Sunstone Hotel Investors re-stacks C-suite

Irvine-based REIT back in black after losing $411M in 2020

Sunstone's Bryan Giglia, Robert Springer and Aaron Reyes (Sunstone Hotel Investments)
Sunstone's Bryan Giglia, Robert Springer and Aaron Reyes (Sunstone Hotel Investments)

Sunstone Hotel Investors has reorganized its executive suite.

The publicly traded real estate investment trust promoted Chief Financial Officer Bryan Giglia to CEO, the Orange County Business Journal reported.

Giglia, who joined the company in 2004, replaces interim CEO Douglas Pasquale, who will become executive chairman through August 2022.

Sunstone also appointed Robert Springer, its chief investment officer, to the additional role of president. It named Aaron Reyes, senior vice president of finance and company treasurer, as Giglia’s replacement in the chief financial officer’s role.

“As we emerge from the pandemic, our portfolio is among the best positioned to capitalize on the recovery in corporate and group travel demand and our balance sheet provides ample capacity to grow per share earnings,” Giglia said in a statement.

Shares of Sunstone have fallen 15.5 percent to $10.90 from a year ago, with a market cap of $2.37 billion, according to Yahoo finance. The O.C. Business Journal ranked the REIT No. 22 on a list of Orange County public companies ranked by market capitalization.

Sunstone owns 16 hotels in mostly coastal areas in seven states, with 8,125 rooms operating under brands such as Four Seasons, Hyatt, Marriott and Hilton.

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The company has had its ups and downs during two pandemic years.

In 2021, Sunstone had net income of $33 million, compared to a loss of $410.5 million in 2020, according to an SEC filing. In the fourth quarter of last year, it netted $138.3 million, compared to a net loss of $39.4 million during the same period in 2020.

The revenue per available room for 16 hotels in 2021 was $113.64, with an average daily rate of $254.22 and occupancy of 44.7 percent.

In December, Sunstone Hotel Investors paid $175 million, or about $2.1 million per room, to buy the 85-room Four Seasons Napa Valley.. It was Sunstone’s second California resort purchase of the year after paying $265 million for the 130-room Montage Healdsburg in Sonoma, which worked out to just above $2 million a room.

Sunstone also sold off two hotels, selling the 340-room Embassy Suites La Jolla for $226.7 million in December, for a net gain of $148.8 million, according to the SEC filing. It also sold the 419-room Hyatt Centric Chicago Magnificent Mile for $67.5 million in February.

[Orange County Business Journal] – Dana Bartholomew

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