Exhibit 99.1

ASHFORD TRUST REPORTS FIRST QUARTER 2016 RESULTS

Adjusted EBITDA Increased 18%

Adjusted Funds From Operations per Share Increased 20%

Announced a Definitive Agreement to Sell a 5-Hotel Portfolio of Select-Service Hotels

DALLAS, May 5, 2016 — Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT) (“the Company” or “Ashford Trust”) today reported financial results and performance measures for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. The performance measurements for Occupancy, Average Daily Rate (ADR), Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR), and Hotel EBITDA are comparable assuming each of the hotel properties in the Company’s hotel portfolio as of March 31, 2016 were owned as of the beginning of each of the periods presented.  Unless otherwise stated, all reported results compare the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, with the first quarter ended March 31, 2015 (see discussion below).  The reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures is included in the financial tables accompanying this press release.

OVERVIEW

·                  Opportunistic focus on upper-upscale, full-service hotels

·                  Targets moderate debt levels of approximately 55 — 60% net debt/gross assets

·                  Highly-aligned management team and advisory structure

·                  One of the highest long-term total shareholder returns in the industry

·                  Attractive dividend yield of approximately 8.5%

FINANCIAL AND OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS

·                  RevPAR for all hotels increased 2.5% during the quarter

·                  RevPAR for all hotels not under renovation increased 3.2% during the quarter

·                  Adjusted EBITDA increased $15.6 million or 18%

·                  Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) was $0.36 per diluted share for the quarter as compared with $0.30 from the prior-year quarter representing an increase of 20%

·                  The Company’s common stock is currently trading at an approximate 8.5% dividend yield

·                  In the first quarter, the Company completed the refinancing of three mortgage loans with existing balances of approximately $268 million with a new loan totaling $412.5 million, resulting in excess proceeds of approximately $118 million after closing costs and reserves

·                  Subsequent to quarter-end, on April 18, 2016, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell a 5-hotel, 1,396-room portfolio of select-service hotels for $142 million in cash ($102,000 per key)

·                  Capex invested in the quarter was $40.7 million

CAPITAL STRUCTURE

At March 31, 2016, the Company had total assets of $5.0 billion in continuing operations.  As of March 31, 2016, the Company had $3.9 billion of mortgage debt in continuing operations. Ashford Trust’s total combined debt had a blended average interest rate of 5.2%.

In the first quarter, the Company completed the refinancing of three mortgage loans with existing balances of approximately $268 million. The previous loans that were refinanced included: the $91 million UBS 2 loan, the $103 million Merrill 2 loan and the $74 million Merrill 7 loan. The new loan totals $412.5 million and resulted in excess proceeds of approximately $118 million after closing costs and reserves. The new loan is interest only and provides for a floating interest rate of LIBOR + 5.52%.  The next hard debt maturity for the Company is in April 2017.

SELECT-SERVICE HOTEL PORTFOLIO SALES PROCESS UPDATE

On April 18, 2016, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell a 5-hotel, 1,396-room portfolio of select-service hotels for $142 million in cash ($102,000 per key) to Noble Investment Group (“Noble”).  The portfolio is comprised of the 146-room Courtyard Edison in Edison, NJ; the 150-room Residence Inn Buckhead in Atlanta, GA; and the 312-room Courtyard Lake Buena Vista, 388-room Fairfield Inn Lake Buena Vista and 400-room Springhill Suites Lake Buena Vista in Orlando, FL. The three Orlando properties are managed by Marriott and the other two properties are managed by Remington Lodging.

The purchase price, including projected capex to be invested by Noble, represents a trailing 12-month cap rate of 8.0% on net operating income. On a trailing 12-month basis, the portfolio achieved RevPAR of $84, with occupancy of 79% and Average Daily Rate of $106. The portfolio has an existing debt balance of approximately $98 million, and the Company expects the net proceeds from the disposition to be approximately $37 million after debt repayment and transaction costs. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the sale for general corporate purposes including net debt reduction, stock buybacks, or the acquisition of full-service hotels in line with the Company’s refined investment strategy. The transaction is scheduled to close in the second quarter, subject to certain closing conditions.

STRATEGY REFINEMENTS

Ashford Trust is reaffirming its previously announced strategy refinements as follows:

·                  The Company will focus on acquiring and owning upper-upscale, full-service hotels

·                  The Company is not planning nor expects any future platform spinoffs

·                  The Company will continue to target a net debt to gross assets ratio of 55% - 60%

·                  The Company will continue to target cash and cash equivalents at a level of 25% - 35% of its total equity market capitalization for the purposes of:

·                  property-level and corporate-level working capital needs

·                  as a hedge against a downturn in the economy or hotel fundamentals

·                  to be prepared to pursue accretive investments or stock buybacks as those opportunities arise

PORTFOLIO REVPAR

As of March 31, 2016, the Ashford Trust portfolio consisted of direct hotel investments with 132 properties classified in continuing operations.  During the first quarter of 2016, 117 of the Company’s hotels included in continuing operations were not under renovation.  The Company believes reporting its operating metrics for the hotels in continuing operations on a comparable total basis (all 132 hotels) and comparable not under renovation basis (117 hotels) is a measure that reflects a meaningful and focused comparison of the operating results in its portfolio.  Details of each category are provided in the tables attached to this release.

·                  Comparable RevPAR increased 2.5% to $113.55 for all hotels on a 3.4% increase in ADR and a 0.8% decrease in occupancy

·                  Comparable RevPAR increased 3.2% to $112.68 for hotels not under renovation on a 3.3% increase in ADR and a 0.1% decrease in occupancy

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HOTEL EBITDA MARGINS AND QUARTERLY SEASONALITY TRENDS

The Company believes year-over-year Comparable Hotel EBITDA and Comparable Hotel EBITDA Margin comparisons are more meaningful to gauge the performance of the Company’s hotels than sequential quarter-over-quarter comparisons.  Given the substantial seasonality in the Company’s portfolio and its active capital recycling, to help investors better understand this seasonality, the Company provides quarterly detail on its Comparable Hotel EBITDA and Comparable Hotel EBITDA Margin for the current and certain prior-year periods based upon the number of hotels in the Company’s portfolio as of the end of the current period.  As the Company’s portfolio mix changes from time to time so will the seasonality for Comparable Hotel EBITDA and Comparable Hotel EBITDA Margin.  The details of the quarterly calculations for the previous four quarters for the 132 hotels are provided in the table attached to this release.

COMMON STOCK DIVIDEND

On March 14, 2016, the Company announced that its Board of Directors had declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per diluted share for the Company’s common stock for the first quarter ending March 31, 2016, payable on April 15, 2016, to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2016.

“Subsequent to quarter-end, we took the first step in our strategy of divesting of our non-core, select-service assets with the announced sale of the five-hotel portfolio,” commented Monty J. Bennett, Ashford Trust’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “This transaction is expected to close in the second quarter and will provide us with additional financial flexibility to execute on our refined strategy.  We are committed to maximizing value for our shareholders as we focus on generating superior operating performance and continuing to execute on opportunistic sales of our remaining select-service assets.”

INVESTOR CONFERENCE CALL AND SIMULCAST

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. will conduct a conference call on Friday, May 6, 2016, at 11:00 a.m. ET.  The number to call for this interactive teleconference is (719) 325-2494.  A replay of the conference call will be available through Friday, May 13, 2016, by dialing (719) 457-0820 and entering the confirmation number, 3723314.

The Company will also provide an online simulcast and rebroadcast of its first quarter 2016 earnings release conference call.  The live broadcast of Ashford Hospitality Trust’s quarterly conference call will be available online at the Company’s web site, www.ahtreit.com on Friday, May 6, 2016, beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET.  The online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for approximately one year.

Substantially all of our non-current assets consist of real estate investments and debt investments secured by real estate.  Historical cost accounting for real estate assets implicitly assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time.  Since real estate values instead have historically risen or fallen with market conditions, most industry investors consider supplemental measures of performance, which are not measures of operating performance under GAAP, to assist in evaluating a real estate company’s operations. These supplemental measures include FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, and Hotel EBITDA.  FFO is computed in accordance with our interpretation of standards established by NAREIT, which may not be comparable to FFO reported by other REITs that do not define the term in accordance with the current NAREIT definition or that interpret the NAREIT definition differently than us.  Neither FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, nor Hotel EBITDA represents cash generated from operating activities as determined by GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to a) GAAP net income (loss) as an indication of our financial performance or b) GAAP cash flows from operating activities as a measure of our liquidity, nor are such measures indicative of funds available to satisfy our cash needs, including our ability to make cash distributions.  However, management believes FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, and Hotel EBITDA to be meaningful measures of a REIT’s performance and should be considered along with, but not as an alternative to, net income and cash flow as a measure of our operating performance.

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Ashford Hospitality Trust is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing opportunistically in the hospitality industry in upper upscale, full-service hotels.

Follow Chairman and CEO Monty Bennett on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBennettAshford or @MBennettAshford.

Ashford has created an Ashford App for the hospitality REIT investor community.  The Ashford App is available for free download at Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store by searching “Ashford.”

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.  Forward looking statements in this press release include, among others, statements about the Company’s strategy and future plans.  These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties.  When we use the words “will likely result,” “may,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “should,” “expect,” “believe,” “intend,” or similar expressions, we intend to identify forward-looking statements.  Such statements are subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside Ashford Trust’s control.

These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation:  general volatility of the capital markets and the market price of our common stock; changes in our business or investment strategy; availability, terms and deployment of capital; availability of qualified personnel; changes in our industry and the market in which we operate, interest rates or the general economy; and the degree and nature of our competition.  These and other risk factors are more fully discussed in Ashford Trust’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  EBITDA is defined as net income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.  EBITDA yield is defined as trailing twelve month EBITDA divided by the purchase price.  A capitalization rate is determined by dividing the property’s annual net operating income by the purchase price.  Net operating income is the property’s funds from operations minus a capital expense reserve of either 4% or 5% of gross revenues.  Hotel EBITDA flow-through is the change in Hotel EBITDA divided by the change in total revenues.  Hotel EBITDA Margin is Hotel EBITDA divided by total revenues.  Funds from operations (“FFO”), as defined by the White Paper on FFO approved by the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“NAREIT”) in April 2002, represents net income (loss) computed in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), excluding gains (or losses) from sales of properties and extraordinary items as defined by GAAP, plus depreciation and amortization of real estate assets, and net of adjustments for the portion of these items related to unconsolidated entities and joint ventures.

The forward-looking statements included in this press release are only made as of the date of this press release.  Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.  We are not obligated to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, changes in expectations or otherwise.

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ASHFORD HOSPITALITY TRUST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except share amounts)

(unaudited)

ASHFORD HOSPITALITY TRUST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(in thousands, except per share amounts)

(unaudited)

ASHFORD HOSPITALITY TRUST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME (LOSS) TO EBITDA AND ADJUSTED EBITDA

(in thousands)

(unaudited)

NOTES:

(1)     Other (income) expense, which primarily consists of costs associated with credit default swaps in both periods and net realized gain/loss on marketable securities in 2015, is excluded from Adjusted EBITDA.

ASHFORD HOSPITALITY TRUST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME (LOSS) TO FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS (“FFO”) AND ADJUSTED FFO

(in thousands, except per share amounts)

(unaudited)

NOTES:

(1)     Other (income) expense, which primarily consists of costs associated with credit default swaps in both periods and net realized gain/loss on marketable securities in 2015, is excluded from Adjusted FFO.

ASHFORD HOSPITALITY TRUST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

SUMMARY OF INDEBTEDNESS

March 31, 2016

(dollars in thousands)

(unaudited)

All indebtedness is non-recourse with the exception of the secured revolving credit facility.

(1) The interest rate on this mortgage loan is subject to a LIBOR floor of 0.20%.

(2) This mortgage loan has three one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions.

(3) This mortgage loan has four one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions.

(4) This mortgage loan has two one-year extension options, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions.

(5) Our borrowing capacity under our secured revolving credit facility is $100.0 million.

(6) Base rate, as defined in the secured revolving credit facility agreement is the greater of (i) the prime rate set by Bank of America, (ii) federal funds rate + 0.5%, or (iii) LIBOR + 1.0%.

(7) This mortgage loan has three one-year extension options subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, of which the first was exercised in February 2016.

(8) See Exhibit 1 for reconciliation of net income (loss) to hotel EBITDA.

ASHFORD HOSPITALITY TRUST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

INDEBTEDNESS BY MATURITY ASSUMING EXTENSION OPTIONS ARE EXERCISED

March 31, 2016

(in thousands)

(unaudited)