us to pursue further revenue generation opportunity. Our remaining 2011 capital expenditures will include the first phase of the redevelopment at the Fairmont Boston Copley Plaza (including renovation of the guest rooms and corridors, and the development of a new state-of-the-art fitness center and day spa).

In May, we acquired two midtown Manhattan hotels, Royalton and Morgans, for $140.0 million. The hotels are in excellent condition and are recently renovated. The purchase price, $496,000 per key, is approximately 60% of estimated replacement cost and represents a 10% stabilized yield on EBITDA. We expect the hotels to generate approximately $6 million of EBITDA during 2011, and increasing to nearly $8 million in 2012. We have begun redevelopment projects at the Morgans to add guest rooms, improve the fitness center and guest lounge, as well as re-concepting the food and beverage offerings, all of which will further enhance our return on investment.

During the second quarter, we sold three non-strategic hotels (Embassy Suites – Phoenix – Tempe, Sheraton Suites – Chicago – O’Hare and Hilton Suites – Lexington) for combined gross proceeds of $54 million. After the end of the quarter, we sold three hotels (Embassy Suites Hotels in Orlando – North, DFW – South and Corpus Christi) for combined gross proceeds of $46 million. We currently have agreements to sell, or are negotiating contracts to sell, five additional hotels.

Outlook:

We are maintaining our second half 2011 guidance, which assumes lodging demand continues to recover and low supply growth. We have updated our outlook for the completed sale of six non-strategic hotels during the first half of the year (representing approximately $6 million of EBITDA) and for second quarter actual results (which met the low-end of our expectations). Our prior guidance assumed the sale of only one hotel. In addition, we have updated our interest expense to account for our recent senior notes offering and recently repaid debt. Our guidance includes only dispositions of those hotels that have been sold or hotels that we have contracts to sell with hard deposits. Our updated guidance assumes no acquisitions, dispositions or debt repayment beyond what has already occurred. We will update our guidance as we sell additional hotels.

For 2011, we anticipate:

• RevPAR: increasing between 6% and 7.5%;
• Adjusted EBITDA: between $207 million and $213 million;
• Adjusted FFO per share: between $0.17 and $0.22;
• Net loss attributable to FelCor: between $121 million and $115 million;
• Interest expense: approximately $141 million;
• Capital expenditures: approximately $85 million; and
• Weighted average shares and units outstanding: 117.4 million.

FelCor, a real estate investment trust, is the nation’s largest owner of upper-upscale, all-suite hotels. FelCor owns interests in 78 properties located in major markets throughout 22 states. FelCor’s diversified portfolio of hotels and resorts are flagged under global brands such as: Doubletree ^®, Embassy Suites Hotels^®, Hilton^®, Fairmont^®, Marriott^®, Renaissance^®, Sheraton^®, Westin^® and Holiday Inn^®.

(a) We currently have full availability under our $225 million line of credit.

(b) The line of credit can be extended for one year (to 2015), subject to satisfying certain conditions.

(c) $26.5 million was repaid on this note after June 30, 2011 from proceeds of a hotel sale.

(d) We purchased an interest rate cap ($250 million notional amount) that caps LIBOR at 7.8% and expires November 2011.

(e) $8.6 million was repaid on this note after June 30, 2011 from proceeds of a hotel sale.

(f) LIBOR (for this loan) is subject to a 3% floor. We purchased an interest rate cap ($212 million notional amount) that caps LIBOR at 5.0% and expires May 2012.

(g) The hotels securing this debt are subject to separate loan agreements and are not cross-collateralized.

(h) This note was repaid after June 30, 2011.

(i) $492 million in aggregate principal outstanding (after redemption of $144 million in aggregate principal in June 2011) and were initially sold at a discount that provided an effective yield of 12.875% before transaction costs.

(a) The hotels under this debt are subject to separate loan agreements and are not cross-collateralized.

(a) Includes capitalized interest, property taxes, ground leases and certain employee costs.

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Hotel Portfolio Composition

The following table illustrates the distribution of comparable hotels (excludes eight hotels in continuing operations that are currently being marketed for sale, and Royalton and Morgans, which were acquired in May 2011).

(a) Hotel EBITDA is more fully described on page 22.

(b) Represents Hotel EBITDA from date of acquisition (August 2010).

The following tables set forth occupancy, ADR and RevPAR for the three and six months ended June 30, 2011 and 2010, and the percentage changes therein for the periods presented, for our same-store Consolidated Hotels (excluding Morgans and Royalton, which were acquired in May 2011) included in continuing operations.

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(a) Excludes eight hotels in continuing operations that are currently being marketed for sale, as well as Royalton and Morgans, which were acquired in May 2011.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We refer in this release to certain “non-GAAP financial measures.” These measures, including FFO, Adjusted FFO, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, same-store Adjusted EBITDA, Hotel EBITDA and Hotel EBITDA margin, are measures of our financial performance that are not calculated and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). The following tables reconcile each of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measure. Immediately following the reconciliations, we include a discussion of why we believe these measures are useful supplemental measures of our performance and the limitations of such measures.

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(a) For same-store metrics, we have included the hotel acquired in August 2010 and excluded the two hotels acquired in May 2011 for all periods presented.

(a) For same-store metrics, we have included the hotel acquired in August 2010 and excluded the two hotels acquired in May 2011 for all periods presented.

(b) Hotel EBITDA as a percentage of same-store hotel operating revenue.

(a) For same-store metrics, we have included the hotel acquired in August 2010 and excluded the two hotels acquired in May 2011 for all periods presented.

(a) For same-store metrics, we have included the hotel acquired in August 2010 and excluded the two hotels acquired in May 2011 for all periods presented.

(a) Weighted average shares and units are 117.4 million.

(b) Includes pro rata portion of unconsolidated entities.

Substantially all of our non-current assets consist of real estate. Historical cost accounting for real estate assets implicitly assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time. Since real estate values instead have historically risen or fallen with market conditions, most industry investors consider supplemental measures of performance, which are not measures of operating performance under GAAP, to be helpful in evaluating a real estate company’s operations. These supplemental measures are not measures of operating performance under GA
AP. However, we consider these non-GAAP measures to be supplemental measures of a hotel REIT’s performance and should be considered along with, but not as an alternative to, net income (loss) attributable to FelCor as a measure of our operating performance.

FFO and EBITDA

The White Paper on Funds From Operations approved by the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“NAREIT”), defines FFO as net income or loss attributable to parent (computed in accordance with GAAP), excluding gains or losses from sales of property, plus depreciation and amortization, and after adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures. Adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures are calculated to reflect FFO on the same basis. We compute FFO in accordance with standards established by NAREIT. This may not be comparable to FFO reported by other REITs that do not define the term in accordance with the current NAREIT definition or that interpret the current NAREIT definition differently than we do.

EBITDA is a commonly used measure of performance in many industries. We define EBITDA as net income or loss attributable to parent (computed in accordance with GAAP) plus interest expenses, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and after adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures. Adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures are calculated to reflect EBITDA on the same basis.

Adjustments to FFO and EBITDA

We adjust FFO and EBITDA when evaluating our performance because management believes that the exclusion of certain additional items, including but not limited to those described below, provides useful supplemental information to investors regarding our ongoing operating performance and that the presentation of Adjusted FFO, and Adjusted EBITDA when combined with GAAP net income attributable to FelCor, EBITDA and FFO, is beneficial to an investor’s better understanding of our operating performance.

• Gains and losses related to debt extinguishment and interest rate swaps – We exclude gains and losses related to debt extinguishment and interest rate swaps from FFO and EBITDA because we believe that it is not indicative of ongoing operating performance of our hotel assets. This also represents an acceleration of interest expense or a reduction of interest expense, and interest expense is excluded from EBITDA.
• Impairment losses – We exclude the effect of impairment losses and gains or losses on disposition of assets in computing Adjusted FFO and Adjusted EBITDA because we believe that including these is not consistent with reflecting the ongoing performance of our remaining assets. Additionally, we believe that impairment charges and gains or losses on disposition of assets represent accelerated depreciation, or excess depreciation, and depreciation is excluded from FFO by the NAREIT definition and from EBITDA.
• Cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle - Infrequently, the Financial Accounting Standards Board promulgates new accounting standards that require the consolidated statements of operations to reflect the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle. We exclude these one-time adjustments in computing Adjusted FFO and Adjusted EBITDA because they do not reflect our actual performance for that period.

In addition, to derive Adjusted EBITDA we exclude gains or losses on the sale of depreciable assets because we believe that including them in EBITDA is not consistent with reflecting the ongoing performance of our remaining assets. Additionally, the gain or loss on sale of depreciable assets represents either accelerated depreciation or excess depreciation in previous periods, and depreciation is excluded from EBITDA.

Hotel EBITDA and Hotel EBITDA Margin

Hotel EBITDA and Hotel EBITDA margin are commonly used measures of performance in the hotel industry and give investors a more complete understanding of the operating results over which our individual hotels and brand/managers have direct control. We believe that Hotel EBITDA and Hotel EBITDA margin are useful to investors by providing greater transparency with respect to two significant measures that we use in our financial and operational decision-making. Additionally, using these measures facilitates comparisons with other hotel REITs and hotel owners. We present Hotel EBITDA and Hotel EBITDA margin by eliminating all revenues and expenses from continuing operations not directly associated with hotel operations, including corporate-level expenses, depreciation and amortization, and expenses related to our capital structure. We eliminate corporate-level costs and expenses because we believe property-level results provide investors with supplemental information into the ongoing operational performance of our hotels and the effectiveness of management on a property-level basis. We eliminate depreciation and amortization because, even though depreciation and amortization are property-level expenses, we do not believe that these non-cash expenses, which are based on historical cost accounting for real estate assets, and implicitly assume that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time, accurately reflect an adjustment in the value of our assets. We also eliminate consolidated percentage rent paid to unconsolidated entities, which is effectively eliminated by noncontrolling interests and equity in income from unconsolidated subsidiaries, and include the cost of unconsolidated taxes, insurance and lease expense, to reflect the entire operating costs applicable to our Consolidated Hotels. Hotel EBITDA and Hotel EBITDA margins are presented on a same-store basis.

Use and Limitations of Non-GAAP Measures

Our management and Board of Directors use FFO, Adjusted FFO, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Same-store Adjusted EBITDA, Hotel EBITDA and Hotel EBITDA margin to evaluate the performance of our hotels and to facilitate comparisons between us and other lodging REITs, hotel owners who are not REITs and other capital intensive companies. We use Hotel EBITDA and Hotel EBITDA margin in evaluating hotel-level performance and the operating efficiency of our hotel managers.

The use of these non-GAAP financial measures has certain limitations. These non-GAAP financial measures as presented by us, may not be comparable to non-GAAP financial measures as calculated by other real estate companies. These measures do not reflect certain expenses or expenditures that we incurred and will incur, such as depreciation, interest and capital expenditures. Management compensates for these limitations by separately considering the impact of these excluded items to the extent they are material to operating decisions or assessments of our operating performance. Our reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures, and our consolidated statements of operations and cash flows, include interest expense, capital expenditures, and other excluded items, all of which should be considered when evaluating our performance, as well as the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures.

These non-GAAP financial measures are used in addition to and in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP. They should not be considered as alternatives to operating profit, cash flow from operations, or any other operating performance measure prescribed by GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures reflect additional ways of viewing our operations that we believe, when viewed with our GAAP results and the reconciliations to the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business than could be obtained absent this disclosure. Management strongly encourages investors to review our financial information in its entirety and not to rely on a single financial measure.