Press Release

Completes $30 Million Short-term Unsecured Facility; Expects to Close $100 Million Line of Credit in Early April

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. (NYSE:INN) (the “Company”), a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in acquiring and owning premium-branded upscale and upper-midscale hotels, today announced that the Company and Summit Hotel OP, LP have filed an Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. The Company completed its initial public offering (“IPO”) on February 14, 2011, and the financial and operating results included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K relate primarily to the Company’s predecessor, Summit Hotel Properties, LLC (the “Predecessor”).

“The prospectus for our IPO contained historical and pro forma results through the third quarter of 2010 for our predecessor company,” said Dan Hansen, Summit’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The full year 2010 results for our predecessor included in the Form 10-K and the pro forma information accompanying this release should provide a meaningful baseline for future comparison purposes and allow our stockholders and the investment community to better understand our Company.”

2010 Results Highlights of the Predecessor, Summit Hotel Properties, LLC

• Total revenues for 65 owned hotels of $135.6 million, up 11.9 percent over 2009.
• Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) of $32.8 million, an increase of 25.7% over 2009.
• EBITDA margin of 24.2% was a 12.3% improvement over 2009.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $39.3 million, up 22.4% over 2009.
• EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for 2010 do not reflect approximately $1.1 million of non-recurring expenses relating to the IPO.

Pro Forma Operating Results for 2009 and 2010 of the Company, Summit Hotel Properties, Inc.

Historical financial information for the Predecessor and pro forma financial information for the Company accompanies this press release. Please review the explanatory notes and text accompanying the pro forma financial information, which discuss the pro forma assumptions and adjustments.

On a pro forma basis, after giving effect to its IPO and concurrent private placement and the application of their net proceeds and the other adjustments described in the accompanying materials:

• Total revenues for 2010 from the 65 hotels were approximately $135.6 million, up 11.9 percent over 2009.
• Net loss for 2010 was approximately $11.7 million, an improvement of approximately $3.3 million over 2009.
• Funds from Operations (“FFO”) were approximately $15.3 million and Adjusted FFO was approximately $22.9 million for 2010, increases of approximately 88.9% and 29.0%, respectively, over 2009.
• EBITDA of approximately $26.5 million and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $33.0 million for 2010, increases of approximately 48.0%. and 29.7%, respectively, over 2009.

The Company classifies the 65 hotels in its initial portfolio as “seasoned” (46 hotels) and “unseasoned” (19 hotels) and intends to continue to provide operating results of each of these groups throughout 2011. The 19 unseasoned hotels were either built after January 1, 2007 or experienced a brand conversion since January 1, 2008.

For the year ended December 31, 2010, revenue per available room (“RevPAR”) for the portfolio as a whole (65 hotels) increased to $55.80, or 3.1 percent over the prior year, driven primarily by the unseasoned hotels’ RevPAR increase to $55.06, or 13.6 percent over the prior year. The seasoned hotels experienced a decline in RevPAR to $56.22, or (0.7) percent from the prior year.

For the year ended December 31, 2010, the weighted-average RevPAR penetration level for the portfolio as a whole increased to 108.4% from 101.5% for the prior year, again driven primarily by the performance of the unseasoned hotels, whose weighted-average RevPAR penetration level increased to 92.5% from 77.6% for the prior year. The seasoned hotels increased their weighted-average RevPAR penetration levels to 117.4% from 115.0% for the prior year. Please see the accompanying materials for more information relating to the seasoned and unseasoned hotels and the RevPAR penetration index.

“Our unseasoned hotels, properties recently built or rebranded or repositioned, had RevPAR penetration of 92.5 percent,” Mr. Hansen said. “We expect these unseasoned hotels to continue improving their RevPAR penetration levels and look for them ultimately to attain levels in line with those of our seasoned hotels.”

“The transition of management of our hotels to Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the nation’s largest hotel management company, in connection with our IPO, went smoothly,” Mr. Hansen continued. “There were essentially no changes at the management level, so the transfer was seamless, as planned, to both our guests and employees. We already are seeing improved economies of scale due to Interstate’s added buying power.”

“Since completing our IPO and transferring hotel management to Interstate, we have gained time to strategically review and oversee each property and have shifted our focus from day-to-day operations to aggressive asset management,” Mr. Hansen added. “We expect to invest approximately $20 million in capital improvements at our hotels over the next 18 months so that our properties remain highly competitive.”

Real Estate Transactions

Earlier this week, Summit disclosed that it had signed purchase agreements to acquire three hotels for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $24.3 million. “These will be the first additions to our portfolio since the IPO, and their acquisition is in line with our strategy of acquiring premium-branded, upscale and upper-midscale segments in markets where we can cluster properties to achieve greater operational efficiencies,” Mr. Hansen said. “We expect to close these acquisitions in late April and anticipate that the three hotels will be immediately accretive to earnings. Our pipeline is quite robust.”

Balance Sheet

The Predecessor had approximately $420.4 million in mortgage debt on all of its 65 properties at December 31, 2010. The Company used net proceeds of the IPO and concurrent private placement to reduce the debt to approximately $197.1 million, with a weighted-average interest rate of approximately 5.2 percent. A $12.6 million loan matures in the third quarter of 2011 which the Company currently is negotiating to refinance. As of March 31, 2011, the outstanding principal amount of the Company’s consolidated net indebtedness was approximately 35% of the sum of the Company’s equity market capitalization and consolidated net indebtedness.

“Our goal is to remain prudently leveraged, to limit the outstanding principal amount of our consolidated net indebtedness to not more than 50% of the sum of our equity market capitalization and consolidated net indebtedness,” said Stuart Becker, Summit’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “We are completing negotiations on a $100 million line of credit, which we expect to have in place by early April. We intend to use the proceeds for acquisitions and for other corporate purposes.” Mr. Becker added, “In the meantime, we have arranged a $30 million unsecured credit facility to fund near-term acquisitions and for other corporate purposes until the $100 million line of credit is completed.”

Outlook

“Our year-over-year RevPAR growth for the entire portfolio is running at 9.0 percent through February 2011, with the unseasoned hotels up 18.2 percent and the seasoned hotels up 4.2 percent. We continue to focus on several key areas, including increasing average daily rate, increasing margins and accretive acquisitions. In general, our markets have stabilized or are improving and our strategies and structure are in place and operating well,” said Mr. Becker.

Earnings Conference Call

Summit will hold a conference call to discuss the Form 10-K and the information accompanying this press release on April 1, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. ET. Stockholders and other interested parties may join the call by dialing 866-543-6408, reference number 90519685, or may join a simultaneous webcast of the conference call on the Internet by logging on through the Investor Relations page of Summit’s website, www.shpreit.com. A recording of the conference call will be available by telephone until midnight on April 14, 2011, by dialing 888-286-8010, reference number 89576998. A replay of the conference call webcast will be posted on Summit’s website through April 14, 2011.

About Summit Hotel Properties

Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust focused exclusively on acquiring and owning premium-branded limited-service and select-service hotels in the upscale and midscale without food and beverage segments of the lodging industry. As of March 30, 2011, the Company’s portfolio consisted of 65 hotels with a total of 6,533 guestrooms located in 19 states. Additional information about Summit may be found at the our website at www.shpreit.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended, pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “potential,” “intend,” “expect,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “approximately,” “believe,” “could,” “project,” “predict,” “forecast,” “continue,” “plan” or other similar words or expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and can include future expectations, future plans and strategies, financial and operating projections or other forward-looking information. Examples of forward-looking statements include the following: descriptions of the Company’s plans or objectives for future operations, acquisitions or services; forecasts of the Company’s future financial performance and potential increases in average daily rate, occupancy and room demand; and descriptions of assumptions underlying or relating to any of the foregoing expectations regarding the timing of their occurrence. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, not all of which are known to the Company and many of which are beyond the Company’s control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the state of the U.S. economy, supply and demand in the hotel industry and other factors as are described in greater detail in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including, without limitation, the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. Unless legally required, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For information about the Company’s business and financial results, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010.

All information in this release is as of March 31, 2011. The Company undertakes no duty to update the statements in this release to conform the statements to actual results or changes in the Company’s expectations.

Our selected unaudited pro forma balance sheet data and statements of operation and other operating data is presented to reflect: (1) the sale of 26,000,000 shares of our common stock in our IPO at $9.75 per share and the sale of 1,274,000 shares of our common stock in the concurrent private placement at a price of $9.0675 per share for approximately $240.0 million of net proceeds, after the deduction of the underwriting discount on the shares sold in our IPO and the payment by us of approximately $7.3 million of expenses related to our IPO, the concurrent private placement and the formation transactions; (2) the merger of our predecessor with and into our operating partnership, with our predecessor as the acquirer for accounting purposes, and the issuance by our operating partnership of an aggregate of 9,993,992 Common Units to the Class A, Class A-1, Class B and Class C members of our predecessor in exchange for their membership interests in our predecessor; (3) the contribution to our operating partnership of the Class B and Class C membership interests in Summit of Scottsdale held by The Summit Group and an unaffiliated third-party investor in exchange for an aggregate of 106,008 Common Units; (4) the contribution of the net proceeds of our IPO and the concurrent private placement to our operating partnership in exchange for Common Units that represent an approximate 73.0% partnership interest in our operating partnership, including the sole general partnership interest; (5) the repayment or extinguishment of approximately $223.8 million of outstanding indebtedness and the payment of estimated costs and expenses of approximately $3.2 million in connection with the retirement of this indebtedness; and (6) the grant upon completion of our IPO of an aggregate of 4,000 shares of common stock to our independent directors and options to purchase an aggregate of 940,000 shares of common stock to Messrs. Boekelheide, Hansen, Aniszewski, Becker and Bertucci pursuant to the 2011 Equity Incentive Plan.

For all footnotes, see Footnotes section following the financial statements of this release.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

FFO and AFFO

The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“NAREIT”) developed Funds from Operations (“FFO”) as a non-GAAP financial measure of performance of an equity REIT in order to recognize that income-producing real estate historically has not depreciated on the basis determined under GAAP. We calculate FFO applicable to shares of common stock and Common Units in accordance with the April 2002 National Policy Bulletin of NAREIT, which we refer to as the White Paper. The White Paper defines FFO as net income (loss) (computed in accordance with GAAP) excluding extraordinary items as defined under GAAP and gains or losses from sales of previously depreciated assets, plus certain non-cash items, such as depreciation and amortization, and after adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures. Our interpretation of the NAREIT definition is that noncontrolling interest in net income (loss) should be added back to (deducted from) net income (loss) as part of reconciling net income (loss) to FFO. Our FFO computation may not be comparable to FFO reported by other REITs that do not compute FFO in accordance with the NAREIT definition, or that interpret the NAREIT definition differently than we do.

FFO and AFFO are non-GAAP financial measures. The GAAP measure that we believe to be most directly comparable to FFO, net income (loss) applicable to common shares, includes depreciation and amortization expenses, gains or losses on property sales and noncontrolling interest. In computing FFO, we eliminate these items because, in our view, they are not indicative of the results from our property operations.

The Company also presents Adjusted Funds from Operations (AFFO), which reflects FFO in accordance with the NAREIT definition further adjusted by:

• adding back non-cash stock expense;
• adding back non-cash impairment expenses; and
• adding back acquisition and terminated transaction expenses.

FFO and AFFO do not represent cash flows from operating activities in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered an alternative to net income as an indication of the Company’s performance or to cash flow as a measure of liquidity or ability to make distributions. We consider FFO and AFFO to be meaningful, additional measures of our operating performance because they exclude the effects of the assumption that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time, and because they are widely used by industry analysts as performance measures. In addition, AFFO further adjusts AFFO to exclude the effects of other non-cash expenses and adds back non-recurring acquisition and terminated transaction expenses, which we believe provides an appropriate measure of our ongoing operating performance. We present FFO and AFFO applicable to shares of common stock and Common Units because our Common Units will be redeemable for shares of common stock. We believe it is meaningful for the investor to understand FFO and AFFO applicable to all shares of common stock and Common Units.

The following table reconciles pro forma FFO and AFFO for the periods presented to the most directly comparable pro forma GAAP measure, net income (loss) applicable to shares of common stock, for the same periods:

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures. Adjusted EBITDA further adjusts EBITDA to exclude the effects of loss on impairment of assets, which is a non-cash expense. Our Adjusted EBITDA computation may not be comparable to EBITDA or Adjusted EBITDA reported by other companies that interpret the definition of EBITDA differently than we do. Management believes EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to be meaningful measures of a REIT's performance because it is widely followed by industry analysts, lenders and investors and should be considered along with, but not as an alternative to, net income, cash flow, FFO and AFFO, as a measure of the company's operating performance.

The following table reconciles pro forma EBITDA and pro forma Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable pro forma GAAP measure, net income (loss) applicable to shares of common stock, for the same periods:

⁽¹⁾ Excludes hotels that were reclassified to discontinued operations during 2009.

⁽²⁾ Unseasoned hotels are hotels that were built after January 1, 2007 or experienced a brand conversion since January 1, 2008

⁽³⁾ Includes seasoned and unseasoned hotels that were owned during all of 2010 and 2009, but excludes hotels that were reclassified to discontinued operations during 2009.

⁽¹⁾ Excludes hotels that were reclassified to discontinued operations during 2009.

⁽²⁾ Unseasoned hotels are hotels that were built after January 1, 2007 or experienced a brand conversion since January 1, 2008.

⁽³⁾ Includes seasoned and unseasoned hotels that were owned during all of 2010 and 2009, but excludes hotels that were reclassified to discontinued operations during 2009.