Transaction Highlights:

• Hyatt Orange County increases direct hotel portfolio to 33 assets totaling 5,095 rooms
• Asset being delivered with $6 million renovation in progress to be completed November 2004
• After renovation, projected first year un-leveraged EBITDA yield of 9.8% and NOI cap rate of 8.2%
• Expected to benefit from value-added positioning and strong market RevPAR growth

The Hyatt Orange County has 654 rooms in two towers connected with a 17-story atrium, 65,000 square feet of meeting space, an exercise facility, restaurant, Starbucks and Pizza Hut outlets, two swimming pools, a business center and a gift shop. The hotel is located approximately one mile south of the entrance to Disneyland Park, the Anaheim Convention Center, Downtown Disney District and California Adventure. The property will continue to be managed by Hyatt under a long-term management agreement at a fee of 3% of gross revenues.

In 2001, the seller converted an adjacent office building to a 258-guestroom north tower and an additional 40,000 square feet of meeting space. The $6 million renovation of the hotel's original south tower, which features 396 guestrooms and 24,300 square feet of meeting space, will include complete renovation of all guestrooms and bathrooms. The renovation is expected to be completed in November 2004 with no additional Hyatt brand requirements necessary.

Monty J. Bennett, President and CEO of Ashford Hospitality Trust, said, "We are very excited about the compelling immediate and future growth opportunities this acquisition provides. With the renovation complete in two months, the Hyatt will be positioned for what we believe to be the first time to take full advantage of its excellent meeting space, refreshed rooms product and an accelerating local market. By aggressively focusing on shifting the business mix to self-contained group business, implementing yield management strategies and improving its market positioning relative to the competitive set, we expect to achieve significant increases in operating performance at this property. Based on our detailed analysis of the Anaheim market, we also expect to benefit from the considerable year-to-date growth in this market area as well as Disney's 50th anniversary celebration."

Ashford Hospitality Trust is a self-administered real estate investment trust focused on investing in the hospitality industry across all segments and at all levels of the capital structure, including direct hotel investments, first mortgages, mezzanine loans and sale-leaseback transactions. Additional information can be found on the Company's web site at www.ahtreit.com.

Certain statements and assumptions in this press release contain or are based upon "forward-looking" information and are being made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.