Hays exiting at Ashford Hospitality Trust

DALLAS – Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT) current President and CEO Rob Hays will step down from his role on June 30, 2024, and be replaced by current Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance & Strategy Stephen Zsigray.

Hays will spend the next few months working alongside Zsigray for transition purposes before pursuing plans to work with his father on a unique business opportunity in an industry outside of real estate.

In late January, AHT updated its plans to pay off its strategic financing with a final maturity date of January 2026, raising capital through asset sales, mortgage debt refinancing and non-traded preferred capital raises. The company listed 12 hotels at various stages of being available for sale, a mix of geographically diverse hotels ranging from full-service to limited-service properties. Ashford said it is also refinancing its Morgan Stanley pool loan of 17 hotels and hotels in Nashville, Atlanta and Arlington, Virginia.

During its fourth-quarter earnings call, where it announced operating losses of $13.3 million for the fourth quarter and $31.3 million for 2023, AHT said it had signed a definitive agreement to sell the 390-key Hilton Boston Back Bay in Boston for $171 million. The deal closed last week with New York City-based investment firm Certares announced as the buyer, netting AHT $68 million.

Earlier in March, AHT also closed on the sale of the 144-room Residence Inn in Salt Lake City, Utah, for $19.2 million. AHT said several other assets are in various stages of negotiations.

“We are incredibly grateful to Rob for his immense dedication and commitment to our organization,” commented Monty Bennett, Ashford Trust’s chairman of the board. “Although we're disappointed with his departure, we fully appreciate and respect his desire to pursue his personal plans and business endeavors. The board is thrilled to have Stephen take on expanded responsibilities at Ashford Trust. He’s played a major role in the company’s success over the last decade and is a perfect fit to be Rob's successor. I am confident that the transition to new leadership will be seamless.”

Zsigray also heads Ashford Inc.’s cash management platform and oversees corporate hedging strategy. Since 2020, Zsigray has helped the platforms raise more than $1.2 billion in common and preferred equity, secure over $1 billion in new corporate and property-level debt financing and negotiated maturity extensions on over $3 billion in mortgage debt. Additionally, Zsigray serves as CFO and treasurer of Stirling Hotels & Resorts, a position he has held since November 2023.

Zsigray joined Ashford in 2014 as a trader and portfolio manager in Ashford’s investment management division, and subsequently served as president and COO of OpenKey, an Ashford-affiliated hospitality technology company that provides digital guest key and access control solutions to hotels worldwide.

Prior to joining Ashford, Zsigray was with UBS Investment Bank in New York, where he traded and helped clients structure derivatives across equity, fixed income, and commodity markets. He began his career with Deloitte Consulting in St. Louis, where he advised Fortune 500 clients on issues related to mergers and acquisitions, business transformation, and process improvement.