This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other securities laws. Whenever we use words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” “will,” “may” and negatives or derivatives of these or similar expressions, we are making forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon our present intent, beliefs or expectations, but forward-looking statements are not guaranteed to occur and may not occur. Forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K relate to various aspects of our business, including:

Currently unexpected results could occur due to many different circumstances, some of which are beyond our control, such as pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, acts of terrorism, natural disasters, war, climate change and climate related events, changes in our managers’ or tenants’ revenues or expenses, changes in our managers’ or tenants’ financial conditions,condition, the market demand for hotel rooms or the goods and services provided at our properties or changes in capital markets or the economy generally.

The information contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including under the caption “Risk Factors,” or incorporated herein or therein, identifies other important factors that could cause differences from our forward-looking statements. Our filings with the SEC are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

You should not place undue reliance upon our forward-looking statements.

Except as required by law, we do not intend to update or change any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

We are a real estate investment trust, or REIT, formed in 1995 under the laws of the State of Maryland. As of December 31, 2020,2021, we owned 310303 hotels with 49,01448,346 rooms or suites located in 3938 states, Washington D.C., Ontario, Canada and San Juan, Puerto Rico and 799788 service-oriented retail properties with 13,455,40513,522,060 square feet located in 42 states. Our principal place of business is Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634, and our telephone number is (617) 964-8389.

We seek to have a geographically diverse portfolio of real estate primarily in the United States. Our principal internal growth strategy is to apply asset management strategies to aid our hotel operators in improving performance and operating income of our hotel properties. We actively manage our net lease portfolio by identifying asset recycling opportunities, monitoring the credit of our tenants and engaging in early lease renewal discussions.discussions to maintain occupancy and grow rental income. Our asset management teams also work closely with our operators to ensure our hotels and net lease properties are well maintained and that capital investments are well planned, prudent and executed efficiently in order to maximize the long term value of our properties.

Our external growth strategy is defined by our acquisition, disposition and financing policies as described below. Our investment, financing and disposition policies and business strategies are established by our Board of Trustees and may be changed by our Board of Trustees at any time without shareholder approval.

InSince March 2020, the World Health Organization declaredlodging industry and other industries in which our managers and tenants operate have been adversely impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19 as aglobal pandemic, and, in response to the outbreak, the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary declared a public health emergency in the United States and many states and municipalities declared public health emergencies. The virus that causes COVID-19 has continued to spread throughout the United States and the world. Various governmental and market responses attemptingalong with government mandates intended to contain and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have negatively impacted, and market reactions to the pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 continue to negatively impact, the U.S. and global economies. To varying degrees, states and municipalities across the United States have generally allowed most businesses to re-open and have generally eased restrictions they had previously implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, often in stages that are phased in over time, although some states and municipalities recently have reimposed certain restrictions in response to increases in COVID-19 infections. Despite some improvements in economic data in the second half of 2020, the U.S. gross domestic product remains below pre-pandemic levels. It is unclear whether the increases in the number of COVID-19 infection outbreaks will continue and/or amplify in the United States or elsewhere or if the availability and distributions of vaccines will curtail infection rates and, if so, what the impact of that would be on human health and safety, the economy, our operators or our business.

As of December 31, 2020,2021, we owned 310303 hotels with 49,01448,346 rooms or suites located in 3938 states, Washington D.C., Ontario, Canada and Puerto Rico. We believe the scale, geographic diversity, strategic locations and the variety of service levels of our hotels gives us a competitive advantage. Our hotel properties are typically located in urban or high density suburban locations in the vicinity of major demand generators such as large suburban office parks, urban centers, airports, medical or educational facilities or major tourist attractions.

The following table summarizes the brand affiliations, service level and chain scale of our hotels, as characterized by STR Inc., or STR, a data benchmark and analytics provider for the lodging industry, under which our hotels operate as of December 31, 2020:2021:

For more information about our hotel agreements and net lease portfolio, see Notes 5 and 9 to our consolidated financial statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

As of December 31, 2020,2021, our 310303 hotels were managed by subsidiaries of Sonesta, Marriott,Hyatt Hotels Corporation, or Hyatt, Radisson Hospitality, Inc., or Radisson, Marriott International, Inc., or Marriott, and IHG and five additional hotels were short-term leased to a third party with whom we have entered into an agreement to sell the hotels.InterContinental Hotels Group, plc, or IHG. Our hotel operating agreements have initial terms expiring between 20212022 and 2037. Each of these agreements is for between one and 168194 of our hotels. The principal features of our hotel agreements are as follows:

In general, our 799788 net lease properties are subject to “triple net” leases pursuantwhere the tenant is generally responsible for the payment of operating expenses and capital expenditures of the property during the lease term. Our tenants are responsible to which the tenants pay us fixed annual rents on a monthly, quarterly or semi-annual basis, and also pay or reimburse us for all, or substantially all, property level operating and maintenance expenses, such as real estate taxes, insurance, utilities and repairs, including increases with respect thereto.basis. Our net lease tenants are responsible to maintain the properties including structural and non-structural components. Certain of our net lease properties also have future rent increases included in the leases either at a fixed amount or based on changes in the consumer price index, or CPI. Certain of our lease agreements also require payment of percentage rent to us based on increases in certain gross property revenues over threshold amounts. Certain of our net lease properties, including all our TA properties, are subject to pooling agreements and include all or none renewal options.

Substantially all our travel centers are full service sites located at or near an interstate highway exit and offer fuel and non-fuel products and services 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Our typical travel center includes over 2425 acres of land with parking for approximately 200 tractor trailers and approximately 100 cars;cars. Our travel centers offer a broad range of products and services, including diesel fuel and gasoline, as well as nonfuel products and services such as truck repair and maintenance services, diesel exhaust fluid, one full service restaurant, and one or more quick service restaurants, which are operated under nationally recognized brands; a truck repair facilitytravel stores and parts store; multiple diesel and gasoline fueling points, including diesel exhaust fluid at the diesel lanes; a travel store; a game room; a lounge and other amenities for professional truck drivers and motorists.various customer amenities.

Our investment objectives include increasing cash flows from operations from dependable and diverse sources in order to increase per-share distributions to our shareholders. To achieve these objectives, we seek to maintain a strong capital base of shareholders’ equity; invest in high quality properties operated by qualified operating companies; use moderate debt leverage to fund additional investments which increase cash flows from operations because of positive spreads between our cost of investment capital and investment yields; structure investments which generate a minimum return in excess of our capital costs and provide an opportunity to participate in operating growth at our properties; when market conditions permit, refinance debt with additional equity or long term debt; and pursue diversification so that our cash flows from operations come from diverse properties and operators. Generally, we provide capital to owners and operators in service related industries who wish to expand their businesses or divest their properties while remaining in the servicecontinuing to operate their business.

Because we are a REIT, we generally may not operate our properties. We or our tenants have entered into arrangements for operation of our properties. Under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the IRC, we may lease our hotels to one of our “taxable REIT subsidiaries,” as defined in Section 856(l) of the IRC, or TRSs, if the hotel is managed by a third party. As of December 31, 2020, 3052021, all of our hotels were leased to our TRSs and managed by third parties. Any income realized by a TRS in excess of the rent paid to us by the subsidiary is subject to income tax at customary corporate rates. As and if the financial performance of the hotels operated for the account of our TRSs improves, these taxes may become material.

In determining the competitive position of a property, we examine the proximity and convenience of the property to its expected customer base, the number and characteristics of competitive properties within the property’s market area and the existence of barriers to entry for competitive properties within that market, including site availability and zoning restrictions. While we have historically focused on the acquisition of upscale limited service, extended stay and full service hotel properties, full service travel centers and necessity based retail properties, we consider acquisitions in all segments of the hospitality and necessity based retail industries. We expect most of our acquisition efforts will focus on hotel and net lease based properties; however, we may consider acquiring other types of properties, as well. An important part of our acquisition strategy is to identify and select or create qualified, experienced and financially stable operators.

Whenever we purchase an individual property or a small number of properties, we prefer arrangements in which these properties are added to agreements covering, and operated in combination with, properties we already own, but we may not always do so. We believe portfolios of diverse groups of properties may increase the security of our cash flows and likelihood our agreements will be renewed.

We have no policies which specifically limit the percentage of our assets that may be invested in any individual property, in any one type of property, in properties managed by or leased to any one entity, in properties operated under any one brand, in properties managed by or leased to an affiliated group of entities or in securities of one or more persons.

We have in the past considered, and may in the future consider, the possibility of entering into mergers or strategic combinations with other companies. Our principal goal of any such transactions will be to increase our cash flows from operations and to further diversify our revenue sources.

We own 8.1%8.0% of the outstanding common sharesstock of TA and 34% of the outstanding common stock of Sonesta as of December 31, 2020.2021. We may in the future acquire additional shares of common sharesstock of TA and Sonesta or securities of other entities, including entities engaged in real estate activities or we may sell these shares of common shares.stock. We may invest in the securities of other entities for the purpose of exercising control or otherwise, make loans to other persons or entities, engage in the sale of investments, offer securities in exchange for property or repurchase our securities.

We may not achieve some or all of our investment objectives.

Our Board of Trustees may change our investment and operating policies at any time without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders.

To maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we must distribute at least 90% of our annual REIT taxable income (excluding net capital gains). Accordingly, we generally will not be able to retain sufficient cash to fund our operations, repay our debts, invest in our properties and fund acquisitions and development or redevelopment efforts. Instead, we expect to repay our debts, invest in our properties and fund acquisitions and development or redevelopment efforts with borrowings under our revolving credit facility, proceeds from equity or debt securities we may issue (domestically or in foreign markets), including in subsidiaries, proceeds from our asset sales, or retained cash from operations that may exceed distributions paid.

We believe our capital structure provides us with financial flexibility and we have historically had access to capital markets. We may seek to obtain other lines of credit or to issue securities senior to our common shares, including preferred shares of beneficial interest and debt securities, either of which may be convertible into common shares or be accompanied by warrants to purchase common shares, or to engage in transactions which may involve a sale or other conveyance or contribution of hotel, net lease or other properties or assets to subsidiaries or to other affiliates or unaffiliated entities. We may finance acquisitions, in whole or in part, by among other possible means, exchanging properties, issuing additional common shares or other securities or assuming outstanding mortgage debt on the acquired properties. We may also place new mortgages on our existing properties as a means of financing. The proceeds from any of our financings may be used to pay distributions, to provide working capital, to refinance existing indebtedness or to finance acquisitions and expansions of existing or new properties, but our credit agreement currently requires such proceeds to be used to repay debt. For further information regarding our financing sources and activities, see Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Our Investment and Financing Liquidity and Capital Resources” and Note 6included in Part II, Item 7 of our consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Although there are no limitations in our organizational documents on the amount of indebtedness we may incur, our $1.0 billion revolving credit facility and our unsecured senior notes indentures and their supplements contain financial covenants which, among other things, restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness and require us to maintain certain financial ratios. We and our lenders amended our credit agreement governing our $1.0 billion revolving credit facility and $400.0 million term loan on May 8, 2020 and we and our lenders further amended our credit agreement governing our $1.0 billion revolving credit facility on November 5,in 2020. As a result of the November 5, 2020 amendment,amendments, we secured a waiver of all then existing financial covenants under our credit agreement through July 15, 2022. Also, on November 5, 2020, we repaid our $400.0 million term loan due in July 2023. We pledged certain equity interests of subsidiaries owning properties and we are providingprovided first mortgage liens on 74 properties owned by the pledging subsidiaries with an undepreciated book value of $1.8 billion as of December 31, 20202021 to secure our obligations under the credit agreement. However, we may seekare in discussions with our lenders regarding an extension of the maturity date of our revolving credit facility and additional amendmentscovenant waivers. There is no assurance we will come to these covenantsterms with our lenders or seek replacement financings with less restrictive covenants.will be granted such additional covenant relief. In the future, we may decide to seek changes in the financial covenants which currently restrict our debt leverage based upon then current economic conditions, the relative availability and costs of debt versus equity capital and our need for capital to take advantage of acquisition opportunities or otherwise. We are required to maintain the ratio of income available for debt service to debt service above 1.5x under our credit agreement and public debt covenants. This ratio was 1.56x and 2.86x1.20x as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.2021. We expect this ratio to continue to decline in 2021 as more quarters of historically weak operations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are reflected in the calculation. We expect the ratio could fall below the 1.5x requirement as of the end of the first quarter of 2021 and we will not be ablecurrently unable to incur additional debt while the ratio is below this requirement.required covenant levels. In January 2021, we drew down $972.8 million under our revolving credit facility as a precautionary measure in order to increase our cash position and preserve financial flexibility in light of continued uncertainty in the global markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. As of February 26, 2021,22, 2022, we areremain fully drawn under our revolving credit facility. For further information regarding our financing sources and activities, see Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Our Investment and Financing Liquidity and Capital Resources” included in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and Note 6 ofto our consolidated financial statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Generally, we intend to manage our leverage in a way that may allow us to eventually regain “investment grade” ratings from nationally recognized statistical rating organizations; however, we cannot be sure that we will be able to regain our investment grade ratings.

Our Board of Trustees may change our financing policies at any time without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders.

The market for net lease properties is also highly competitive. As an owner and landlord of retail net lease retail properties, we compete in the multi-billion dollar commercial real estate market with numerous developers and owners of properties, many of which own properties similar to ours and are in the same markets in which our properties are located. In operating and managing our portfolio, we compete for tenants based on a number of factors, including location, rental rates and flexibility. Certain of our competitors have greater economies of scale, have lower cost of capital, have access to more capital and resources and have greater name recognition than we do. If our competitors offer space at rental rates below current market rates or below the rental rates we currently charge our tenants, our tenants may not renew their leases, we might not enter into new leases with prospective tenants and we may be pressured to reduce our rental rates or to offer substantial rent abatements, tenant improvement allowances, early termination rights or below-market renewal options in order to retain tenants when their leases expire. Our tenants may also face competition from on-line retailers or service providers, which may in turn negatively impact their ability to pay rents due to us.

We have a large concentration of net lease properties in the travel center industry which is highly competitive. Although there are approximately 6,300 travel centers and truck stops in the U.S., we believe that large, long haul trucking fleets tend to purchase the large majority of their fuel at the travel centers and truck stops that are located at or near interstate highway exits. Long haul truck drivers can obtain fuel and non-fuel products and services from a variety of sources, including regional full service travel centers and fuel only truck stop chains, independently owned and operated truck stops, some large gas stations and trucking company terminals that provide fuel and services to their own trucking fleets. In addition, our travel centers compete with other truck repair and maintenance facilities, full and quick service restaurants and travel stores, and could face additional competition from state owned interstate highway rest areas, if they are commercialized. The largest competitors of TA’s travel centers are travel centers owned by Pilot Flying J Inc. and Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, which we believe, together with TA, represent a majority of the market for fuel sales to long haul trucking fleets. Competitive pressure from Pilot Flying J Inc. and Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, especially for large trucking fleets and long haul trucking fleets, could negatively impact TA’s ability to pay rents due to us.

We expect to compete for property acquisition and financing opportunities with entities which may have substantially greater financial resources than us, including, without limitation, other REITs, operating companies in the hospitality industry, banks, insurance companies, pension plans and public and private partnerships. These entities may be able to accept more risk than we can prudently manage, including risks with respect to the creditworthiness of property operators and the extent of leverage used in their capital structure. Such competition may reduce the number of suitable property acquisition or financing opportunities available to us or increase the bargaining power of property owners seeking to sell or finance their properties.

Ownership of real estate is subjectOur business strategy incorporates a focus on sustainable approaches to risks associated with environmental hazards. Under various laws, owners as well as tenantsoperating our properties in a manner that benefits us, our shareholders, operators and managers of real estate may be required to investigate and clean up or remove hazardous substances present at or migratingthe communities in which we are located. As a REIT, we are prohibited by tax law from properties they own, lease or manage and may be held liable for property damage or personal injuries that result from hazardous substances. These laws also expose us to the possibility that we may become liable to government agencies or third parties for costs and damages they incur in connection with hazardous substances. In addition, these laws also impose various requirements regarding the operation and maintenance ofoperating our hotel properties and recordkeeping and reporting requirements relating to environmental matters that require us or the operatorsall of our other properties are leased to incur costs to comply with.

Our environmental sustainability and community engagement strategies are primarily implemented by our operators and focus on a complementary set of objectives, including the following:

The following summary of material United States federal income tax considerations is based on existing law and is limited to investors who own our shares as investment assets rather than as inventory or as property used in a trade or business. The summary does not discuss all of the particular tax considerations that might be relevant to you if you are subject to special rules under federal income tax law, for example if you are:

The sections of the IRC that govern the federal income tax qualification and treatment of a REIT and its shareholders are complex. This presentation is a summary of applicable IRC provisions, related rules and regulations, and administrative and judicial interpretations, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect. Future legislative, judicial or administrative actions or decisions could also affect the accuracy of statements made in this summary. We have not received a ruling from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, with respect to any matter described in this summary, and we cannot be sure that the IRS or a court will agree with all of the statements made in this summary. The IRS could, for example, take a different position from that described in this summary with respect to our acquisitions, operations, valuations, restructurings or other matters, which, if a court agreed, could result in significant tax liabilities for applicable parties. In addition, this summary is not exhaustive of all possible tax considerations and does not discuss any estate, gift, state, local or foreign tax considerations. For all these reasons, we urge you and any holder of or prospective acquiror of our shares to consult with a tax advisor about the federal income tax and other tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our shares. Our intentions and beliefs described in this summary are based upon our understanding of applicable laws and regulations that are in effect as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If new laws or regulations are enacted which impact us directly or indirectly, we may change our intentions or beliefs.

Your federal income tax consequences generally will differ depending on whether or not you are a “U.S. shareholder.” For purposes of this summary, a “U.S. shareholder” is a beneficial owner of our shares that is:

If any entity (or other arrangement) treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes holds our shares, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership generally will depend upon the tax status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. Any entity (or other arrangement) treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes that is a holder of our shares and the partners in such a partnership (as determined for federal income tax purposes) are urged to consult their own tax advisors about the federal income tax consequences and other tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our shares.

As a REIT, we generally are not subject to federal income tax on our net income distributed as dividends to our shareholders. Distributions to our shareholders generally are included in our shareholders’ income as dividends to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits. Our dividends are not generally entitled to the preferential tax rates on qualified dividend income, but a portion of our dividends may be treated as capital gain dividends or as qualified dividend

Our continued qualification and taxation as a REIT will depend upon our compliance with various qualification tests imposed under the IRC and summarized below. While we believe that we have satisfied and will satisfy these tests, our counsel does not review compliance with these tests on a continuing basis. If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT in any year, then we will be subject to federal income taxation as if we were a corporation taxed under subchapter C of the IRC, or a C corporation, and our shareholders will be taxed like shareholders of regular C corporations, meaning that federal income tax

If we continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT and meet the tests described below, then we generally will not pay federal income tax on amounts that we distribute to our shareholders. However, even if we continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may still be subject to federal tax in the following circumstances, as described below:

Other countries (and, for this purpose, Puerto Rico is best thought of as a separate country) may impose taxes on our and our subsidiaries’ assets and operations within their jurisdictions. As a REIT, neither we nor our shareholders are expected to benefit from foreign tax credits arising from those taxes.

If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT in any year, then we will be subject to federal income tax in the same manner as a regular C corporation. Further, as a regular C corporation, distributions to our shareholders will not be deductible by us, nor

Section 856(b) of the IRC provides that conditions (1) through (4) must be met during the entire taxable year and that condition (5) must be met during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months, or during a proportionate part of a taxable year of less than 12 months. Although we cannot be sure, we believe that we have met conditions (1) through (7) during each of the requisite periods ending on or before the close of our most recently completed taxable year, and that we will continue to meet these conditions in our current and future taxable years.

For purposes of condition (6), an “individual” generally includes a natural person, a supplemental unemployment compensation benefit plan, a private foundation, or a portion of a trust permanently set aside or used exclusively for charitable purposes, but does not include a qualified pension plan or profit-sharing trust. As a result, REIT shares owned by an entity that is not an “individual” are considered to be owned by the direct and indirect owners of the entity that are individuals (as so defined), rather than to be owned by the entity itself. Similarly, REIT shares held by a qualified pension plan or profit-sharing trust are treated as held directly by the individual beneficiaries in proportion to their actuarial interests in such plan or trust. Consequently, five or fewer such trusts could own more than 50% of the interests in an entity without jeopardizing that entity’s qualification for taxation as a REIT.

We have invested and may in the future invest in real estate through one or more entities that are treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes. In the case of a REIT that is a partner in a partnership, Treasury regulations under the IRC provide that, for purposes of the REIT qualification requirements regarding income and assets described below, the REIT is generally deemed to own its proportionate share, based on respective capital interests, of the income and assets of the partnership (except

In addition, any corporation (other than a REIT)REIT and other than a QRS) in which a TRS directly or indirectly owns more than 35% of the voting power or value of the outstanding securities is automatically a TRS.TRS (excluding, for this purpose, certain “straight debt” securities). Subject to the discussion below, we believe that we and each of our TRSs have complied with, and will continue to comply with, the requirements for TRS status at all times during which we intend for the subsidiary’s TRS election is intended to be in effect, and we believe that the same will be true for any TRS that we later form or acquire.

As discussed below, TRSs can perform services for our tenants without disqualifying the rents we receive from those tenants under the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test discussed below. Moreover, because our TRSs are taxed

Restrictions and sanctions are imposed on TRSs and their affiliated REITs to ensure that the TRSs will be subject to an appropriate level of federal income taxation. For example, if a TRS pays interest, rent or other amounts to its affiliated REIT in an amount that exceeds what an unrelated third party would have paid in an arm’s length transaction, then the REIT generally will be subject to an excise tax equal to 100% of the excessive portion of the payment. Further, if in comparison to an arm’s length transaction, a third-party tenant has overpaid rent to the REIT in exchange for underpaying the TRS for services rendered, and if the REIT has not adequately compensated the TRS for services provided to or on behalf of the third-party tenant, then the REIT may be subject to an excise tax equal to 100% of the undercompensation to the TRS. A safe harbor

In order to qualify as “rents from real property” within the meaning of Section 856(d) of the IRC, several requirements must be met:

We believe that all or substantially all of our rents and related service charges have qualified and will continue to qualify as “rents from real property” for purposes of Section 856 of the IRC.

Absent the “foreclosure property” rules of Section 856(e) of the IRC, a REIT’s receipt of active, nonrental gross income from a property would not qualify under the 75% and 95% gross income tests. But as foreclosure property, the active, nonrental gross income from the property would so qualify. Foreclosure property is generally any real property, including interests in real property, and any personal property incident to such real property:

Any gain that a REIT recognizes on the sale of foreclosure property held as inventory or primarily for sale to customers, plus any income it receives from foreclosure property that would not otherwise qualify under the 75% gross income test in the absence of foreclosure property treatment, reduced by expenses directly connected with the production of those items of income, would be subject to income tax at the highest regular corporate income tax rate under the foreclosure property income tax rules of Section 857(b)(4) of the IRC. Thus, if a REIT should lease foreclosure property in exchange for rent that qualifies as “rents from real property” as described above, then that rental income is not subject to the foreclosure property income tax.

Property generally ceases to be foreclosure property at the end of the third taxable year following the taxable year in which the REIT acquired the property, or longer if an extension is obtained from the IRS. However, this grace period terminates and foreclosure property ceases to be foreclosure property on the first day:

Other than sales of foreclosure property, any gain that we realize on the sale of property held as inventory or other property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business, together known as dealer gains, may be treated as income from a prohibited transaction that is subject to a penalty tax at a 100% rate. The 100% tax does not apply to gains from the sale of property that is held through a TRS, although such income will be subject to tax in the hands of the TRS at regular corporate income tax rates; we may therefore utilize our TRSs in transactions in which we might otherwise recognize dealer gains. Whether property is held as inventory or primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business is a question of fact that depends on all the facts and circumstances surrounding each particular transaction. Sections 857(b)(6)(C) and (E) of the IRC provide safe harbors pursuant to which limited sales of real property held for at least two years and meeting specified additional requirements will not be treated as prohibited transactions. However, compliance with the safe harbors is not always achievable in practice. We attempt to structure our activities to avoid transactions that are prohibited transactions, or otherwise conduct such activities through TRSs; but, we cannot be sure whether or not the IRS might successfully assert that one or more of our dispositions iswe are subject to the 100% penalty tax.tax with respect to any particular transaction. Gains subject to the 100% penalty tax are excluded from the 75% and 95% gross income tests, whereas real property gains that are not dealer gains or that are exempted from the 100% penalty tax on account of the safe harbors are considered qualifying gross income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests.

We believe that any gain from dispositions of assets that we have made,recognized, or that we might makewill recognize, in the future,connection with our disposition of assets and other transactions, including through any partnerships, will generally qualify as income that satisfies the 75% and 95% gross income tests, and will not be dealer gains or subject to the 100% penalty tax. This is because our general intent has been and is to: (a) own our assets for investment (including through joint ventures) with a view to long-term income production and capital appreciation; (b) engage in the business of developing, owning, leasing and managing our existing properties and acquiring, developing, owning, leasing and managing new properties; and (c) make occasional dispositions of our assets consistent with our long-term investment objectives.

If we fail to satisfy one or both of the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test in any taxable year, we may nevertheless qualify for taxation as a REIT for that year if we satisfy the following requirements: (a) our failure to meet the test is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect; and (b) after we identify the failure, we file a schedule describing each item of our gross income included in the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test for that taxable year. Even if this relief provision does apply, a 100% tax is imposed upon the greater of the amount by which we failed the 75% gross income test or the amount by which we failed the 95% gross income test, with adjustments, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability for the taxable year. This relief provision may apply to a failure of the applicable income tests even if the failure first occurred in a year prior to the taxable year in which the failure was discovered.

Based on the discussion above, we believe that we have satisfied, and will continue to satisfy, the 75% and 95% gross income tests outlined above on a continuing basis beginning with our first taxable year as a REIT.

The IRC also provides an excepted securities safe harbor to the 10% value test that includes among other items (a) “straight debt” securities, (b) specified rental agreements in which payment is to be made in subsequent years, (c) any obligation to pay “rents from real property,” (d) securities issued by governmental entities that are not dependent in whole or in part on the profits of or payments from a nongovernmental entity, and (e) any security issued by another REIT. In addition, any debt instrument issued by an entity classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, and not otherwise excepted from the definition of a security for purposes of the above safe harbor, will not be treated as a security for purposes of the 10% value test if at least 75% of the partnership’s gross income, excluding income from prohibited transactions, is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test.

We have maintained and will continue to maintain records of the value of our assets to document our compliance with the above asset tests and intend to take actions as may be required to cure any failure to satisfy the tests within thirty days after the close of any quarter or within the six month periods described above.

Based on the discussion above, we believe that we have satisfied, and will continue to satisfy, the REIT asset tests outlined above on a continuing basis beginning with our first taxable year as a REIT.

In lease transactions involving our TRSs, our intent is for the rents paid to us by the TRS to qualify as “rents from real property” under the REIT gross income tests summarized above. In order for this to be the case, the manager operating the leased property on behalf of the applicable TRS must be an “eligible independent contractor” within the meaning of Section 856(d)(9)(A) of the IRC, and the hotels leased to the TRS must be “qualified lodging facilities” within the meaning of Section 856(d)(9)(D) of the IRC. Qualified lodging facilities are defined as hotels, motels or other establishments where more than half of the dwelling units are used on a transient basis, provided that legally authorized wagering or gambling activities are not conducted at or in connection with such facilities. Also included in the definition are the qualified lodging facility’s customary amenities and facilities.

For these purposes, a contractor qualifies as an “eligible independent contractor” if it is less than 35% affiliated with the REIT and, at the time the contractor enters into the agreement with the TRS to operate the qualified lodging facility, that contractor or any person related to that contractor is actively engaged in the trade or business of operating qualified lodging facilities for persons unrelated to the TRS or its affiliated REIT. For these purposes, an otherwise eligible independent contractor is not disqualified from that status on account of (a) the TRS bearing the expenses of the operation of the qualified lodging facility, (b) the TRS receiving the revenues from the operation of the qualified lodging facility, net of expenses for that operation and fees payable to the eligible independent contractor, or (c) the REIT receiving income from the eligible independent contractor pursuant to a preexisting or otherwise grandfathered lease of another property.

We have engaged as an intended eligible independent contractor a particular corporate subsidiary of Sonesta. This contractor and its affiliates are actively engaged in the trade or business of operating qualified lodging facilities for their own accounts, including pursuant to management contracts among themselves; however, this contractor and its affiliates have few if any management contracts for qualified lodging facilities with third parties other than us and our TRSs. Based on a plain reading of the statute as well as applicable legislative history, our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that this intended eligible independent contractor should in fact so qualify. If the IRS or a court determines that this opinion is incorrect, then the rental income we receive from our TRSs in respect of properties managed by this particular contractor would be nonqualifying income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests, possibly jeopardizing our compliance with one or both of these gross income tests. Under those circumstances, however, we expect we would qualify for the gross income tests’ relief provision described above, and thereby would preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT. If the relief provision were to apply to us, we would be subject to tax at a 100% rate upon the greater of the amount by which we failed the 75% gross income test or the amount by which we failed the 95% gross income test, with adjustments, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability for the taxable year; even though we have little or no nonqualifying income from other sources in a typical taxable year, imposition of this 100% tax in this circumstance would be material because to date most of the properties leased to our TRSs are managed for the TRSs by this contractor.

As explained above, we will be subject to a 100% tax on the rents paid to us by any of our TRSs if the IRS successfully asserts that those rents exceed an arm’s length rental rate. Although there is no clear precedent to distinguish for federal income tax purposes among leases, management contracts, partnerships, financings, and other contractual arrangements, we believe that our leases and our TRSs’ management agreements will be respected for purposes of the requirements of the IRC discussed above. Accordingly, we expect that the rental income from our current and future TRSs will qualify as “rents from real property,” and that the 100% tax on excessive rents from a TRS will not apply.

For these purposes, our “real estate investment trust taxable income” is as defined under Section 857 of the IRC and is computed without regard to the dividends paid deduction and our net capital gain and will generally be reduced by specified corporate-level income taxes that we pay (e.g., taxes on built-in gains or foreclosure property income).

The IRC generally limits the deductibility of net interest expense paid or accrued on debt properly allocable to a trade or business to 30% of “adjusted taxable income,” subject to specified exceptions. Any deduction in excess of the limitation is

Distributions must be paid in the taxable year to which they relate, or in the following taxable year if declared before we timely file our federal income tax return for the earlier taxable year and if paid on or before the first regular distribution payment after that declaration. If a dividend is declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record during one of those months and is paid during the following January, then for federal income tax purposes such dividend will be treated as having been both paid and received on December 31 of the prior taxable year to the extent of any undistributed earnings and profits.

The 90% distribution requirements may be waived by the IRS if a REIT establishes that it failed to meet them by reason of distributions previously made to meet the requirements of the 4% excise tax discussed below. To the extent that we do not distribute all of our net capital gain and all of our “real estate investment trust taxable income,” as adjusted, we will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate income tax rates on undistributed amounts. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax to the extent we fail within a calendar year to make required distributions to our shareholders of 85% of our ordinary income and 95% of our capital gain net income plus the excess, if any, of the “grossed up required distribution” for the preceding calendar year over the amount treated as distributed for that preceding calendar year. For this purpose, the term “grossed up required distribution” for any calendar year is the sum of our taxable income for the calendar year without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and all amounts from earlier years that are not treated as having been distributed under the provision. We will be treated as having sufficient earnings and profits to treat as a dividend any distribution by us up to the amount required to be distributed in order to avoid imposition of the 4% excise tax.

If we do not have enough cash or other liquid assets to meet our distribution requirements, or if we so choose, we may find it necessary or desirable to arrange for new debt or equity financing to provide funds for required distributions in order to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT. We cannot be sure that financing would be available for these purposes on favorable terms, or at all.

We may be able to rectify a failure to pay sufficient dividends for any year by paying “deficiency dividends” to shareholders in a later year. These deficiency dividends may be included in our deduction for dividends paid for the earlier year, but an interest charge would be imposed upon us for the delay in distribution. While the payment of a deficiency dividend will apply to a prior year for purposes of our REIT distribution requirements and our dividends paid deduction, it will be treated as an additional distribution to the shareholders receiving it in the year such dividend is paid.

In addition to the other distribution requirements above, to preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT we are required to timely distribute all C corporation earnings and profits that we inherit from acquired corporations, as described below.

Our initial tax bases in our assets will generally be our acquisition cost. We will generally depreciate our depreciable real property on a straight-line basis over forty years and our personal property over the applicable shorter periods. These depreciation schedules, and our initial tax bases, may vary for properties that we acquire through tax-free or carryover basis acquisitions, or that are the subject of cost segregation analyses.

We are entitled to depreciation deductions from our properties only if we are treated for federal income tax purposes as the owner of the properties. This means that the leases of our properties must be classified for U.S. federal income tax purposes as true leases, rather than as sales or financing arrangements, and we believe this to be the case.

DuringWe have in the first quarterpast disposed of 2019, we sold 20 travel centersproperties in transactions intended to TAqualify as like-kind exchanges under the IRC, and may continue this practice in the future. Such like-kind exchanges are intended to result in the deferral of gain for an aggregate price of $308.2 million pursuant to three separate agreements. Our and TA’s obligations to complete the three transactions were subject to various conditions typical of commercial real estate purchases, and thus on advice of counsel we believe that each of the three agreements was a separate transaction forU.S. federal income tax purposes. Our salesThe failure of any such transaction to qualify as a like-kind exchange could subject us to U.S. federal income tax, possibly including the travel centers would have resulted in significant100% prohibited transaction tax, gainsdepending on the facts and either a significant 2019 distribution requirement or entity-level taxation tocircumstances surrounding the extent the gains were not deferred. In order to defer some of the gains on these sales, we recycled proceeds from two of the three transactions into replacement property pursuant to Section 1031 of the IRC. Any gains that were not deferred under Section 1031 of the IRC constituted qualifying income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests.particular transaction.

As described above, we expect to make distributions to our shareholders from time to time. These distributions may include cash distributions, in kind distributions of property, and deemed or constructive distributions resulting from capital market activities. The U.S. federal income tax treatment of our distributions will vary based on the status of the recipient shareholder as more fully described below under the headings “—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders,” “—Taxation of Tax-Exempt U.S. Shareholders,” and “—Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders.”

Section 302 of the IRC treats a redemption of our shares for cash only as a distribution under Section 301 of the IRC, and hence taxable as a dividend to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits, unless the redemption satisfies one of the tests set forth in Section 302(b) of the IRC enabling the redemption to be treated as a sale or exchange of the shares. The redemption for cash only will be treated as a sale or exchange if it (a) is “substantially disproportionate” with respect to the surrendering shareholder’s ownership in us, (b) results in a “complete termination” of the surrendering

As long as we qualify for taxation as a REIT, a distribution to our U.S. shareholders that we do not designate as a capital gain dividend generally will be treated as an ordinary income dividend to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits (subject to the lower effective tax rates applicable to qualified REIT dividends via the deduction-without-outlay mechanism of Section 199A of the IRC, which is generally available to our noncorporate U.S. shareholders that meet specified holding period requirements for taxable years before 2026). Distributions made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits that we properly designate as capital gain dividends generally will be taxed as long-term capital gains, as discussed below, to the extent they do not exceed our actual net capital gain for the taxable year. However, corporate shareholders may be required to treat up to 20% of any capital gain dividend as ordinary income under Section 291 of the IRC.

In addition, we may elect to retain net capital gain income and treat it as constructively distributed. In that case:

Distributions in excess of our current or accumulated earnings and profits will not be taxable to a U.S. shareholder to the extent that they do not exceed the shareholder’s adjusted tax basis in our shares, but will reduce the shareholder’s basis in such shares. To the extent that these excess distributions exceed a U.S. shareholder’s adjusted basis in such shares, they will be included in income as capital gain, with long-term gain generally taxed to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at preferential maximum rates. No U.S. shareholder may include on its federal income tax return any of our net operating losses or any of our capital losses. In addition, no portion of any of our dividends is eligible for the dividends received deduction for corporate shareholders.

If a dividend is declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record during one of those months and is paid during the following January, then for federal income tax purposes the dividend will be treated as having been both paid and received on December 31 of the prior taxable year.

A U.S. shareholder will generally recognize gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder’s adjusted basis in our shares that are sold or exchanged. This gain or loss will be capital gain or loss, and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shareholder’s holding period in our shares exceeds one year. In addition, any loss upon a sale or exchange of our shares held for six months or less will generally be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any long-term capital gain dividends we paid on such shares during the holding period.

U.S. shareholders who are individuals, estates or trusts are generally required to pay a 3.8% Medicare tax on their net investment income (including dividends on our shares (without regard to any deduction allowed by Section 199A of the IRC) and gains from the sale or other disposition of our shares), or in the case of estates and trusts on their net investment income that is not distributed, in each case to the extent that their total adjusted income exceeds applicable thresholds. U.S. shareholders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the application of the 3.8% Medicare tax.

If a U.S. shareholder recognizes a loss upon a disposition of our shares in an amount that exceeds a prescribed threshold, it is possible that the provisions of Treasury regulations involving “reportable transactions” could apply, with a resulting requirement to separately disclose the loss-generating transaction to the IRS. These Treasury regulations are written quite broadly, and apply to many routine and simple transactions. A reportable transaction currently includes, among other things, a sale or exchange of our shares resulting in a tax loss in excess of (a) $10 million in any single year or $20 million in a prescribed combination of taxable years in the case of our shares held by a C corporation or by a partnership with only C corporation partners or (b) $2 million in any single year or $4 million in a prescribed combination of taxable years in the case of our shares held by any other partnership or an S corporation, trust or individual, including losses that flow through pass through entities to individuals. A taxpayer discloses a reportable transaction by filing IRS Form 8886 with its federal income tax return and, in the first year of filing, a copy of Form 8886 must be sent to the IRS’s Office of Tax Shelter Analysis. The annual maximum penalty for failing to disclose a reportable transaction is generally $10,000 in the case of a natural person and $50,000 in any other case.

Noncorporate U.S. shareholders who borrow funds to finance their acquisition of our shares could be limited in the amount of deductions allowed for the interest paid on the indebtedness incurred. Under Section 163(d) of the IRC, interest paid or accrued on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry property held for investment is generally deductible only to the extent of the investor’s net investment income. A U.S. shareholder’s net investment income will include ordinary income dividend distributions received from us and, only if an appropriate election is made by the shareholder, capital gain dividend distributions and qualified dividends received from us; however, distributions treated as a nontaxable return of the shareholder’s basis will not enter into the computation of net investment income.

The rules governing the federal income taxation of tax-exempt entities are complex, and the following discussion is intended only as a summary of material considerations of an investment in our shares relevant to such investors. If you are a tax-exempt shareholder, we urge you to consult your own tax advisor to determine the impact of federal, state, local and foreign tax laws, including any tax return filing and other reporting requirements, with respect to your acquisition of or investment in our shares.

The rules governing the U.S. federal income taxation of non-U.S. shareholders are complex, and the following discussion is intended only as a summary of material considerations of an investment in our shares relevant to such investors. If you are a non-U.S. shareholder, we urge you to consult your own tax advisor to determine the impact of U.S. federal, state, local and foreign tax laws, including any tax return filing and other reporting requirements, with respect to your acquisition of or investment in our shares.

For so long as a class of our shares is listed on a U.S. national securities exchange, capital gain dividends that we declare and pay to a non-U.S. shareholder on those shares, as well as dividends to a non-U.S. shareholder on those shares attributable to our sale or exchange of “United States real property interests” within the meaning of Section 897 of the IRC, or USRPIs, will not be subject to withholding as though those amounts were effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, and non-U.S. shareholders will not be required to file U.S. federal income tax returns or pay branch profits tax in respect of these dividends. Instead, these dividends will generally be treated as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding in the manner described above.

If, contrary to our expectation, a class of our shares was not listed on a U.S. national securities exchange and we made a distribution on those shares that was attributable to gain from the sale or exchange of a USRPI, then a non-U.S. shareholder holding those shares would be taxed as if the distribution was gain effectively connected with a trade or business in the United States conducted by the non-U.S. shareholder. In addition, the applicable withholding agent would be required to withhold from a distribution to such a non-U.S. shareholder, and remit to the IRS, up to 21% of the maximum amount of any distribution that was or could have been designated as a capital gain dividend. The non-U.S. shareholder also would generally be subject to the same treatment as a U.S. shareholder with respect to the distribution (subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of a nonresident alien individual), would be subject to fulsome U.S. federal income tax return reporting requirements, and, in the case of a corporate non-U.S. shareholder, may owe the up to 30% branch profits tax under Section 884 of the IRC (or lower applicable tax treaty rate) in respect of these amounts.

First, for so long as a class of our shares is listed on a U.S. national securities exchange, a non-U.S. shareholder’s gain on the sale of those shares will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxation as a sale of a USRPI. Second, our shares will not constitute USRPIs if we are a “domestically controlled” REIT. We will be a “domestically controlled” REIT if less than 50% of the value of our shares (including any future class of shares that we may issue) is held, directly or indirectly, by non-U.S. shareholders at all times during the preceding five years, after applying specified presumptions regarding the ownership of our shares as described in Section 897(h)(4)(E) of the IRC. For these purposes, we believe that the statutory ownership

Information reporting, backup withholding, and foreign account withholding may apply to distributions or proceeds paid to our shareholders under the circumstances discussed below. If a shareholder is subject to backup or other U.S. federal income tax withholding, then the applicable withholding agent will be required to withhold the appropriate amount with respect to a deemed or constructive distribution or a distribution in kind even though there is insufficient cash from which to satisfy the withholding obligation. To satisfy this withholding obligation, the applicable withholding agent may collect the amount of U.S. federal income tax required to be withheld by reducing to cash for remittance to the IRS a sufficient portion of the property that the shareholder would otherwise receive or own, and the shareholder may bear brokerage or other costs for this withholding procedure.

Amounts withheld under backup withholding are generally not an additional tax and may be refunded by the IRS or credited against the shareholder’s federal income tax liability, provided that such shareholder timely files for a refund or credit with the IRS. A U.S. shareholder may be subject to backup withholding when it receives distributions on our shares or proceeds upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares, unless the U.S. shareholder properly executes, or has previously properly executed, under penalties of perjury an IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form that:

If the U.S. shareholder has not provided and does not provide its correct taxpayer identification number and appropriate certifications on an IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form, it may be subject to penalties imposed by the IRS, and the applicable withholding agent may have to withhold a portion of any distributions or proceeds paid to such U.S. shareholder. Unless the U.S. shareholder has established on a properly executed IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form that it comes within an enumerated exempt category, distributions or proceeds on our shares paid to it during the calendar year, and the amount of tax withheld, if any, will be reported to it and to the IRS.

Distributions on our shares to a non-U.S. shareholder during each calendar year and the amount of tax withheld, if any, will generally be reported to the non-U.S. shareholder and to the IRS. This information reporting requirement applies regardless of whether the non-U.S. shareholder is subject to withholding on distributions on our shares or whether the withholding was reduced or eliminated by an applicable tax treaty. Also, distributions paid to a non-U.S. shareholder on our shares will generally be subject to backup withholding, unless the non-U.S. shareholder properly certifies to the applicable withholding agent its non-U.S. shareholder status on an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form. Information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to proceeds a non-U.S. shareholder receives upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares, if the non-U.S. shareholder properly certifies to the applicable withholding agent its non-U.S. shareholder status on an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form. Even without having executed an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form, however, in some cases information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to proceeds that a non-U.S. shareholder receives upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares if the non-U.S. shareholder receives those proceeds through a broker’s foreign office.

Non-U.S. financial institutions and other non-U.S. entities are subject to diligence and reporting requirements for purposes of identifying accounts and investments held directly or indirectly by U.S. persons. The failure to comply with these additional information reporting, certification and other requirements could result in a 30% U.S. withholding tax on applicable payments to non-U.S. persons, notwithstanding any otherwise applicable provisions of an income tax treaty. In particular, a payee that is a foreign financial institution that is subject to the diligence and reporting requirements described above must enter into an agreement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury requiring, among other things, that it undertake to identify accounts held by “specified United States persons” or “United States owned foreign entities” (each as defined in the IRC and administrative

Our tax treatment and that of our shareholders may be modified by legislative, judicial or administrative actions at any time, which actions may have retroactive effect. The rules dealing with federal income taxation are constantly under review by the U.S. Congress, the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and statutory changes, new regulations, revisions to existing regulations and revised interpretations of established concepts are issued frequently. Likewise, the rules regarding taxes other than U.S. federal income taxes may also be modified. No prediction can be made as to the likelihood of passage of new tax legislation or other provisions, or the direct or indirect effect on us and our shareholders. Revisions to tax laws and interpretations of these laws could adversely affect our ability to qualify and be taxed as a REIT, as well as the tax or other consequences of an investment in our shares. We and our shareholders may also be subject to taxation by state, local or other jurisdictions, including those in which we or our shareholders transact business or reside. These tax consequences may not be comparable to the U.S. federal income tax consequences discussed above.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, or ERISA, the IRC and similar provisions to those described below under applicable foreign or state law, individually and collectively, impose certain duties on persons who are fiduciaries of any employee benefit plan subject to Title I of ERISA, or an ERISA Plan, or an individual retirement account or annuity, or an IRA, a Roth IRA, a tax-favored account (such as an Archer MSA, Coverdell education savings account or health savings account), a Keogh plan or other qualified retirement plan not subject to Title I of ERISA, each a Non-ERISA Plan. Under ERISA and the IRC, any person who exercises any discretionary authority or control over the administration of, or the management or disposition of the assets of, an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan, or who renders investment advice for a fee or other compensation to an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan, is generally considered to be a fiduciary of the ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan.

Fiduciaries of an ERISA Plan must consider whether:

Fiduciaries of an ERISA Plan may incur personal liability for any loss suffered by the ERISA Plan on account of a violation of their fiduciary responsibilities. In addition, these fiduciaries may be subject to a civil penalty of up to 20% of any amount recovered by the ERISA Plan on account of a violation. Fiduciaries of any Non-ERISA Plan should consider that the Non-ERISA Plan may only make investments that are authorized by the appropriate governing instrument and applicable law.

Fiduciaries considering an investment in our securities should consult their own legal advisors if they have any concern as to whether the investment is consistent with the foregoing criteria or is otherwise appropriate. The sale of our securities to an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan is in no respect a representation by us or any underwriter of the securities that the investment meets all relevant legal requirements with respect to investments by the arrangements generally or any particular arrangement, or that the investment is appropriate for arrangements generally or any particular arrangement.

Fiduciaries of ERISA Plans and persons making the investment decision for Non-ERISA Plans should consider the application of the prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA and the IRC in making their investment decision. Sales and other transactions between an ERISA Plan or a Non-ERISA Plan and disqualified persons or parties in interest, as applicable, are prohibited transactions and result in adverse consequences absent an exemption. The particular facts concerning the

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a regulation defining “plan assets.” The regulation, as subsequently modified by ERISA, generally provides that when an ERISA Plan or a Non-ERISA Plan otherwise subject to Title I of ERISA and/or Section 4975 of the IRC acquires an interest in an entity that is neither a “publicly offered security” nor a security issued by an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, the assets of the ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan include both the equity interest and an undivided interest in each of the underlying assets of the entity, unless it is

The regulation provides that whether a security is “freely transferable” is a factual question to be determined on the basis of all relevant facts and circumstances. The regulation further provides that, where a security is part of an offering in which the minimum investment is $10,000 or less, some restrictions on transfer ordinarily will not, alone or in combination, affect a finding that these securities are freely transferable. The restrictions on transfer enumerated in the regulation as not affecting that finding include:

Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. The summary below provides an overview of many of the risks we face that are described in this section. Additional risks, beyond those summarized below, or discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” or described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, may also materially and adversely impact our business, operations or financial results. Consistent with the foregoing, the risks we face include, but are not limited to, the following:

The risks described below may not be the only risks we face but are risks we believe may be material at this time. Other risks of which we are not yet aware, or that we currently believe are not material, may also materially and adversely impact our business operations or financial results. If any of the events or circumstances described below occurs, our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations or ability to make distributions to our shareholders could be adversely affectedimpacted and the value of an investment in our securities could decline. Investors and prospective investors should consider the risks described below and the information contained under the caption “Warning Concerning Forward-Looking Statements” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before deciding whether to invest in our securities.

The strain of coronavirus that causes the viral disease known as COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, and the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary has declared a public health emergency in the United States in response to the outbreak. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial adverse impact on the global economy, including the U.S. economy, during various stages of the pandemic. Government requirements to stay in place and temporarily close businesses had a substantial negative impact on the economy. Government spending during the pandemic, and subsequent easing of the government restrictions, have since helped avert extended negative impacts to the economy and are believed to have helped foster a return to economic growth. However, the progression of the pandemic has been unpredictable, with infection rates rising and falling and new variants of the virus continuing to emerge. Those variants may have negative impacts on public health, including possibly being more transmissible, including to people who have been otherwise immunized due to natural immunity as a result of being previously infected with COVID-19 or vaccination. Variants of COVID-19 could have similar or worse impacts on the economy and public health as previous versions of COVID-19.

These conditionsThe lodging industry and other industries in which our managers and tenants operate have materially andbeen adversely impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic, along with federal, state and local government mandates intended to contain and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and market reactions to the pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 continue to have a significant negative impact on our business,results of operations, financial resultsposition and liquidity.cash flow. Although lodging demand improved during the year ended December 31, 2021 when compared to 2020 levels, we do not know when or if lodging business levels will return to historical pre-pandemic levels. We currently expect that the recovery with respect to business transient and group business will be gradual and likely inconsistent. We also currently expect the recovery of the U.S. hospitality industry to be a multi-year process and to remain uneven. In particular, a varietyaddition, consumer confidence and lodging demand will continue to be affected by unemployment, perceptions of factors relatedthe safety of returning to normal activities, the continued use of video conferencing technologies rather than in person meetings and broader macroeconomic trends. These trends, together with increasing labor costs and shortages and commodity and other price inflation due to supply chain challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, have caused, and are expected tomay continue to cause, a decline in the business and leisure travel and entertainment industries, including, but not limited to, (i) restrictions on travel and public gatherings imposed by governmental entities and employers, (ii) the closure of hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues, (iii) the postponement or cancellation of industry conventions and conferences, music and arts festivals, sporting events and other large public gatherings, (iv) the closure of amusement parks, museums and other tourist attractions, (v) the closure and switch to online classes by colleges and universities, and (vi) negative public perceptions of travel and public gatherings in light of the perceived risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The reduced economic activity resulting from these factors has severely and negatively impactedimpact our hotel operations and our hotels have experienced a large decline in occupancy and revenues.financial results.

In addition, some of our tenants at our net lease retail properties had to close their businesses for certain periods of time, and experienced, and continue to experience, substantial declines in their businesses. Some of these tenants sought and received rent relief

In addition, quarantines, temporary closuresThe ultimate adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. We do not yet know the full extent of potential impacts on our business and operations, our managers’ and tenants’ businesses states of emergencies and other measures takenoperations and their ability and willingness to curbpay us returns or rents or the global economy as a whole. While the spread of COVID-19 may negatively impact the ability of our operators to continue to obtain necessary goods and serviceseventually be contained or provide adequate staffing, which may also adversely affect our operating results. Itmitigated, there is unclear whether the increases in the number of COVID-19 infection outbreaks will continue and/no guarantee that a future outbreak or amplify in the United States or elsewhere or if the availability and distributions of vaccines will curtail infection rates and, if so, what the impact of that would be on human health and safety, the economy, our operators or our business.

Temporary closures of businesses and stay-at-home orders and return to office delays and the resulting remote working arrangements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may result in long-term changed business practices that could negatively impact us and our business. For example, the increased adoption of and familiarity with remote work practices could result in decreased demand for in-person meetings. If that occurred, business travel may decline significantly from levels experienced prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could materially and adversely impact our hotels’ operating results and the values of our hotels if we and our hotel managers were not able to offset revenues lost from the decline in business travel. In addition, certain of our retail tenants’ businesses depend on people gathering in close proximity, including movie theaters, restaurants and fitness centers, among others. To the extent that social distancing practices that have been adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic become sustained practices, those tenants’ businesses are likely to be materially and adversely impacted, which may reduce their ability to pay us rent, increase the likelihood they will default in paying us rent and likely reduce the value of those properties.

Many of our properties are operated in two segments of the economy, the hotel industry and the service retail industry. The hotel and service retail industries have historically been highly sensitive to general economic conditions in the United States and in the geographic areas where our properties are located.

The service retail industry generally has greater resiliency during economic downturns, but it hascertain industries in which certain of our retail tenants operate have been severely and negatively impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, our retail tenants’ businesses could be adversely impacted by changes in consumer spending or preferences. If our tenants for our service retail properties experience declines in their businesses due to competitive pressures, adverse economic conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in consumer spending or preferences, or otherwise, they may fail to pay rent oweddue to us.

Our travel centers primarily provide goods and services to the trucking industry, and demand for trucking services in the United States generally reflects the amount of commercial activity in the U.S. economy. When the U.S. economy declines, demand for goods moved by trucks declines, and in turn demand for the products and services provided at our travel centers typically declines. These declines, when experienced, may materially and adversely affect TA’s sales and its business and, consequently, its ability to pay us rent.

As of February 26,December 31, 2021, Sonesta operated 246261 of our 310303 hotels, which constituted 49.0%50.9% of our total historical real estate investments. We lease 179 of our 182 travel centers to TA, which constituted approximately 26.8%27.5% of our total historical real estate investments as of December 31, 2020.2021. If either Sonesta or TA were to fail to provide quality services and amenities or to

Current market conditions may cause the process of selling properties to take longer than expected and we may elect to retain properties previously marketed for sale or select additional properties for sale. Further, these sales may not occur or, if they do occur, they may be sold at prices less than previously expected and we may realize losses. Our ability to sell properties, and the sales prices may continue to be affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, if we do not sellpandemic or rebrand certain hotels by agreed upon dates, our current managersthe general state of those hotels may elect notthe lodging industry.

Historically, most of our operators and the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused certain of these security deposits and guarantees to be exhausted andthese security deposits and guaranteeshotel portfolio returns were not, and we do not expect them to be, replaced, which we expect to result in more volatility in our earnings.

We may, be increased to up to $2.3 billion under certain circumstances; however, the feature pursuant to which such maximum borrowing availability may be increased may not be utilized through the New Waiver Period.

We are subject to numerous risks associated with our debt, including the risk that our cash flows could be insufficient for us to make required payments on our debt. There are no limits in our organizational documents on the amount of debt we may incur, and we may incur substantial debt; however, our credit agreement and our senior unsecured senior notes indentures and their supplements contain certain restrictions on our ability to incur additional debt for so long as certain debt service ratios are not met and we are generallycurrently restricted during the New Waiver Period from incurring additional debt. Our debt obligations could have important consequences to our securityholders.security holders. Our incurringincurrence of debt may increase our vulnerability to adverse economic, market and industry conditions, limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business, and place us at a disadvantage in relation to competitors that have lower debt levels. Our incurrence of debt could also increase the costs to us of incurring additional debt, increase our exposure to floating interest rates or expose us to potential events of default (if not cured or waived) under covenants contained in debt instruments that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Excessive debt could reduce the available cash flow to fund, or limit our ability to obtain financing for, working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, construction projects, refinancing, lease obligations or other purposes and hinder our ability to make or sustain distributions to our shareholders. In August 2020, Standard and Poor’s Financial Services, or S&P, downgraded

We may be unable to repay our issuer credit rating to BB- and the credit ratings on our existing senior notes to BB. Also in November 2020, Moody’s Investor Services, or Moody’s, downgraded our senior unsecured rating to Ba2.

During 2020, we obtained waivers from the lenders under our credit agreement from compliance with then existing financial covenants.covenants through July 2022. To obtain these waivers, we agreed to restrictions on our ability to pay distributions, other than as currently contemplated or to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT and to avoid the payment of certain income and excise taxes investment activity and make capital improvement spending.investments. Our revolving credit facility matures on July 15, 2022, and we may be

Our credit agreement and our senior unsecured senior notes indentures and their supplements, include various conditions, covenants and events of default, including certain restrictions on our ability to incur additional debts or make distributions under certain

Further, if we default under our credit agreement, our lenders may demand immediate payment and may elect not to fund future borrowings. During the continuance of any event of default under our credit agreement, we may be limited or in some cases prohibited from making distributions to our shareholders. Any default under our credit agreement that results in acceleration of our obligations to repay outstanding indebtedness or in our no longer being permitted to borrow under our revolving credit facility would likely have serious adverse consequences to us and would likely cause the value of our securities to decline.

In the future, we may obtain additional debt financing, and the covenants and conditions which apply to any such additional debt may be more restrictive than the covenants and conditions that are contained in our credit agreement or our senior unsecured senior notes indentures and their supplements.

In connection with our November 2020 amendment to our credit agreement, weWe have pledged certain additional equity interests of subsidiaries owning properties to secure our obligations under our credit agreement. We also agreed to provide to the lendersagreement, and have provided first mortgage liens on 74 properties owned by certain pledged subsidiaries with an undepreciated book value of $1.83$1.8 billion as of December 31, 2020,2021, to secure our obligations, underwhich pledges and/or mortgage liens may be removed or new ones may be added during the credit agreement.Waiver Period based on outstanding debt amounts, among other things.

Incurring secured indebtedness, including mortgage indebtedness, increases our risk of asset and property losses because defaults on indebtedness secured by our assets may result in foreclosure actions initiated by lenders and ultimately our loss of the property or other assets securing our obligations under our credit agreement if we default on such obligations. Any

Approximately 57.4%57.5% of our historical real estate investments as of December 31, 2020,2021, are in our hotel properties. Our hotels are subject to operating risks common to the hotel industry, many of which are beyond our control and may impact Sonesta and our other operators,managers, including risks associated with:

These and other factors could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations and cause the value of our securities to decline.

TA has not been consistently profitable since it became a public company in 2007, and it operates in highly competitive industries, including travel centers and restaurants. TA’s business is subject to a number of risks, including the following:

For these reasons, among others, TA may be unable to pay amounts due to us under the terms of our leases with TA. For more information about our leases with TA, see Notes 5 and 9 to our consolidated financial statements in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Some of our management agreements and lease arrangements require us to fund capital improvements at certain of our properties; however, our credit agreement currently limits our capital expenditures during the New Waiver Period. We currently expect to invest approximately $192.0 million during 2021 for capital improvements, including costs related to rebranding hotels, and renovation costs under certain of our hotel and net lease agreements.expenditures. We may not have the funds necessary, or obtain our lenders’ consent, to make necessary or desired improvements to our properties and such investments, if made, may not be sufficient to maintain or improve the financial results of our properties. Certain of our management agreements and lease arrangements require us to maintain the applicable properties in a certain required condition. If we fail to maintain these properties in the required condition, the operator may terminate the applicable management or lease agreement and hold us liable for damages. Planned capital expenditures could cost more and take longer to complete than expected as a result of labor costs and shortages and commodity and other price inflation due to supply chain challenges, among other things.

Although we areour credit agreement currently not actively pursuinglimits our ability to make acquisitions, and are restricted from making acquisitions during the New Waiver Period, our long-term business plans involve the acquisition of additional properties. Our ability to make profitable acquisitions is subject to risks, including, but not limited to, risks associated with:

For these reasons, among others, we might not realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, and our business plan to acquire additional properties may not succeed or may cause us to experience losses.

Because federal income tax laws restrict REITs and their subsidiaries from operating or managing businesses at their properties, we do not operate our hotels or net lease properties. Instead, we lease all our hotels to operating companies or to our subsidiaries that qualify as TRSs under the IRC and lease our other properties to operating companies. We have retained third party managers to manage our hotels that are leased to our TRSs. Our income from our properties may be adversely affected if our operators fail to provide quality services and amenities to customers. While we monitor the performance of our operators and apply asset management strategies and discipline, we have limited recourse under our management agreements and leases if we believe that our operators are not performing adequately. Any failure by our operators to fully perform the duties agreed to in our management agreements and leases could adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, our operators operate, and in some cases own or have invested in, properties that compete with our properties, which may result in conflicts of interest. As a result, our operators have made, and may in the future make, decisions regarding competing properties or our properties’ operations that may not be in our best interests and which may result in a reduction of our returns.

Changes in market interest rates may be sudden and may significantly impede our growth. Interest rates have remained at relatively low levels on a historical basis, andbut the U.S. Federal Reserve System, or the U.S. Federal Reserve, hasrecently indicated that, in light of the economic recovery and higher than anticipated inflation, it does not expectexpects to raise interest rates in response toas early as March 2022. However, the COVID-19 pandemictiming, number and current market conditions until at least the endamount of 2023. There can be no assurance, however, that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise rates prior to that time. Low marketany such future interest rates, particularly if they remain over a sustained period, may increase our use of debt capital to fund property acquisitions, lower capitalization rates for property purchases and increase competition for property purchases, which may reduce our ability to acquire new properties.rate increases are uncertain.

Interest rate increases may materially and negatively affect us in several ways, including:

To maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we are required to satisfy distribution requirements imposed by the IRC. See “Material United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—REIT Qualification Requirements—Annual Distribution Requirements” included in Part I, Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Accordingly, we may not be able to retain sufficient cash to fund our operations, repay our debts, invest in our properties or fund our acquisitions or development, redevelopment or redevelopmentrepositioning efforts. Our business strategies therefore depend, in part, upon our ability to raise additional capital at reasonable costs. The volatility in the availability of capital to businesses on a global basis in most debt and equity markets generally may limit our ability to raise reasonably priced capital. We may also be unable to raise reasonably priced capital because of reasons related to our business, market perceptions of our prospects, the terms of our indebtedness, the extent of our leverage or for reasons beyond our control, such as market conditions. Because the earnings we are permitted to retain are limited by the rules governing REIT qualification and taxation, if we are unable to raise reasonably priced capital, we may not be able to carry out our business plan.

The businesses conducted at our properties face significant competition. For example, our hotels compete with other hotels operated in our markets, and the hotel industry has in the past experienced significant growth in supply from construction in certain markets where we own hotels. Our travel center properties compete with other large, national operators of travel centers, and certain of their competitors have significantly increased the number of travel centers they operate, including as a result of new construction of travel centers. Some of our retail tenants compete with online retailers or service providers. We also compete for tenants at our retail net lease properties. Our retail net lease properties compete in the multi-billion dollar commercial real estate market with numerous developers and owners of properties, many of which own properties similar to ours and are in the same markets in which our properties are located. In operating and managing our retail net lease portfolio, we compete for tenants based on a number of factors, including location, rental rates and flexibility. Certain of our competitors have greater economies of scale, have lower cost of capital, have access to more capital and resources and have greater name recognition than we do.

We face significant competition for acquisition opportunities from other investors, including publicly traded and private REITs, numerous financial institutions, operating companies in the hospitality industry, individuals, foreign investors and other public and private companies. Some of our competitors may have greater financial and other resources than us and may be able to accept more risk than we can prudently manage, including risks with respect to the creditworthiness of property operators and the extent of leverage used in their capital structure. Because of competition for acquisitions, we may be unable to acquire desirable properties or we may pay higher prices for, and realize lower net cash flows than we hope to achieve from, acquisitions.

Adverse economic conditions such as high unemployment levels, interest rates, tax rates, fuel and energy costs, and changes in customer demand or consumer sentiment due to COVID-19 or other factors may have an impact on the results of operations and financial condition of our tenants and result in their defaulting their obligations under our leases, including failing to pay the rent due to us. Such adverse economic conditions may also reduce overall demand for rental space, which could adversely affect our ability to maintain our current tenants and attract new tenants.

At any given time, our tenants may experience a downturn in their business that may weaken the operating results and financial condition of individual properties or of their business as whole. As a result, a tenant may delay lease commencement, decline to extend a lease upon its expiration, fail to make rental payments when due, become insolvent or declare bankruptcy. We depend on our tenants to operate the properties we lease to them in a manner that generates revenues sufficient to allow them to meet their obligations to us, including their obligations to pay rent, maintain certain insurance coverage and pay real estate taxes and maintain the properties. Our tenants’ failure to successfully operate their businesses could materially and adversely affect us.

The majority of our tenants are not rated by any nationally recognized credit rating organization. It is more difficult to assess the ability of a tenant that is not rated to meet its obligations than that of a rated tenant. Moreover, tenants may be rated when we enter leases with them, but their ratings may be later lowered or terminated during the term of the leases. Because we have many unrated tenants, we may experience a higher percentage of tenant defaults than landlords who have a higher percentage of highly rated tenants.

Our results of operations depend, in part, on our ability to lease our retail properties by renewing or re-leasing expiring leases and leasing vacant space and optimizing our tenant mix. As of December 31, 2020,2021, leases representing approximately 1.1%0.8% of our annualized minimum net lease rents will expire during 2021.2022. As of December 31, 2020, 1.0%2021, 1.9% of the leasable square footage of our net lease properties was vacant. Current tenants may decline, or may not have the financial resources available, to renew current leases and we cannot guarantee that leases that are renewed will have terms that are as economically favorable to us as the expiring lease terms. If tenants do not renew their leases as they expire, or renew for less space, we will have to find new tenants to lease our properties and there is no guarantee that we will be able to find new tenants or that our properties will be re-leased at rental rates equal to or above the current average rental rates or that substantial rent abatements, tenant improvement allowances, early termination rights, below-market renewal options or other lease incentive payments will not be offered to attract new tenants. The continued existence of the COVID-19 pandemic may increase these risks. We may experience significant costs in connection with renewing, leasing or re-leasing our properties, which could materially and adversely affect us.

The loss of a tenant either through lease expiration or tenant bankruptcy or insolvency, may reduce the value of a property and require us to spend significant amounts of capital to renovate the property before it is suitable for a new tenant. Many of the leases we enter into or acquire are for properties that are especially suited to the particular business of our tenants. Because these properties have been designed or physically modified for a particular tenant, if the current lease is terminated or not renewed, we may be required to renovate the property at substantial costs, decrease the rent we charge or provide other concessions in order to lease the property to another tenant. In the event we are required to sell the property, weWe may also have difficulty selling it to a party other than the tenantproperty due to the special purpose for which the property may have been designed or modified. This potential illiquidity may limit our ability to quickly modify our portfolio in response to changes in economic or other conditions, including tenant demand. These limitations may materially and adversely affect us.

Some of our net lease properties are operated by our tenants under franchise or license agreements. Those franchise or license agreements may have terms that end earlier than the respective expiration dates of our related leases. In addition, a franchisee’s or licensee’s rights as a franchisee or licensee could be terminated by the franchisor or licensor, in which case our tenant may be precluded from competing with the franchisor or licensor upon that termination. A franchisor’s or licensor’s termination or refusal to renew a franchise or license agreement with our tenant would likely have a material adverse effect on the ability of the tenant to pay rent to us. In addition, we may have no notice or cure rights with respect to such a termination and have no rights to assignment of any such franchise or license agreement. This may have an adverse effect on our ability to mitigate losses that may result from a default of our leases by a terminated franchisee or licensee.

Ownership of real estate is subject to risks associated with environmental hazards. Under various laws, owners as well as operators of real estate may be required to investigate and clean up or remove hazardous substances present at or migrating from properties they own lease or manageoperate and may be held liable for property damage or personal injuries that result from hazardous substances. These laws also expose us to the possibility that we may become liable to government agencies or third parties for costs and damages they incur in connection with hazardous substances. The costs and damages that may arise from environmental hazards may be substantial and are difficult to assess and estimate for numerous reasons, including uncertainty about the extent of contamination, alternative treatment methods that may be applied, the location of the property which subjects it to differing local laws and regulations and their interpretations, as well as the time it may take to remediate contamination. In addition, these laws also impose various requirements regarding the operation and maintenance of properties and recordkeeping and reporting requirements relating to environmental matters that require us or the operators of our properties to incur costs to comply with. We may incur substantial liabilities and costs for environmental matters.

Our travel centers and certain of our other properties include fueling areas, truck repair and maintenance facilities and vehicles and tanks for the storage of petroleum products and other hazardous substances, all of which create the potential for environmental contamination. As a result, the tenants of these properties regularly incur environmental costs related to monitoring, prevention and remediation. Under our net lease property leases, we are generally indemnified from all environmental liabilities arising at our respective properties during the term of the leases. Despite this indemnity, various

Our hotel managersoperators are responsible for hiring and maintaining the labor force at each of our hotel properties. Although we do not directly employ or manage employees at our hotel properties, we are subject to many of the costs and risks associated with the hotel labor force. From time to time, hotel operations may be disrupted as a result of strikes, lockouts, public demonstrations or other negative actions and publicity. We may also incur increased legal costs and indirect labor costs as a result of contract disputes and other events. The resolution of labor disputes or renegotiated labor contracts could lead to increased labor costs, either by increases in wages or benefits or by changes in work rules. Prior to the onset ofLabor costs have increased and our hotel operators have experienced labor shortages at our hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment in the United States was at historically low levels, and labor costs had been increasing in the United States due to market pressures and regulationthese conditions may continue for an extended period. In addition, regulations in certain jurisdictions, such as increases in minimum wages. Thesewages, have increased our hotel operators’ labor cost pressures had increased labor costs at our hotels and we may experience these increased costs in future periods, particularly if they return or increase following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, ourcosts. Our hotel operators may be unable to adequately staff our hotels as a result of these or other reasons, which may limit the business activity at our hotels, decreasing the quality of services provided at our hotels and damaging our and our applicable hotel manager’s reputationoperators’ reputations in the marketplace.

We or our operators are a party to arbitration proceedings,generally responsible for the costs of insurance, including for casualty, liability, malpractice, fire, extended coverage and rental or business interruption loss insurance. In the future, we may acquire properties for which couldwe are responsible for the costs of insurance. In the past few years, the costs of insurance have increased significantly, and these increased costs have had an adverse effect on us and our operators. Increased insurance costs may adversely affect our operators’ abilities to operate our properties profitably and provide us with desirable returns and our operators’ abilities to pay us rent or result in downward pressure on rents we can charge under new or renewed leases. Losses of a catastrophic nature, such as those caused by hurricanes, flooding, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, among other things, losses as a result of outbreaks of pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, or losses from terrorism, may be covered by insurance policies with limitations such as large deductibles or co-payments that we or an operator may not be able to pay. Insurance proceeds may not be adequate to restore an affected property to its condition prior to a loss or to compensate us for our losses, including lost revenues or other costs. Certain losses, such as losses we may incur as a result of known or unknown environmental conditions, are not covered by our insurance. Market conditions or our loss history may limit the scope of insurance or coverage available to us on economic terms. If we determine that an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occurs and if we are not able to recover amounts from our operators for certain losses, we may have to incur uninsured costs to mitigate such losses or lose all or a portion of the capital invested in a property, as well as the anticipated future revenue from the property.

We are subject to risks and could be exposed to additional costs from adverse weather, natural disasters and climate change and climate related events. For example, our properties could be severely damaged or destroyed from either singular extreme weather events (for example floods, storms and wildfires) or through long-term impacts of climatic conditions (such as precipitation frequency, weather instability and rise of sea levels). Such events could also adversely impact us or the tenants of our properties if we or they are unable to operate our or their businesses due to damage resulting from such events. If we fail to adequately prepare for such events, our revenues, results of operations and financial results and/or distract our management.condition may be impacted. In addition, we

RMR LLC and our hotel managers rely on information technology and systems, including the Internet and cloud-based infrastructures, commercially available software and their respective internally developed applications, to process, transmit, store and safeguard information and to manage or support a variety of their business processes (including managing our building systems), including financial transactions and maintenance of records, which may include personal identifying information of employees, guests, tenants and tenantsguarantors and lease data. If these systems experience material security or other failures, inadequacies or interruptions, of its information technology, we could incur material costs and losses and our operations could be disrupted as a result. Further, third party vendors could experience similar events with respect to their information technology and systems that impact the products and services they provide to RMR LLC, our hotel managers or us. RMR LLC and our hotel managers rely on commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring, as well as their internally developed applications and internal procedures and personnel, to provide security for processing, transmitting, storing and safeguarding confidential guest, tenant, customer and vendor information, such as personally identifiable information related to their employees and others, including in our hotel managers’ case, guests, and information regarding their and our financial accounts. RMR LLC and each of our hotel managers takestake various actions, and incursincur significant costs, to maintain and protect the operation and security of its information technology and systems, including the data maintained in those systems. Some of our managers have in the past been victim to business email compromise fraud, which resulted in payments being made to illegitimate bank accounts. Although these instances have not resulted in our incurring material losses, if similar instances occur in the future, we may incur such losses. However, it is possible that these measures willmay not prevent the systems’ improper functioning or a compromise in security, such as in the event of a cyberattack or the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information.security.

Security breaches, computer viruses, attacks by hackers, online fraud schemes and similar breaches can create significant system disruptions, shutdowns, fraudulent transfer of assets or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyberattack or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. Our cybersecurity risks are heightened by, among other things, the evolving nature of the threats faced, advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries in the field of cryptography and new and increasingly sophisticated methods used to perpetrate illegal or fraudulent activities, including cyberattacks, email or wire fraud and other attacks exploiting security vulnerabilities in RMR LLC’s, our hotel managers’ or other third parties’ information technology networks and systems or operations. Any failureThe COVID-19 pandemic may adversely impact RMR LLC’s ability to maintain the security, proper function and availability of RMR LLC’s or our hotel managers’ information technology and systems since a continued period of remote working by its employees or certainindividuals with whom RMR LLC works outside of its organization could strain its technology resources and introduce operational risk, including heightened cybersecurity risk. Remote working environments may be less secure and more susceptible to hacking attacks, including phishing and social engineering attempts that seek to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. Although most of RMR LLC’s office-based employees have returned to the office, the ongoing transition to in person work arrangements, or any return to remote work in light of the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic may result in the continuation of many of the risks of offsite work arrangements. In addition, RMR LLC’s data security, data privacy, investor reporting and business continuity processes could be impacted by a third party’s inability to perform due to the COVID-19 pandemic or by the failure of, or attack on, their information systems and technology. Any failure by RMR LLC, our hotel managers or other third party vendors’ failurevendors to similarly protectmaintain the security, proper function and availability of their respective information technology and systems that are relevant to RMR LLC’s, our hotel managers’ or our operations, or to safeguard RMR LLC’s, our hotel managers’ or our

We have no employees. Personnel and services that we require are provided to us by RMR LLC pursuant to our management agreements with RMR LLC. Our ability to achieve our business objectives depends on RMR LLC and its ability to effectively manage our properties, to appropriately identify and complete our acquisitions and dispositions and to execute our growth strategy. Accordingly, our business is dependent upon RMR LLC’s business contacts, its ability to successfully hire, train, supervise and manage its personnel and its ability to maintain its operating systems. If we lose the services provided by RMR LLC or its key personnel, our business and growth prospects may decline. We may be unable to duplicate the quality and depth of management available to us by becoming internally managed or by hiring another manager. In the event RMR LLC is unwilling or unable to continue to provide management services to us, our cost of obtaining substitute services may be greater than the fees we pay RMR LLC under our management agreements, and as a result our expenses may increase.

Our manager, RMR LLC, is authorized to follow broad operating and investment guidelines and, therefore, has discretion in identifying the properties that will be appropriate investments for us, as well as our individual operating and investment decisions. Our Board of Trustees periodically reviews our operating and investment guidelines and our operating activities and investments but it does not review or approve each decision made by RMR LLC on our behalf. In addition, in conducting periodic reviews, our Board of Trustees relies primarily on information provided to it by RMR LLC. RMR LLC may exercise its discretion in a manner that results in investment returns that are substantially below expectations or that results in losses.

RMR LLC is a majority-owned subsidiary of RMR Inc. The Chair of our Board of Trustees andwho is also one of our Managing Trustees, Adam Portnoy, as the sole trustee of ABP Trust, is the controlling shareholder of RMR Inc. and is a managing director and the president and chief executive officer of RMR Inc. and an officer and employee of RMR LLC. RMR LLC or its subsidiary also acts as the manager to fourcertain other Nasdaq listed REITs: OPI, which primarily owns office properties leased to single tenantscompanies and high credit quality tenants, including government tenants; ILPT, which ownsprivate companies, as noted elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and leases industrial and logistics properties; DHC, which primarily owns senior living communities, medical office and life science buildings and other healthcare related properties; and TRMT, which focuses on originating and investing in first mortgage whole loans secured by middle market and transitional commercial real estate. RMR LLC also provides services to other publicly and privately owned companies, including: Five Star, which operates senior living communities and provides rehabilitation and wellness services; TA, our largest tenant, which operates and franchises travel centers, standalone truck service facilities and restaurants and of which we owned approximately 8.1% of TA’s outstanding shares as of December 31, 2020; and Sonesta, our largest hotel operator, which operates, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and cruise boats and of which we owned an approximately 34% equity interest as of December 31, 2020. A subsidiary of RMR LLC is an investment adviser to RMRM, which recently converted from a registered investment company to a publicly traded mortgage REIT. Mr. Portnoy serves as a managing director, managing trustee, director or trustee, as applicable, of those companies, and as chair of the board of trustees or board of directors, as applicable, of DHC, ILPT, OPI, Five Star and TA and as managing director, managing trustee, director or trustee, as applicable,certain of the companies managed by RMR LLC or its subsidiaries.those companies.

John Murray, our other Managing Trustee and our President and Chief Executive Officer, Brian Donley, our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and Todd Hargreaves, our Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, are also officers and employees of RMR LLC. Mr. Murray is also a managing trustee, president and chief executive officer of ILPT. Messrs. Portnoy, Murray, Donley and Hargreaves have duties to RMR LLC, and Mr. Murray has duties to ILPT, as well as to us, and we do not have their undivided attention. They and other RMR LLC personnel may have conflicts in allocating their time and resources between us and RMR LLC and other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide services. Some of our Independent Trustees also serve as independent directors or independent trustees of other public companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services.

In addition, we may in the future enter into additional transactions with RMR LLC, its affiliates or entities managed by it or its subsidiaries. In addition to his investments in RMR Inc. and RMR LLC, AdamMr. Portnoy holds equity investments in other

In our management agreements with RMR LLC, we acknowledge that RMR LLC may engage in other activities or businesses and act as the manager to any other person or entity (including other REITs) even though such person or entity has investment policies and objectives similar to our policies and objectives and we are not entitled to preferential treatment in receiving information, recommendations and other services from RMR LLC. Accordingly, we may lose investment opportunities to, and may compete for tenants with, other businesses managed by RMR LLC or its subsidiaries. We cannot be sure that our Code of Conduct or our Governance Guidelines, or other procedural protections we adopt will be sufficient to enable us to identify, adequately address or mitigate actual or alleged conflicts of interest or ensure that our transactions with related persons are made on terms that are at least as favorable to us as those that would have been obtained with an unrelated person.

As a result of our relationships with RMR LLC and its current and former controlling shareholder(s), our management agreements with RMR LLC were not negotiated on an arm’s length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore, while such agreements were negotiated with the use of a special committee and disinterested Trustees, the terms, including the fees payable to RMR LLC, may not be as favorable to us as they would have been if they weredifferent from those negotiated on an arm’s length basis between unrelated parties. Our property management fees are calculated based on rents we receive and construction supervision fees for construction at our properties overseen and managed by RMR LLC, and our base business management fee is calculated based upon the lower of the historical costs of our real estate investments and our market capitalization. We pay RMR LLC substantial base management fees regardless of our financial results. These fee arrangements could incentivize RMR LLC to pursue acquisitions, capital transactions, tenancies and construction projects or to avoid disposing of our assets in order to increase or maintain its management fees and might reduce RMR LLC’s incentive to devote its time and effort to seeking investments that provide attractive returns for us. If we do not effectively manage our investment, disposition and capital transactions and leasing, construction and other property management activities, we may pay increased management fees without proportional benefits to us. In addition, we are obligated under our management agreements to reimburse RMR LLC for employment and related expenses of RMR LLC’s employees assigned to work exclusively or partly at our properties, our share of the wages, benefits and other related costs of RMR LLC’s centralized accounting personnel and our share of RMR LLC’s costs for providing our internal audit function. We are also required to pay for third party costs incurred with respect to us. Our obligation to reimburse RMR LLC for certain of its costs and to pay third party costs may reduce RMR LLC’s incentive to efficiently manage those costs, which may increase our costs.

The terms of our management agreements with RMR LLC automatically extend on December 31 of each year so that such terms thereafter end on the 20th anniversary of the date of the extension. We have the right to terminate these agreements: (1) at any time on 60 days’ written notice for convenience, (2) immediately upon written notice for cause, as defined in the agreements, (3) on written notice given within 60 days after the end of any applicable calendar year for a performance reason, as defined in the agreements, and (4) by written notice during the 12 months following a manager change of control, as defined in the agreements. However, if we terminate a management agreement for convenience, or if RMR LLC terminates a management agreement with us for good reason, as defined in such agreement, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC a termination fee in an amount equal to the sum of the present values of the monthly future fees, as defined in the applicable agreement, payable to RMR LLC for the term that was remaining before such termination, which, depending on the time of termination,

Our management agreements with RMR LLC have continuing 20 year terms that renew annually. As noted in the preceding risk factor, if we terminate either of these management agreements other than for cause or upon a change of control of our manager, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC a substantial termination fee. For these reasons, our management agreements with RMR LLC may discourage a change of control of us, including a change of control which might result in payment of a premium for our common shares.

Sonesta managed 246261 of our hotels as of February 26,December 31, 2021. Sonesta is controlled by Adam Portnoy. Mr. Portnoy, Mr. Murray and Jennifer Clark, our Secretary, are directors of Sonesta. Sonesta’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer are also officers of RMR LLC, and other officers and employees of Sonesta are former employees of RMR LLC. We own an approximately 34.0% ownership interest in Sonesta.of Sonesta’s outstanding common stock.

TA is our former 100.0% owned subsidiary and our largest tenant, and we are TA’s largest shareholder and landlord. TA was created as a separate public company in 2007 as a result of its spin-off from us. AdamMr. Portnoy, one of our Managing Trustees, serves as the chairman of the board of directors and a managing director of TA and, through RMR LLC, beneficially owns 4.5%approximately 4.4% of TA’s outstanding common shares. AdamMr. Portnoy is the controlling shareholder, managing director and chief executive officer of RMR Inc., the parent of RMR LLC, which provides management services to both us and TA.

The historical and continuing relationships which we, RMR LLC Adamand Mr. Portnoy and certain other officers of RMR LLC have with Sonesta and TA could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, the other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services and their related parties. As a result of these relationships, our agreements with Sonesta and our leases with TA and our agreements with Sonesta were not negotiated on an arm’s length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore while such agreements were negotiated with the use of special committees and disinterested trustees,terms thereof may not be as favorable to us as they would have been if they weredifferent from those negotiated on an arm’s length basis between unrelated parties.

Conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts of interest could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business and the market price of our common shares and other securities and we may be subject to increased risk of litigation as a result.

We are party to transactions with related parties, including with entities controlled by Adam Portnoy or to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services. Our agreements with related parties or in respect of transactions among related parties may not be on terms as favorable to us as they would have been if they had been negotiated among unrelated parties. We are subject to the risk that our shareholders or the shareholders of TA, RMR Inc. or other related parties may challenge any such related party transactions and the agreements entered into as part of them.transactions. If such a challengechallenges to related party transactions were to be successful, we might not realize the benefits expected from the transactions being challenged. Moreover, any such challenge could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention, could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business and growth and could adversely affect our ability to realize the benefits expected from the transactions, whether or not the allegations have merit or are substantiated.

Companies with business dealings with related persons and entities may more often be the target of dissident shareholder trustee nominations, dissident shareholder proposals and shareholder litigation alleging conflicts of interest in their business dealings. Our relationships with RMR LLC, TA, Sonesta, the other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services, Adam Portnoy and other related persons of RMR LLC may precipitate such activities. Certain proxy advisory firms which have significant influence over the voting by shareholders of public companies have, in the past, recommended, and in the future may recommend, that shareholders vote against the election of our incumbent Trustees, vote against our say on pay vote or other management proposals or vote for shareholder proposals that we oppose. These recommendations by proxy advisory firms have affected the outcomes of past Board of Trustees elections and votes on our say on pay, and similar recommendations in the future would likely affect the outcome of future Board of Trustees elections and votes on our say on pay, which may increase shareholder activism and litigation. These activities, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs, and diversion of our management’s attention and could have a material adverse impact on our reputation and business.

Our declaration of trust and bylaws prohibit any shareholder, other than RMR LLC and its affiliates (as defined under Maryland law) and certain persons who have been exempted by our Board of Trustees, from owning, directly and by attribution, more than 9.8% of the number or value of shares (whichever is more restrictive) of any class or series of our outstanding shares of beneficial interest, including our common shares. These provisions are intended to, among other purposes, assist with our REIT compliance under the IRC and otherwise promote our orderly governance. However, these provisions may also inhibit acquisitions of a significant stake in us and may deter, delay or prevent a change in control of us or unsolicited acquisition proposals that a shareholder may consider favorable. Additionally, provisions contained in our declaration of trust and bylaws or under Maryland law may have a similar impact, including, for example, provisions relating to:

Certain of our properties include gambling operations. Applicable state laws require that any shareholder who owns or controls 5% or more of our securities or anyone who wishes to serve as one of our Trustees must be licensed or approved by the state regulators responsible for gambling operations. These approval procedures may discourage or prevent investors from purchasing our securities, from nominating persons to serve as our Trustees or from taking other actions.

Our declaration of trust limits the liability of our Trustees and officers to us and our shareholders for money damages to the maximum extent permitted under Maryland law. Under current Maryland law, our Trustees and officers will not have any liability to us and our shareholders for money damages other than liability resulting from:

Our declaration of trust and indemnification agreements require us to indemnify, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, any present or former Trustee or officer who is made or threatened to be made a party to a proceeding by reason of his or her service in these and certain other capacities. In addition, we may be obligated to pay or reimburse the expenses incurred by our present and former Trustees and officers without requiring a preliminary determination of their ultimate entitlement to indemnification. As a result, we and our shareholders may have more limited rights against our present and former Trustees and officers than might otherwise exist absent the provisions in our declaration of trust and indemnification agreements or that might exist with other companies, which could limit our shareholders’ recourse in the event of actions not in their best interest.

Our shareholders agree, by virtue of becoming shareholders, that they are bound by our governing documents, including the arbitration provisions of our bylaws, as they may be amended from time to time. Our bylaws provide that certain actions by one or more of our shareholders against us or any of our Trustees, officers, manager,managers or other agents, or employees, other than disputes, or any portion thereof, regarding the meaning, interpretation or validity of any provision of our declaration of trust or bylaws, will be referred to mandatory, binding and final arbitration proceedings if we, or any other party to such dispute, including any of our Trustees, officers, manager,managers or other agents or employees, unilaterally so demands. As a result, we and our shareholders would not be able to pursue litigation in state or federal court against us or our Trustees, officers, manager,managers or other agents, or employees, including, for example, claims alleging violations of federal securities laws or breach of fiduciary duties or similar director or officer duties under Maryland law, if we or any of our Trustees, officers, manager,managers or other parties or employeesagents against whom the claim is made unilaterally demands the matter be resolved by arbitration. Instead, our shareholders would be required to pursue such claims through binding and final arbitration.

Our bylaws provide that such arbitration proceedings would be conducted in accordance with the procedures of the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association, as modified in our bylaws. These procedures may provide materially more limited rights to our shareholders than litigation in a federal or state court. For example, arbitration in accordance with these procedures does not include the opportunity for a jury trial, document discovery is limited, arbitration hearings generally are not open to the public, there are no witness depositions in advance of arbitration hearings and arbitrators may have different qualifications or experiences than judges. In addition, although our bylaws’ arbitration provisions contemplate that arbitration may be brought in a representative capacity or on behalf of a class of our shareholders, the rules governing such representation or class arbitration may be different from, and less favorable to shareholders than, the rules governing representative or class action litigation in courts. Our bylaws also generally provide that each party to such an arbitration is required to bear its own costs in the arbitration, including attorneys’ fees, and that the arbitrators may not render an award that includes shifting of such costs or, in a derivative or class proceeding, award any portion of our award to any shareholder or such shareholder’s attorneys. The arbitration provisions of our bylaws may discourage our shareholders from bringing, and attorneys from agreeing to represent our shareholders wishing to bring, litigation against us or our Trustees, officers, manager,managers or other agents or employees.agents. Our leases with TA and our agreements with RMR LLC and Sonesta have similar arbitration provisions to those in our bylaws.

We believe that the arbitration provisions in our bylaws are enforceable under both state and federal law, including with respect to federal securities laws claims. We are a Maryland REITreal estate investment trust and Maryland courts have upheld the enforceability of arbitration bylaws. In addition, the United StatesU.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld agreements to arbitrate other federal statutory claims, including those that implicate important federal policies. However, some academics, legal practitioners and others are of the view that charter or bylaw provisions mandating arbitration are not enforceable with respect to federal securities laws claims. It is possible that the arbitration provisions of our bylaws may ultimately be determined to be unenforceable.

By agreeing to the arbitration provisions of our bylaws, shareholders will not be deemed to have waived compliance by us with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

Our bylaws currently provide that, unless the dispute has been referred to binding arbitration, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland will be the sole and exclusive forum for: (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (2) any action asserting a claim for breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours to us or our shareholders; (3) any action asserting a claim against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours arising pursuant to Maryland law, our declaration of trust or bylaws brought by or on behalf of a shareholder, either on his, her or its own behalf, on our behalf of us or on behalf of any series or class of shares of beneficial interest of usours or by our shareholders against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours, including any disputes, claims or controversies relating to the meaning, interpretation, effect, validity, performance or enforcement of our declaration of trust or bylaws; or (4) any action asserting a claim against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our bylaws currently also provide that the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland will be the sole and exclusive forum for any dispute, or portion thereof, regarding the meaning, interpretation or validity of any provision of our declaration of trust or bylaws. The exclusive forum provision of our bylaws does not apply to any action for which the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland does not have jurisdiction or to a dispute that has been referred to binding arbitration in accordance with our bylaws. The exclusive forum provision of our bylaws does not establish exclusive jurisdiction in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland for claims that arise under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act or other federal securities laws if there is exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction in the federal courts. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in our shares of beneficial interest shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to these provisions of our bylaws, as they may be amended from time to time. The arbitration and exclusive forum provisions of our bylaws may limit a shareholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the shareholder believes is favorable for disputes with us or our Trustees, officers, manager,managers or other agents, or employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our Trustees, officers, manager, agentsmanagers or employees.

As a REIT, we generally do not pay federal or most state income taxes as long as we distribute all of our REIT taxable income and meet other qualifications set forth in the IRC. However, actual qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC depends on our satisfying complex statutory requirements, for which there are only limited judicial and administrative interpretations. We believe that we have been organized and have operated, and will continue to be organized and to operate, in a manner that qualified and will continue to qualify us to be taxed as a REIT under the IRC. However, we cannot be sure that the IRS, upon review or audit, will agree with this conclusion. Furthermore, we cannot be sure that the federal government, or any state or other taxation authority, will continue to afford favorable income tax treatment to REITs and their shareholders.

If we cease to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, then our ability to raise capital might be adversely affected, we will be in breach under our credit agreement, we may be subject to material amounts of federal and state income taxes, our cash available for distribution to our shareholders could be reduced, and the market price of our common shares could decline. In addition, if we lose or revoke our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC for a taxable year, we will generally be prevented from requalifying for taxation as a REIT for the next four taxable years.

Similarly, under existing law and through available tax concessions, we have minimized the Canadian and Puerto Rican income taxes that we must pay. We believe that we have operated, and are operating, in compliance with the requirements of these laws and tax concessions. However, we cannot be sure that, upon review or audit, the local tax authority will agree. If the

Dividends payable by U.S. corporations to noncorporate shareholders, such as individuals, trusts and estates, are generally eligible for reduced federal income tax rates applicable to “qualified dividends.” Distributions paid by REITs generally are not treated as “qualified dividends” under the IRC and the reduced rates applicable to such dividends do not generally apply. However, for tax years beginning before 2026, REIT dividends paid to noncorporate shareholders are generally taxed at an effective tax rate lower than applicable ordinary income tax rates due to the availability of a deduction under the IRC for specified forms of income from passthrough entities. More favorable rates will nevertheless continue to apply to regular corporate “qualified” dividends, which may cause some investors to perceive that an investment in a REIT is less attractive than an investment in a non-REIT entity that pays dividends, thereby reducing the demand and market price of our common shares.

We generally must distribute annually at least 90% of our REIT taxable income, subject to specified adjustments and excluding any net capital gain, in order to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC. To the extent that we satisfy this distribution requirement, federal corporate income tax will not apply to the earnings that we distribute, but if we distribute less than 100% of our REIT taxable income, then we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed taxable income. We intend to make distributions to our shareholders to comply with the REIT requirements of the IRC. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax if the actual amount that we pay out to our shareholders in a calendar year is less than a minimum amount specified under federal tax laws.

From time to time, we may generate taxable income greater than our income for financial reporting purposes prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, or differences in timing between the recognition of taxable income and the actual receipt of cash may occur. If we do not have other funds available in these situations, among other things, we may borrow funds on unfavorable terms, sell investments at disadvantageous prices or distribute amounts that would otherwise be invested in future acquisitions in order to make distributions sufficient to enable us to pay out enough of our taxable income to satisfy the REIT distribution requirement and to avoid corporate income tax and the 4% excise tax in a particular year. These alternatives could increase our costs or reduce our shareholders’ equity. Thus, compliance with the REIT distribution requirements may hinder our ability to grow, which could cause the market price of our common shares to decline.

Even if we remain qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we may be subject to federal, state and local taxes on our income and assets, including taxes on any undistributed income, excise taxes, state or local income, property and transfer taxes, and other taxes. Also, some jurisdictions may in the future limit or eliminate favorable income tax deductions, including the dividends paid deduction, which could increase our income tax expense. In addition, in order to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the IRC, prevent the recognition of particular types of non-cash income, or avert the imposition of a 100% tax that applies to specified gains derived by a REIT from dealer property or inventory, we may hold or dispose of some of our assets and conduct some of our operations through our TRSs or other subsidiary corporations that will be subject to corporate level income tax at regular rates. In addition, while we intend that our transactions with our TRSs will be conducted on arm’s length bases, we may be subject to a 100% excise tax on a transaction that the IRS or a court determines was not conducted at arm’s length. Any of these taxes would decrease cash available for distribution to our shareholders.

We lease most of our hotel properties to our TRSs pursuant to arrangements that, under the IRC, are intended to qualify the rents we receive from our TRSs as income that satisfies the REIT gross income tests. We also intend that our transactions with our TRSs be conducted on arm’s length bases so that we and our TRSs will not be subject to penalty taxes under the IRC applicable to mispriced transactions. While relief provisions can sometimes excuse REIT gross income test failures, significant penalty taxes may still be imposed.

For our TRS arrangements to comply as intended with the REIT qualification and taxation rules under the IRC, a number of requirements must be satisfied, including:

We cannot be sure that the IRS or a court will agree with our assessment that our TRS arrangements comply as intended with REIT qualification and taxation rules. If arrangements involving our TRSs fail to comply as we intended, we may fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC or be subject to significant penalty taxes.

The rules dealing with U.S. federal, state, and local taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the IRS, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and other taxation authorities. Changes to the tax laws, with or without retroactive application, could materially and adversely affect us and our shareholders. We cannot predict how

Beginning in the second quarter ofDuring 2020, we reduced our regular quarterly cash distribution rate on our common shares to $0.01 per share. We currently intend to continue to make regular quarterly distributions to our shareholders at this rate at least through the New Waiver Period, and possibly thereafter, subject to applicable REIT tax requirements. However:

For these reasons, among others, our distribution rate may not increase for an indefinite period or we may cease making distributions to our shareholders.

Further, in order to preserve liquidity, we may elect to pay distributions to our shareholders in part in a form other than cash, such as issuing additional common shares of ours to our shareholders, as permitted by the applicable tax rules.

We are the sole obligor on our outstanding senior unsecured senior notes and any notes or other debt securities we may issue in the future, or, together with our outstanding senior unsecured senior notes, the Notes, and ourNotes. Our subsidiaries that guarantee theour 7.50% senior notes due 2025, or the 2025 Notes, and theour 5.50% senior notes due 2027, or the 2027 Notes, are the sole obligorsobligor on the guarantees of such notes, or the Guarantees. The subsidiaries that guarantee the 2025 Notes and the 2027 Notes do not currently guarantee any of our other Notes. Our non-guarantor subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay any amounts due on the Notes or the Guarantees, or to make any funds available therefor, whether by dividend, distribution, loan or other payments. The rights of holders of the Notes to benefit from any of the assets of our non-guarantor subsidiaries are subject to the prior satisfaction of claims of those subsidiaries’ creditors and any preferred equity holders.creditors. As a result, the Notes and the Guarantees are, and, except to the extent that future Notes are guaranteed by our non-guarantor subsidiaries, will be, structurally subordinated to all of the debtindebtedness and other liabilities and obligations of our subsidiaries that do not guarantee the 2025 Notes or

The outstanding Notes and Guarantees are not secured and any Notes we may issue in the future may not be secured. Upon any distribution to our creditors in a bankruptcy, liquidation, reorganization or similar proceeding relating to us or our property, the holders of our secured debt, including debt under our credit agreement (to the extent such debt under our credit agreementremains outstanding and is still then secured), will be entitled to exercise the remedies available to a secured lender under applicable law and pursuant to the instruments governing such debt and to be paid in full, from the assets securing that secured debt before any payment may be made with respect to the Notes that are not secured by those assets. In that event, because such Notes and the Guarantees will not be secured by any of our assets, it is possible that there will be no assets from which claims of holders of such Notes can be satisfied or, if any assets remain, that the remaining assets will be insufficient to satisfy those claims in full. If the value of such remaining assets is less than the aggregate outstanding principal amount of such Notes and accrued interest and all future debt ranking equally with such Notes and the Guarantees, we will be unable to fully satisfy our obligations under such Notes. In addition, if we fail to meet our payment or other obligations under our secured debt, the holders of that secured debt would be entitled to foreclose on our assets securing that secured debt and liquidate those assets. Accordingly, we may not have sufficient funds to pay amounts due on such Notes. As a result, noteholdersnote holders may lose a portion or the entire value of their investment in such Notes. Further, the terms of the outstanding Notes and the Guarantees permit, and the terms of any Notes we may issue in the future may permit, us to incur additional secured indebtedness subject to compliance with certain debt ratios. The Notes and the Guarantees will be effectively subordinated to any such additional secured indebtedness. As of February 26, 2021,22, 2022, our secured debt included outstanding borrowings under our revolving credit facility of $1.0 billion, which is secured by pledges of equity in certain subsidiaries that own properties.

Under the federal bankruptcy law and comparable provisions of state fraudulent transfer laws, a guarantee of the 2025 Notes and the 2027 Notes (or any future Notes that are guaranteed by our subsidiaries) could be voided, or claims in respect of a guarantee could be subordinated to all other debts of that guarantor if, among other things, the guarantor, at the time it incurred the debt evidenced by its guarantee:

In addition, any payment by that guarantor pursuant to its guarantee could be voided and required to be returned to the guarantor, or to a fund for the benefit of our creditors or the creditors of the guarantor.

The measures of insolvency for purposes of these fraudulent transfer laws will vary depending upon the law applied in any proceeding to determine whether a fraudulent transfer has occurred. Generally, however, a guarantor would be considered insolvent if:

We cannot be sure as to what standard a court would apply in making these determinations. In addition, each Guarantee contains, and any future guarantees may contain, a provision intended to limit the guarantor’s liability to the maximum amount that it could incur without causing the incurrence of obligations under its guarantee to be a fraudulent transfer. This provision may not be effective to protect the Guarantees or any future guarantees from being voided under fraudulent transfer laws, or may eliminate the guarantor’s obligations or reduce the guarantor’s obligations to an amount that effectively makes the guarantee worthless.

We have not applied for listing of the Notes on any securities exchange or for quotation on any automatic dealer quotation system, and we may not do so for Notes issued in the future. We can give no assurances concerningcannot be sure that the liquidity of any market that may develop for such Notes, the ability of any holder to sell such Notes or the price at which holders would be able to sell such Notes. If a market for such Notes does not develop, holders may be unable to resell such Notes for an extended period of time, if at all. If a market for such Notes does develop, it may not continue or it may not be sufficiently liquid to allow holders to resell such Notes. Consequently, holders of the Notes may not be able to liquidate their investment readily, and lenders may not readily accept such Notes as collateral for loans.

The Notes may trade at a discount from their initial issue price or principal amount, depending upon many factors, including prevailing interest rates, the ratings assigned by rating agencies, the market for similar securities and other factors, including general economic conditions and our financial condition, performance and prospects. Any decline in market prices, regardless of cause, may adversely affect the liquidity and trading markets for the Notes.

The outstanding Notes are rated by two rating agencies and any Notes we may issue in the future may be rated by one or more rating agencies. These credit ratings are continually reviewed by rating agencies and may change at any time based upon, among other things, our results of operations and financial condition. In August 2020,November 2021, Standard & Poor’s, or S&P, downgraded our issuer credit rating to BB- and the credit ratings on our Notes to BB. Also in November 2020, Moody’s downgraded our senior unsecured rating to Ba2.

A subsidiary guarantor may be released from its Guarantee under certain circumstances. Such release may occur at any time upon a sale, disposition or transfer, in compliance with the provisions of the indenture relating toindentures and related supplements governing the 2025 Notes and the 2027 Notes, of the capital stock of such subsidiary guarantor or of substantially all of the assets of such subsidiary guarantor, or if such subsidiary guarantor becomes an Excluded Subsidiary or a Foreign Subsidiary, as such terms are defined in our credit agreement. In particular, under certain circumstances, including, if we borrow additional amounts under our credit agreement that would result in the Collateral Coverage Ratio (as defined in our credit agreement) under our credit agreement exceeding 50%, we would be required to pledge the equity of additional subsidiaries under our credit agreement. If, as a result of such requirement, we pledge the equity of any of our subsidiaries that initially guarantees the 2025 Notes and 2027 Notes, such subsidiary will be an Excluded Subsidiary and the subsidiary Guarantee of such subsidiary guarantor will be automatically terminated and released upon such pledge.applicable supplemental indenture. In addition, if the 2025 Notes and the 2027 Notes have a rating equal to or higher than Baa2 (or the equivalent) by Moody’s Investor Services, or Moody’s, or BBB (or the equivalent) by S&P and at such time no default or event of default under the indenture and related supplements governing the 2025 Notes and the 2027 Notes has occurred and is continuing, the Guarantees and all other obligations of the subsidiary

At December 31, 2020,2021, we owned 310303 hotels and 799788 retail net lease properties. The following tables summarize certain information about our properties as of December 31, 20202021 (dollars in thousands).