Service Properties Trust

Adam Portnoy serves as President and CEO and is the primary decision-maker for acquisitions, dispositions, and capital strategy. He also serves on the board of The RMR Group, the external manager, which creates a tight linkage between asset-level decisions and management-company oversight. The board of trustees, chaired by Donna Fraiche, approves major transactions and sets strategic direction.

Service Properties Trust is externally managed by The RMR Group through a business management agreement. The trust itself has no employees; all property management, accounting, legal, and investor-relations functions are performed by RMR personnel. In exchange, the trust pays RMR a base management fee, plus incentive fees when certain performance thresholds are met. This structure is shared by several other public REITs managed by RMR, including Diversified Healthcare Trust and Seven Hills Realty Trust.

In September 2024, Service Properties Trust announced it was suspending its common-dividend payments to preserve $127 million in annual cash. Management stated the funds would be redirected toward capital improvements across the hotel portfolio and paying down debt. The move followed a period of elevated leverage and underperformance in certain Sonesta-managed properties, and it reflects a near-term priority of balance-sheet repair over shareholder distributions.

Service Properties Trust acquired a 34% equity stake in Sonesta International Hotels Corporation in 2021 as part of a restructuring that resolved a dispute with Marriott. The trust then rebranded many of its previously Marriott-flagged hotels under Sonesta brands, making Sonesta its largest hotel operator. This move gave the trust more control over property-level operations but also exposed it to brand-execution risk that previously sat with a third-party franchise partner.

The trust's assets are concentrated in the United States, with a smaller footprint in Canada — primarily through its net-lease portfolio of travel centers and retail properties. The hotel portfolio is entirely domestic. The trust has not disclosed plans for material international expansion, and its external-management structure with RMR, which is U.S.-based, reinforces a domestic focus.