DALLAS-After struggling during Q1 2012, AshfordHospitality Trust's Q2 earnings prompted an almostpalpable sigh of relief among executives at the REIT's Aug. 2conference call. The Highland HospitalityPortfolio, which has been somewhat of a "problem child"for awhile because of capital expenditures, did well with a 7.6%RevPAR growth year-over-year (for hotels not under renovation) anda 206 basis point improvement in EBITDA.

Meanwhile, RevPAR increased 6.2% for the REIT's Legacy hotels incontinuing operations, helped along by a 3.7% increase in averagedaily rate and a 182 basis point occupancy increase. Though netloss to common shareholders stood in negative territory at $13.3million, this was a far better figure than the $29.1 millionreported in the prior-year quarter. Capex invested in the Legacyportfolio stood at $20.8 million, while Highland portfolio capexwas $7 million.

"Last quarter was difficult for us," acknowledges Ashford CEOMonty J. Bennett during the call. "If you recall on the phone calland in our NAREIT presentation, as we went through our results, wewere exasperated because we couldn't find anything systemic aboutthe performance." The reason for the first quarter's poor performance, hecontinues, was due to a series of one-time events, such asdownturns in airport markets. "Here, in the second quarter, itwasn't so much as a one-time event that helped us, but it wasn'tall those one-time events that hurt us. It was more a removal ofthe one-off events that happened in the first quarter."