SVC's Manager, The RMR Group

SVC is managed by The RMR Group (Nasdaq: RMR), a leading U.S. alternative asset management company, unique for its focus on commercial real estate (CRE) and related businesses. RMR’s vertical integration is strengthened by over 1,000 real estate professionals in more than 35 offices nationwide who manage over $40 billion in assets under management and leverage more than 35 years of institutional experience in buying, selling, financing and operating CRE. RMR benefits from a scalable platform, a deep and experienced management team and a diversity of real estate strategies across its clients. RMR has been recognized by The Boston Globe as a “Top Place to Work”, by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an “ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year” and ranked by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) as having one of the highest number of BOMA 360 designated properties in its portfolio. RMR is headquartered in Newton, MA and was founded in 1986.

Strategic Investors

The initial public offering of SVC occurred in May of 1995 as the company began investing in select service and extended stay hotels with the acquisition of 21 Courtyard by Marriott properties, a time when institutional investment in select service assets wasn’t as common as it is today.

SVC believed owning lodging properties that have lower fixed costs compared to full service hotels would provide a stable base of cash flows for SVC to increase its cash available for distribution from a dependable and diverse group of operators allowing it to periodically raise dividends over time, an objective that exists today.

In 2007, SVC began investing in full service travel centers, or truck stops, located principally along the United States Interstate Highway System. SVC’s travel centers are leased to TA, one of only three travel center brand owner operators in the country with interstate highway located truck stops of national scale. The travel center industry has experienced consolidation in recent years and this has allowed certain fuel fundamentals to improve, an important factor in the profitability of SVC’s travel centers.

Since 2007, federal regulations have decreased the number of hours a professional trucker can drive in a 24 hour period and we believe this has resulted in increased sales of non-fuel products and services at our travel centers.

In September 2019, Service Properties Trust completed its $2.4 billion acquisition of a net lease portfolio from Spirit MTA REIT. In conjunction with that transaction, the combined REIT changed its name to Service Properties Trust.

Experienced Managers

We believe that being managed by RMR is a competitive advantage for SVC because of RMR’s depth of management and broad-based experience in the real estate industry. As one example:

The RMR Group lodging asset management team partners with five hotel operators, several of whom are the largest and most experienced in the world, to maximize revenues, net operating income and guest service at our leased and managed hotels. This unique perspective enables RMR Asset Management, within appropriate legal bounds, to collaborate with operators in an informed way to compile business and service plans.

Efficient Operators

Leveraging the scale and expertise of RMR managed entities and employees respectively, SVC is able to realize benefits associated with:

We believe RMR provides management services to SVC at costs that are lower than we would have to pay for similar quality services.