Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) holds a focused portfolio of luxury assets, but how does this specialized real estate investment trust (REIT)-a company that owns income-producing real estate-carve out superior returns in a volatile hospitality market?

As of late 2025, the company manages 15 high-end hotels with total assets of $2.1 billion, generating a trailing twelve-month (TTM) revenue of $712 million. You need to understand the mechanics behind this strategy, so we'll break down their core mission-maximizing shareholder value-and the precise operational model that delivered a 1.4% comparable Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) growth in Q3 2025. Are their concentrated bets on luxury resorts like the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale and The Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe defintely the right play for your investment thesis?

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) History

You're looking for the foundational story of Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc., and the key takeaway is this: the company was born not as a startup, but as a strategic spin-off from its parent, Ashford Hospitality Trust, immediately pivoting to focus exclusively on the highest-end, luxury hotel segment to drive superior returns.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. was formed in April 2013 as a Maryland corporation.

Original location

The company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Founding team members

The company was established as a spin-off from Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT). Its creation was spearheaded by the existing AHT management team, led by Montgomery Jack Bennett IV, who serves as the Chairman of the Board.

Initial capital/funding

Initial funding came not from a traditional IPO but through a distribution of shares to existing Ashford Hospitality Trust shareholders. The company began with an initial portfolio of hotel assets contributed by Ashford Hospitality Trust, which were initially focused on the upscale and upper-upscale segments.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's history is defined by two major, deliberate separations: the initial corporate split and the subsequent strategic shift in asset quality. Honestly, the spin-off was just the starting gun.

• The Spin-Off Decision (2013): Separating from Ashford Hospitality Trust was pivotal. It allowed Braemar Hotels & Resorts to establish a focused mandate as a pure-play luxury REIT, a key distinction from its former parent. The stock opened at $21.35 on its first day of trading on November 20, 2013.
• The Luxury Mandate Pivot (2015-2017): The most significant strategic decision was committing to the luxury segment, targeting properties with RevPAR at least twice the U.S. national average. This led to landmark acquisitions like the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe in 2016 and the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa in 2017.
• Navigating Capital Markets and Growth (2025): The company's resilience is clear in its 2025 performance, which shows the luxury focus paying off. For the second quarter of 2025, the portfolio-wide Comparable RevPAR was $318, a 1.5% year-over-year increase, reflecting continued strength in high-end leisure and group travel.

The focus on high-RevPAR assets-those generating high revenue per available room-is the core of their model. You can dig deeper into how this strategy affects their shareholder base in Exploring Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Here's the quick math: targeting hotels where RevPAR is double the national average means you're chasing a fundamentally different, defintely more resilient customer base. As of June 30, 2025, the portfolio included 3,807 total rooms across 15 properties, all aligned with this premium strategy.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) Ownership Structure

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) is controlled by a near-even split between institutional investors and the public, with a significant stake held by its external advisor's principals through insider ownership. This structure, common for a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), means strategic decisions are heavily influenced by a small group of large institutional funds and the leadership team. Exploring Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Current Status

The company is a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), meaning it owns income-producing real estate and trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol BHR. As a REIT, it must distribute at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders, which shapes its financial strategy. The company's market capitalization stood at approximately $184.87 million as of November 2025.

To be fair, the external management structure, where Ashford Inc. acts as the advisor, is a key governance factor. This arrangement ties the company's executive team to the advisor, creating a complex web of interests that shareholders defintely need to track.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Ownership Breakdown

Ownership is quite fragmented, with retail investors holding the largest single block of shares, but institutional power remains substantial. As of the 2025 fiscal year data, the breakdown is as follows:

Here's the quick math: Institutional investors hold a near-majority stake, with firms like BlackRock, Inc. and The Vanguard Group, Inc. being among the largest holders, commanding significant voting power.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Leadership

The company is steered by a seasoned management team, many of whom also hold leadership positions at the external advisor, Ashford Inc., which provides advisory and management services. This dual-role structure is crucial for understanding who makes the final decisions.

• Monty J. Bennett: Founder and Chairman of the Board. He is also the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Ashford Inc., the external advisor.
• Richard J. Stockton: Chief Executive Officer and President. He has served in this role since November 2016 and is the largest individual shareholder, owning approximately 1.74% of the company's shares.
• Deric S. Eubanks: Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Treasurer. He oversees all corporate finance, financial reporting, and capital market activities, including debt and equity raises, and also serves as CFO for Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc.
• Alex Rose: Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary. He holds the same legal and corporate governance roles across the Ashford-affiliated companies.
• Christopher Nixon: Executive Vice President and Head of Asset Management. He focuses on maximizing the operational performance of the hotel portfolio.

The average tenure for the management team is a strong 6.7 years, which speaks to stability in the executive ranks, but still, the close ties to Ashford Inc. are what really drive the corporate strategy.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) Mission and Values

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) stands for a clear, dual-focused purpose: generating superior returns for shareholders by investing with discipline in high-quality, full-service luxury hotels and resorts. This is all grounded in a set of five non-negotiable guiding principles that drive every decision, from asset management to community engagement.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Core Purpose

You're looking beyond the quarterly earnings, and that's smart. A company's mission and values tell you how they plan to navigate the next decade, not just the next quarter. Braemar's cultural DNA is about balancing aggressive financial targets with a strong operational and ethical framework. They defintely prioritize asset quality over sheer volume.

Official mission statement

The core mission is financial: to generate superior risk-adjusted returns for its shareholders through the acquisition, development, and active management of high-quality hotel real estate. This isn't just a generic goal; it's a specific mandate that dictates their investment strategy.

• Achieve superior risk-adjusted returns for shareholders.
• Acquire and actively manage premium lodging assets.
• Invest in luxury hotels and resorts with a high RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room).

For example, their strategy is to target properties anticipated to generate RevPAR of at least twice the current U.S. average RevPAR for all hotels. This focus on the high-end market is why their portfolio is currently outperforming the industry, with year-to-date RevPAR growth through June 30, 2025, at 2.9%, compared to the overall U.S. Hotel Industry's 0.8% growth.

Vision statement

The vision is to be the leading, high-RevPAR lodging Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in the luxury sector, known for operational excellence and disciplined capital allocation. They aim to maximize property-level performance and overall portfolio value by partnering with world-class hotel brands. This is a clear, long-term aspiration to dominate a specific, profitable niche.

Here's the quick math on their capital commitment: Management reiterated the full-year 2025 capital expenditures guidance to be between $75 million and $85 million, signaling a commitment to maintaining the luxury status of their properties. To be fair, this high-quality focus is why the portfolio has consistently achieved the highest RevPAR among publicly traded lodging REITs. You can read more about the market's reaction to this strategy in Exploring Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. Guiding Principles

Their guiding principles are the cultural bedrock, more than just a catchy slogan. They are the way the company does business, and they reflect a trend-aware realism that values both profit and integrity. They are a great way to gauge management's long-term behavior.

• Ethical: Maintain a reputation of excellence and integrity.
• Innovative: Seek new ways to enhance asset value.
• Profitable: Focus on generating superior returns.
• Engaging: Be an active partner and contributor to the community.
• Tenacious: Aggressively pursue strategic goals.

The 'Engaging' principle translates into real action, like their company-wide Community Service Day and financial support for charitable causes such as Habitat For Humanity and Special Olympics Texas. Still, the 'Profitable' principle is the most visible in their 2025 results, with the Q3 2025 Comparable Hotel EBITDA increasing by 15.1% over the prior year quarter to $21.4 million.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) How It Works

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that generates revenue by owning a portfolio of high-RevPAR, luxury hotels and resorts, primarily making money through room revenue and high-margin ancillary services like food and beverage. The company's core strategy is to drive value by actively managing these high-end assets and strategically recycling capital through asset sales, like the recent disposition of the Marriott Seattle Waterfront for $145 million.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Operational Framework

The company's operational process is centered on asset management, not direct hotel operations-that's handled by third-party managers like Marriott and Four Seasons. Its external advisor, Ashford Inc., oversees the portfolio, so the focus is on optimizing property performance and capital structure.

Here's the quick math on CapEx: Braemar anticipates spending between $75 million and $85 million on capital expenditures (CapEx) for the full year 2025, which is a disciplined approach to maintaining and enhancing the luxury status of the properties.

• Asset Management Focus: Drive profitability by executing value-add projects, like the renovations at Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe, which led to exceptional group room revenue growth of 80.2% in Q3 2025.
• Revenue Optimization: Concentrate on increasing high-margin ancillary revenue; for example, food and beverage revenue increased by a significant 43.3% in Q3 2025 compared to the prior year period.
• Capital Recycling: Strategically sell non-core assets, such as the recent sale of the Marriott Seattle Waterfront, to reduce debt and fund renovations in core luxury properties.

If you want to dig deeper into the balance sheet implications of this strategy, check out Breaking Down Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

Braemar's advantage isn't just owning hotels; it's owning a concentrated, high-quality collection of luxury assets that command premium pricing, which is defintely a moat in the hospitality space.

• Luxury Market Resilience: The resort portfolio is the primary growth engine, delivering a strong 5.5% increase in comparable RevPAR and a 58% increase in comparable hotel EBITDA in Q3 2025, proving the luxury segment's resilience.
• High RevPAR Focus: The portfolio is specifically curated to have a high Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) profile, with the Q3 2025 comparable RevPAR at $257, significantly above industry averages, allowing the company to capture outsized returns.
• Group Business Momentum: The forward-looking group room revenue pace for the full year 2025 is up 9.1%, providing a predictable, high-volume revenue base that stabilizes performance despite urban market softness.
• Active Asset Management: The external advisory structure allows the REIT to focus entirely on capital allocation and asset-level improvements, driving margin expansion, which saw an improvement of 160 basis points in Gross Operating Profit (GOP) margin in Q3 2025.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) How It Makes Money

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) operates as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), meaning it primarily makes money by owning and acquiring luxury, upper-upscale hotels and resorts, generating revenue from the operations of these properties, and distributing most of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends.

Its financial engine is driven by high-end transient (individual leisure travelers) and group business at its properties, which include iconic names like The Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons, allowing it to capture a premium RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) in the lodging sector. For the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2025, the company generated approximately $710.40 million in total revenue.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Revenue Breakdown

The revenue model is typical for a full-service luxury hotel owner, relying heavily on rooms but with a significant, high-margin contribution from ancillary services like dining and events. The following breakdown is based on the first nine months of the 2025 fiscal year, reflecting the core operational mix.

Business Economics

The economic fundamentals of Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. are centered on driving high Average Daily Rate (ADR) and controlling property-level expenses to maximize Hotel EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization). This focus on luxury assets means the company can command premium pricing, which is less sensitive to economic downturns than the broader hotel market.

• Pricing Power: Comparable ADR increased by 4.7% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2025, demonstrating strong pricing power in the luxury segment, even as comparable occupancy slightly decreased.
• Group Business: A key growth driver is the group segment, with group room revenue pace for the full year 2025 up a strong 9.1% compared to the prior year, providing stable, forward-booked revenue.
• Asset Recycling: The company is actively refining its portfolio, selling assets like the Marriott Seattle Waterfront and entering an agreement to sell The Clancy to focus on its highest RevPAR luxury properties, a defintely smart move to boost overall portfolio quality and cash flow.
• Management Structure: As a REIT, Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. does not directly operate its hotels. It uses third-party managers like Remington Hospitality and major brands (e.g., Marriott and Hilton) under long-term agreements, which transfers the day-to-day operating risk and capital expenditure burden to the property manager.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Financial Performance

While the luxury portfolio is performing well operationally, the overall financial picture is tempered by high leverage and interest rate exposure, which is a common risk for lodging REITs right now. The company's strategy is to grow Hotel EBITDA while actively managing its debt structure.

• Operational Profitability: Comparable Hotel EBITDA saw robust growth, increasing by 15.1% to $21.4 million in the third quarter of 2025, driven by strong resort performance.
• Net Earnings: Despite operational strength, the company continues to face profitability challenges at the bottom line, reporting a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $(8.2) million, or $(0.12) per diluted share, for Q3 2025.
• Leverage Risk: The company's net debt to gross assets stood at 43.2% at the end of Q3 2025. Critically, approximately 78% of the consolidated debt is effectively floating, exposing the company to significant interest rate volatility.
• Capital Investment: The company is reinvesting in its assets to maintain their luxury positioning, with capital expenditures for the full year 2025 expected to be between $75 million and $85 million.

If you are looking for a deeper dive into the shareholder base and market sentiment, you should check out Exploring Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) Market Position & Future Outlook

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. is navigating a strategic pivot, leveraging its high-end resort focus to deliver strong operational performance while aggressively working to deleverage its balance sheet. The company's future trajectory hinges on its ability to complete planned asset sales and sustain the momentum seen in its luxury resort portfolio, which drove comparable RevPAR up by 5.5% in the third quarter of 2025.

You can see the firm is a small-cap player in the luxury lodging Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) space, with a market capitalization of roughly $0.20 Billion as of November 2025, but its portfolio quality is definitely high.

Competitive Landscape

In the luxury and upper-upscale lodging REIT sector, Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. is a niche player. Here's the quick math on market share, using market capitalization as a proxy for relative size among key luxury/upscale peers, which shows just how much scale matters in this industry.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company is making smart, tactical moves, so you need to look at where the market is giving them an edge and where their historical debt load is still a drag on performance. The resort segment is their engine right now, but the urban properties are defintely facing temporary headwinds.

Industry Position

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. holds a tiny, but highly specialized, position in the lodging REIT universe. Its strategy is to target high Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) assets-properties that typically generate RevPAR at least twice the national average-and it has largely achieved this.

The firm's focus on luxury resorts like The Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas and The Ritz-Carlton Reserve Dorado Beach is what's driving the 15.1% increase in comparable Hotel EBITDA for Q3 2025, which is a strong operational signal.

• Maintain a high-RevPAR focus, which was $257 portfolio-wide in Q3 2025.
• Prioritize capital expenditures, guiding for 2025 spending between $75 million and $85 million for renovations to drive future rate growth.
• Executing on asset sales, like the Marriott Seattle Waterfront for $145 million, to reduce debt and focus the portfolio.

What this estimate hides is that while BHR's properties are top-tier, its small size and high debt ratio make it significantly more volatile than its larger, investment-grade peers. It's a high-yield, high-risk speculative play right now. To be fair, you should also be Exploring Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why? to understand the institutional interest.