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Hersha Hospitality Trust to Acquire Five-Hotel Portfolio
in Philadelphia and Wilmington Metros; 480 Limited
Service Rooms for $48.9 million

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PHILADELPHIA, Pa., May 5, 2005�Hersha Hospitality Trust (AMEX: HT), a real estate investment trust (REIT) and owner of nationally franchised, upscale and mid-scale hotels, today announced that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire a five-hotel portfolio in the Philadelphia and Wilmington metropolitan region for $48.9 million in cash.  The hotel REIT said the purchase consists of a Marriott Courtyard, 3 Holiday Inn Expresses, and an independently branded hotel.  This acquisition is scheduled to close this summer and will add 480 rooms to Hersha�s portfolio.

�We believe these hotels will be strong performers for our growing portfolio of quality assets in metropolitan markets in the northeast and anchors for our metropolitan Philadelphia cluster,� said Jay H. Shah, Hersha�s president and chief operating officer.  �The hotels have recently undergone major repositioning and re-branding, and should benefit further from the implementation of our proprietary management and marketing systems.  We are encouraged by the current environment with its opportunities for on-strategy, portfolio transactions.

�These are quality assets � all concrete and plank construction - in great locations within each sub-market and we are purchasing these hotels below replacement value,� Shah noted. �Additionally, we will consummate these transactions with attractively priced debt without raising any additional equity.�
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Mcintosh Inn of Wilmington
300 Rocky Run Parkway
Wilmington, Delaware
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The hotels to be acquired include:
  • The 155-suite Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites King of Prussia, located at 260 N. Gulph Road in King of Prussia, Pa.  The hotel enjoys a premiere location directly across from the King of Prussia Mall, the largest mall on the East Coast with 22 million visitors annually.  Additionally, it is surrounded by 16 million square feet of office space including Merck Pharmaceuticals, Prudential Insurance, Aetna, and Lockheed Martin.  The hotel is within two miles of the Valley Forge historical sites and situated at the nexus of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Rte. 202, and the Schuylkill Expressway.
  • The 88-room Holiday Inn Express Oxford Valley, located at 3101 W. Cabot Blvd., in Bucks County.  The hotel is less than one mile from both Sesame Place and the Oxford Valley Mall and offers easy access to both the Pennsylvania Turnpike and US 1.  Lower Bucks County offers more than 4 million square feet of office. 
  • The 88-room Holiday Inn Express of Frazer-Malvern, located at 1 Morehall Road in Frazer, Pa.  Located off Routes 29 and 30 in the Route 202 business corridor, the hotel is adjacent to Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, within one mile of the Vanguard Group of Funds, and surrounded by 8 million square feet of office space.  The property includes a restaurant pad site and additional land to develop a hotel, restaurant, or office building.
  • The 78-room Courtyard by Marriott Wilmington, Delaware, located at 320 Rocky Run Parkway.  The hotel enjoys a virtually irreplaceable location nestled among over 5 million square feet of class A office space; major tenants include AstraZeneca, DuPont, Cigna, and MBNA.  The property is conveniently located off Route 202 and 1-95 and is close to the Brandywine region�s rich cultural and leisure attractions. 
  • The 71-room independently branded hotel (Mcintosh Inn of Wilmington) located at 300 Rocky Run Parkway adjacent to the Courtyard.  This hotel may be re-branded to a premium national brand.
Hersha Hospitality Trust is a self-advised real estate investment trust that owns mid-scale and upscale hotels in the eastern United States with strong, national franchise affiliations.  The company focuses on acquisition and joint venture opportunities in primary and secondary markets near major metropolitan markets. 

Certain matters within this press release are discussed using forward-looking language as specified in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and, as such, may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results or performance to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statement. 

Contact:

Hersha Hospitality Trust
Ashish Parikh, CFO
Ph: (215) 238-1046

Also See: Hersha Hospitality Management LP (HHMLP) Launching a Revolutionary New Hotel Concept;Building Two Hotels Under the Same Roof, a Mainstay Suites and Sleep Inn / Mar 2000
Top Hotel Developers Honored at Hilton Hotel's Focused Service Brand Conference; Hersha Development Corporation Named Multi-Brand Developer of the Year/ March 2005


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