SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
 

FORM 10-Q

QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

WINSTON HOTELS, INC.

2626 Glenwood Avenue
Raleigh, North Carolina 27608
(Address of principal executive offices)
(Zip Code)

(919) 510-6019
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15 (d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Yes x No o

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).
Yes x No o

The number of shares of Common Stock, $.01 par value, outstanding on October 31, 2004 was 26,397,799.

WINSTON HOTELS, INC.
Index

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WINSTON HOTELS, INC.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

3

WINSTON HOTELS, INC.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

4

WINSTON HOTELS, INC.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

5

WINSTON HOTELS, INC.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

6

WINSTON HOTELS, INC.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

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WINSTON HOTELS, INC.

1.		ORGANIZATION
		Winston Hotels, Inc. (the “Company”), headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, operates so as to qualify as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) for federal income tax purposes. During 1994, the Company completed an initial public offering of its common stock (“Common Stock”), utilizing the majority of the proceeds to acquire one hotel and a general partnership interest (as the sole general partner) in WINN Limited Partnership (the “Partnership”). The Partnership used a substantial portion of the proceeds to acquire nine additional hotel properties. The Company and the Partnership (together with the Partnership’s wholly owned subsidiaries, Barclay Hospitality Services Inc. (“Barclay”), Winston SPE, LLC, and Winston Finance LLC), are collectively referred to as the “Company”. As of September 30, 2004, the Company’s ownership in the Partnership was 95.31 percent.
		The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements reflect, in the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the interim financial statements. All such adjustments are of a normal and recurring nature. Certain reclassifications have been made to the 2003 financial statements to conform to the 2004 presentation. These reclassifications have no effect on net income or shareholders’ equity previously reported. Due to the seasonality of the hotel business, the information for the nine months ended September 30, 2004 and 2003 is not necessarily indicative of the results for a full year. This Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003.
		As of September 30, 2004, the Company owned or was invested in 51 hotel properties in 15 states having an aggregate of 7,185 rooms. This included 44 wholly owned properties with an aggregate of 6,262 rooms, a 49 percent ownership interest in one joint venture hotel with 118 rooms, a 48.78 percent ownership interest in one joint venture hotel with 147 rooms, and a 13.05 percent ownership interest in five joint venture hotels with an aggregate of 658 rooms. The Company also had issued hotel loans to owners of five hotels with an aggregate of 881 rooms. The Company does not hold an ownership interest in any of the hotels for which it has provided financing. All of the Company’s hotels are operated under franchises from nationally recognized franchisors including Marriott International, Inc., Hilton Hotels Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC, (formerly Six Continents PLC) and Choice Hotels International.
		Currently, Alliance Hospitality Management, LLC manages 41 of the Company’s 51 hotels, Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company manages four hotels, Promus Hotels, Inc., an affiliate of Hilton Hotels Corporation manages three hotels, and New Castle Hotels, LLC, Noble Investment Group, Ltd., and Prism Hospitality Corp. each manage one hotel.
		In March 2004, the Company negotiated the transfer of the long-term lease with Secaucus Holding Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Prime Hospitality Corp. (“Prime”) for the Secaucus, NJ Holiday Inn to Barclay. The Company received a net payment from Prime of $269 as part of the negotiated settlement. This amount is included in percentage lease revenue in the accompanying unaudited consolidated statement of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2004. Alliance manages the hotel. With the transfer of this lease to Barclay, the Company is no longer the lessor of any hotel leases with unrelated third parties. Therefore, unless the Company enters into third party hotel leases, as the lessor, in the future, the Company will not report percentage lease revenue in the future.
2.		MINORITY INTEREST
		Minority interest as of September 30, 2004 and December 31, 2003, consists of minority interest in the Partnership of $7,402 and $7,671, respectively, and minority interest in consolidated joint ventures of $2,975 and $9,818, respectively.

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		Minority Interest in the Partnership. Certain hotel properties have been acquired, in part, by the Partnership, through the issuance of limited partnership units of the Partnership. The equity interest in the Partnership created by these transactions represents the Company’s minority interest. The Company’s minority interest is: (i) increased or decreased by its pro-rata share of the net income or net loss, respectively, of the Partnership; (ii) decreased by distributions to unit holders; (iii) decreased by redemption of Partnership units for the Company’s Common Stock; and (iv) adjusted to equal the net equity of the Partnership multiplied by the limited partners’ ownership percentage immediately after each issuance of units of the Partnership and/or Common Stock of the Company through an adjustment to additional paid-in capital. Income (loss) is allocated to minority interest based on the weighted average percentage ownership throughout the year.
		Minority Interest in Consolidated Joint Ventures. Certain ownership interests in hotel properties have been acquired, in part, by the Company, through joint venture agreements. The equity interests of the Company’s joint venture partners in the consolidated joint ventures represent the Company’s minority interest (see Note 9). The Company’s minority interest is: (i) increased or decreased by its joint venture partners’ pro-rata share of the net income or net loss of the respective joint venture, and (ii) decreased by distributions to its joint venture partners. Income (loss) is allocated to minority interest in accordance with the provisions of each joint venture’s operating agreement.
3.		DEBT
		The Company’s financing facilities consist of a $125,000 variable rate line of credit that matures in December 2004 (the “Line”); a $71,000 fixed rate (7.375 percent) loan with a ten-year maturity, due December 1, 2008, and a twenty-five-year amortization period; a $5,100 variable rate (LIBOR +3%) loan with a ten-year maturity, due February 1, 2011, and a twenty-five-year amortization period; a $12,300 variable rate (LIBOR +3%) loan with a ten-year maturity, due August 1, 2011, and a twenty-year amortization period; and a $9,147 variable rate (LIBOR + 3.8% during construction) construction loan with a funding cutoff date of December 22, 2004, at which time the interest rate will be fixed and the payments will be determined. The Line, which expires in December 2004, bears interest generally at rates from 30-day LIBOR plus 1.75% to 30-day LIBOR plus 2.50%, based on the Company’s consolidated debt leverage ratio as of the end of each previous calendar quarter. The Company’s interest rate as of September 30, 2004 was 30-day LIBOR (1.84% as of September 30, 2004) plus 1.75%. The Company’s interest rate beginning October 1, 2004 and for the fourth quarter remained at 30-day LIBOR plus 1.75%. The Company is currently negotiating with lenders to refinance the debt outstanding under the line upon maturity in December 2004. It is the Company’s expectation that the debt outstanding under the Line at that time will be refinanced at market terms.
		To seek to manage overall interest rate risk, at various times the Company uses interest rate hedging instruments to convert a portion of its variable-rate debt to fixed-rate debt. Interest rate differentials that arise under these instruments are recognized as interest expense over the life of the contracts. The Company’s only such instrument during the nine months ended September 30, 2004 was an interest rate swap instrument, the term of which started March 31, 2003 and ended February 27, 2004. The interest rate swap instrument effectively replaced the Company’s variable interest rate based on 30-day LIBOR on $50,000 of the Line with a fixed interest rate based on a base rate of 1.505% until February 27, 2004, and was therefore characterized as a cash flow hedge. The Line’s interest rate spread was 1.75% equating to an effective fixed rate of 3.255% on $50,000 from January 1, 2004 to February 27, 2004.
4.		EARNINGS PER SHARE
		The following is a reconciliation of the amounts used in calculating basic and fully diluted earnings per share for income from continuing operations:

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