This Luxury Hotel Owner Is Replacing Its Whole Board. Its Top Shareholder Objects

Braemar Hotels & Resorts will hold its annual shareholder meeting on November 13, with director nominations due September 14, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its largest shareholder, Al Shams Investments, said Tuesday it intends to use that deadline to nominate a full slate of independent directors of its own.

The fight is over how Braemar exits its current structure. In June the REIT ended a months-long strategic review and said it would become self-managed, separating from Ashford Inc. As part of that transition, five new independent directors are to be identified and every sitting director is expected to step down except CEO Richard Stockton. Al Shams called the split self-dealing in June; Braemar said the claims were an attempt to mislead shareholders. The shareholder's position now is that a board handpicked during the transition is not the same as a board shareholders chose.

What makes this worth watching from a guest's perspective is the portfolio underneath it. Braemar owns some of the most expensive resort real estate in the United States and the Caribbean, including The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas in St. Thomas and Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North. The company has said it plans to keep roughly six to eight luxury properties and sell the rest.

That shrinking is already underway. Braemar sold Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa in Beaver Creek in May, and last month sold the Pier House Resort & Spa in Key West for 190 million dollars to pay down debt.

Ownership changes rarely reach the guest directly, since brands like The Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons keep operating the hotels either way. What ownership does control is capital: which resorts get renovated, which get sold, and how long a soft year is tolerated before a property changes hands.