Braemar Hotels and Resorts Incorporated is set to become self managed after cutting ties with Ashford Incorporated.
Dallas-based Braemar announced that they would be liquidating its 14 properties earlier in 2026, and in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, said that Texas hotelier Monty Bennett would be stepping down from the board. Richard Stockton, Braemar president and CEO, is the only board member remaining, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
Stockton, through the SEC filing, states that Braemar will be evaluating the sale of a couple more assets to complete the Ashford divorce. Braemar’s renewed focus will be on “maximizing the value of our remaining luxury portfolio,” as the company becomes a self-managed real estate investment trust with no external advisory agreements.
The move follows May news that Braemar’s largest shareholder, Al Shams Investments, pushed to replace the company’s board, alleging conflicts of interests. Al Shams alleged that selling off assets would greenlight a $480 million payout to Ashford, also linked to Monty Bennett.
Initially, Braemar was focused on selling the company, expanding to individual assets in its strategy. The shareholder stated in a letter to the company’s independent directors that only a handful of hotel sales were needed to trigger the payout.
Al Shams had a quick, explosive response to the news that Ashford and Braemar would separate. In a letter to Braemar, the shareholder said, “You have completed one of the most brazen acts of self-dealing we have ever witnessed in a public company” by completing sale actions that led to the termination fee.
“We believe Mr. Bennett engineered this outcome himself, approving the transactions that lined his own pockets,” Al Shams said in the letter.
Multiple Braemar assets have already been sold. The 193-key Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa was sold in April, and the company offloaded two properties in Florida, one in New Mexico and one in Virginia recently. Two other hotel sales are pending.
In its June 15 letter, Al Shams claimed that they will take legal action against all parties in the transaction.
— Hunter Cooke
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