- Business
- Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT-PD) operates as a self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) focused predominantly on owning upper-upscale and upscale full-service hotels in the United States. The company conducts its business through Ashford Hospitality Limited Partnership, its operating partnership, with a geographically diversified portfolio comprising approximately 65 consolidated operating hotel properties totaling 16,416 rooms, primarily under dominant brands including Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG); it also holds a 98.7% ownership interest in Stirling REIT OP, LP, which owns four additional operating hotel properties representing 405 rooms, and maintains an investment in the Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa, California. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Ashford Hospitality Trust targets hotels with revenue per available room (RevPAR) generally less than twice the U.S. national average, serving leisure, business, and group travelers across key U.S. markets through direct hotel investments, equity, and debt structures in the lodging industry. In recent developments, the company completed the sale of the Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake in Houston, Texas, for $27 million and other non-core assets including a Houston property and the Courtyard Boston Downtown for $123 million as part of its portfolio optimization and deleveraging strategy under the GRO AHT initiative; it also agreed to sell a San Diego hotel for $42 million and three hotels generating $69.5 million in gross proceeds to enhance cash flow after debt service and improve loan coverage metrics. These transactions, announced in 2025, reflect ongoing efforts to maximize shareholder value through opportunistic asset sales and proactive capital management amid a focus on high-performing upper-upscale properties.