Mr. Jay H. Shah has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer and has been elected to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Company. Mr. Jay H. Shah is the Company's current President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Neil H. Shah has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer from Executive Vice President with the Company. Mr. Hasu P. Shah will retire as the Company's Chief Executive Officer but will maintain his role as Chairman of the Company's Board of Trustees. 
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Jay H. Shah is involved in all areas of the business with a particular emphasis on strategic relationships, capital transactions, asset management and acquisitions. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Shah was principal in the law firm of Shah & Byler, LLP, which he founded in 1997, and managing director of the Hersha Group. Mr. Shah previously was a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand LLP, served the late Senator John Heinz on Capitol Hill, and was employed by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office and two Philadelphia-based law firms. Mr. Shah received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, an M.B.A. from the Temple University School of Business Management and a Law degree from Temple University School of Law.

Neil H. Shah leads Hersha's active hotel acquisitions program and new development projects. Prior to Hersha, Neil served as a Director and Consultant with The Advisory Board Company and the Corporate Executive Board, strategy consulting firms based in Washington D.C. Neil has also worked with the Phipps Foundation in New York City contributing to urban renewal projects in New York City. Neil earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Management both with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School. He earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School. Neil is an active member of the Asia Society, the Wharton Real Estate Center, the Urban Land Institute and the Harvard Club of New York City.

Since 2002, both Mr. Jay H. Shah and Mr. Neil H. Shah have spearheaded more than $543 million in acquisitions, including joint-venture investments, totaling 33 hotel properties with 4,290 rooms. These acquisitions have allowed the Company to expand its footprint to nine states in the Eastern U.S. from two. Together, they have also implemented a successful joint-venture strategy that has continued the tradition of steady cash flow for shareholders and created a proprietary pipeline of upscale hotels in challenging to source markets.

The Shah's also propelled the Company's equity capitalization growth and improved balance sheet structure. The Company's current market cap at December 13, 2005 is approximately $214 million versus approximately $15 million from the beginning of 2002 with debt as a percentage of total capitalization reduced to 46% through the end of the third quarter 2005 from 59% at the beginning of 2002.

Mr. Hasu P. Shah concluded, "Jay and Neil have meaningfully contributed to the growth of this Company. Their vision for the future is to create significant value through acquisition and select development. With significant ownership stakes, their interests, along with mine, remain properly aligned with all shareholders."

About Hersha Hospitality
Hersha Hospitality Trust is a self-advised real estate investment trust that owns interests in 47 midscale, upscale and upper upscale hotels properties with 5,513 rooms 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. More information on the Company is available on their website at www.hersha.com.

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.

Hersha Hospitality Trust
Ashish Parikh, 215-238-1046