Playa Hotels & Resorts N.V.

For Q4 2024, Playa reported owned resort EBITDA of $67.1 million, including about $1.1 million of business interruption insurance proceeds versus $900,000 in Q4 2023. Excluding insurance, management said upside versus prior expectations came from stronger close-in demand, better ADR growth in the Pacific Coast, Yucatan, and Dominican Republic, about $1.1 million lower corporate expense, and about a $2 million FX tailwind; FX was estimated to be a 200 basis point tailwind to reported owned resort EBITDA margin, while insurance proceeds added about 50 basis points. Underlying owned resort EBITDA growth was down about 15% for the total portfolio and down about 17.5% for the legacy portfolio. For full-year 2024, adjusted EBITDA was $258 million, in line with the company’s original forecast. Looking ahead, management said 2025 should benefit from a more favorable peso rate, with Mexican peso exposure at about 19.5 versus an average incurred rate of about 18.3 in 2024, implying a favorable year-over-year FX benefit. No formal next-quarter or full-year guidance was provided on this call.

Bruce Wardinski struck an upbeat but restrained tone, emphasizing that the quarter exceeded expectations and that demand had fully normalized after Hurricane Beryl. He highlighted the pending Hyatt transaction as an “outstanding result for shareholders” and said the board recommended the tender offer, but he did not discuss deal terms beyond what had already been disclosed. He also pointed to continued strength in Playa’s direct sourcing mix as a key competitive advantage since the pandemic.

No CFO spoke on this call; the financial commentary came from Bruce Wardinski. He gave several specific financial details: Q4 owned resort EBITDA of $67.1 million, about $1.1 million of business interruption proceeds in the quarter, about a $2 million FX tailwind, and full-year 2024 adjusted EBITDA of $258 million. He also noted approximately $25 million of share repurchases in Q4, bringing cumulative repurchases since September 2022 to about $376 million, or nearly 30% of shares outstanding at that time, and said capital expenditures in 2024 came in lower than anticipated.

There was no Q&A session on the call. Management explicitly said the call would focus on fourth-quarter results and would not include Q&A because of the potential transaction with Hyatt. As a result, no analyst concerns or follow-up answers were discussed.