RLJ Lodging Trust executives said a strong balance sheet gives the company multiple investment levers to potentially pull this year.

On the Bethesda, Maryland-based real estate investment trust's fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings call, President and CEO Leslie Hale said both RLJ’s internal and external growth in the past year has positioned it among the top REITs.

Looking forward, we have tremendous optionality with one of the strongest balance sheets among publicly traded peers, which is allowing us to pursue multiple channels of growth, such as brand repositioning, she said.

RLJ ended 2022 with $1.1 billion of liquidity, including $481.3 million in unrestricted cash and undrawn revolver, according to the company's earnings release.

Hale said RLJ will continue to build its pipeline with off-market acquisitions, in which RLJ is well-positioned due to the lending market preferring all-cash buyers.

“What’s happening is that assets are not being taken out to the market on a broad basis. What’s happening is that sellers and brokers are calling buyers who they believe can actually execute on a transaction. And we’re receiving some of those inbound calls because of our balance-sheet strength and capability of actually closing,” she said.

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