Santa Fe’s La Posada hotel slated to change hands in nearly $58 million deal

One of downtown Santa Fe’s well-known hospitality properties appears to be on its way to new owners.

Ashford Hospitality Trust, the current owner of La Posada de Santa Fe, announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell the property for nearly $58 million in a Feb. 24 news release. The company said the transaction is expected to close this month, but added it provides “no assurances that the sale will be completed on these terms or at all.”

The company did not name the buyer and, on Thursday, an Ashford spokesperson declined to comment further on the transaction.

The purchase agreement came nearly four months after brokerage firm Hunter Hotel Advisors listed the historic property for sale. The listing touted the hotel’s proximity to the Santa Fe Plaza, making it “a rare opportunity to acquire a landmark, institutionally branded asset in one of the Southwest’ s most desirable and supply-constrained hotel markets.”

The property was originally built as a private brick mansion in 1882 for Abraham and Julia Staab, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The organization described the couple as “members of high society in Santa Fe,” entertaining guests such as former President Rutherford B. Hayes.

R.H. and Eulalia Nason acquired the property two decades later and expanded it with several Pueblo Revival-style adobe casitas, according to the hotel’s website. They named the property La Posada, Spanish for “inn” or “resting place.”

The property served as a summer school for Santa Fe’s arts community for years before an extensive renovation in the late 1990s turned the property into the popular lodging destination it is today.

Ashford Hospitality — a Dallas-based, publicly traded real estate investment trust — acquired the property almost eight years ago for $50 million, according to an October 2018 news release from the company. Then-CEO Douglas Kessler called the Santa Fe market “very attractive” and said the deal would improve returns to the company’s shareholders.

The company is now homing in on a different strategy for maximizing shareholder value. In its February announcement, President and CEO Stephen Zsigray said in a statement that “strategic sales continue to be a core component” of the company’s plan to reduce debt and improve cash flow by lowering interest costs and capital spending.

The company, which had a 68-hotel portfolio at the end of December, has sold several properties across the country in recent months and was in the process of negotiating more deals in February, according to a recent earnings call.

During the call, Zsigray said the expected sales of La Posada and two other hotels would save the company $45 million in anticipated capital spending.

While La Posada brought in a total revenue of $18 million in the 12 months leading up to August 2025, according to the Hunter Hotel Advisors listing, its “strong performance” coincided with a “relative softening” of its RevPAR index over the last couple years.

A RevPAR, or revenue per available room, index is one of several metrics used by companies to measure hotel performance. The metric considers a hotel’s average daily room rate and overall occupancy rate, assessing its ability to fill its available rooms at an average rate. The index doesn’t consider hotel size or expenses, but is typically used to compare performance over time or to other area hotels.

Despite La Posada’s RevPAR softening, the listing said the hotel’s availability still represented “a compelling opportunity to acquire a historically significant, cash-flowing resort with clear value-add potential.”

La Posada has a full-service spa, meeting space, a seasonal pool, on-property art programming, and four restaurants and bars, where the ghost of the original matron owner is rumored to roam. The hotel has earned several awards and recognitions over the years, including an AAA Four Diamond Award and appearances on Historic Hotels of America’s top 25 lists for most haunted hotels and most magnificent hotel gardens.

“It's a pretty unique property in Santa Fe,” said Tourism Santa Fe Executive Director Randy Randall. “It covers quite a bit of ground. It's got some wonderful open space. It's definitely one of the landmark hotels in Santa Fe.”

Randall said it’s his understanding that the new owner plans to invest money into upgrades for the property, should the transaction go through.

“We’re always excited when an existing property gets some invigoration through new ownership,” Randall said.

Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@abqjournal.com.