RLJ Lodging Trust

We are a self-advised and self-administered Maryland real estate investment trust ("REIT") that owns primarily premium-branded, high-margin, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. We are one of the largest U.S. publicly-traded lodging REITs in terms of both number of hotels and number of rooms. Our hotels are concentrated in markets that we believe exhibit multiple demand generators and attractive long-term growth prospects. We believe premium-branded, focused-service and compact full-service hotels with these characteristics generate high levels of RevPAR, strong operating margins and attractive returns.

As of December 31, 2019, we owned 104 hotel properties with approximately 22,700 rooms, located in 23 states and the District of Columbia. We owned, through wholly-owned subsidiaries, a 100% interest in 100 of our hotel properties, a 98.3% controlling interest in the DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel New York City, a 95% controlling interest in The Knickerbocker, and 50% interests in entities owning two hotel properties. We consolidate our real estate interests in the 102 hotel properties in which we hold a controlling financial interest, and we record the real estate interests in the two hotel properties in which we hold an indirect 50% interest using the equity method of accounting. We lease 103 of the 104 hotel properties to our TRSs, of which we own a controlling financial interest.

For U.S. federal income tax purposes, we elect to be taxed as a REIT. Substantially all of our assets and liabilities are held by, and all of our operations are conducted through, the Operating Partnership. We are the sole general partner of the Operating Partnership. As of December 31, 2019, we owned, through a combination of direct and indirect interests, 99.5% of the units of limited partnership interest in the Operating Partnership ("OP units").