RLJ Lodging Trust

To the Board of Trustees and Shareholders of RLJ Lodging Trust

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of RLJ Lodging Trust and its subsidiaries (the "Company") as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income, of changes in equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, including the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the accompanying index (collectively referred to as the "consolidated financial statements"). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Impairment Assessment of Investment in Hotel Properties

As described in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements, as of December 31, 2024, investment in hotel properties totaled $4.25 billion and there were no impairment losses recorded during the year ended December 31, 2024. As described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, management assesses the carrying value of its investments in hotel properties whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable. The recoverability is measured by comparing the carrying amount to the projected undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated from the operation and the eventual disposition of the hotel properties over the estimated hold period, which takes into account current market conditions and management’s intent with respect to holding or disposing of the hotel properties. If management’s analysis indicates that the carrying value is not recoverable on a projected undiscounted cash flow basis, the Company will recognize an impairment loss for the amount by which the carrying value exceeds the fair value.

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the impairment assessment of investment in hotel properties is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management to identify events or changes in circumstances indicating that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable and (ii) a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures related to management’s identification of events or changes in circumstances indicating that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable.

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to the impairment assessment of investment in hotel properties, including controls over management’s identification of events or changes in circumstances indicating that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable. These procedures also included, among others, (i) testing management’s process for identifying investment in hotel properties to be evaluated for impairment, (ii) evaluating events or changes in circumstances that indicate that the carrying amounts may not be recoverable, including, among others, performance of the hotel properties and indicators of changes in hold period for hotel properties, (iii) testing the completeness and accuracy of underlying data used in the evaluation, and (iv) considering whether the information used in the evaluation was consistent with evidence obtained in other areas of the audit.

/s/PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Washington, District of Columbia

February 26, 2025

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2001.