Richard Stockton, CEO of Ashford Hospitality Prime (NYSE: AHP), joined Nareit for a video interview at REITworld 2017.
Ashford Hospitality Prime invests primarily in full-service luxury hotels and resorts.
Stockton joined the company about a year ago. He said his first task was to develop a strategy for the portfolio and company overall.
“I concluded that we wanted to be the highest-quality lodging REIT in the sector,” Stockton said. To achieve that, the focus would be on achieving the highest revenue per available room (RevPAR) for the portfolio, he added.
Ashford Hospitality Prime has also dealt with natural disasters in the third quarter, Stockton explained. Four of the company’s 12 hotels were impacted: two by hurricanes in the Caribbean and two by wildfires in Northern California.
Stockton said the way to prepare for such events is to be well-insured. “That’s what will preserve our profit and loss for the coming year.”
Stockton also noted that the company works to keep its facilities open during severe weather events to be “a refuge for people in need.”
Looking forward, Stockton said one of the most profound impacts on the hotel industry is coming from in-room technology. He predicted that in the near-future, hotel guests will arrive in their rooms, turn on the television and be instantly recognized.