TRU Hotels & Resorts is the successor to The Prairie Group, founded in 1995 to take over the management of a group of hospitality assets for an international investment firm and to pursue global opportunities in the hotel and resort industry.
Since that time, the company and its founders have been actively involved in the development, acquisition and management of numerous hotels, resorts, restaurants and spas, earning AAA’s coveted Five Diamond award, Condé Nast Traveler’s Gold List, Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best, and Gourmet’s Top Fifty Restaurants.
In 2015, TRU and its investment partners acquired Northern Ireland’s Lough Erne Resort out of administration, and the firm has managed it ever since, through a multi-million-pound restoration. The resort was named Hotel of the Year in both 2024 and 2025, and in 2026 was rated the best hotel in the United Kingdom.
But more importantly, that recognition came while realizing above-market returns for clients and investors in virtually every case. Our success is rooted in three things: the ability to recognize, hire and keep uniquely qualified, hospitality-minded people; to market their service through creative, state-of-the-art public relations; and to constantly and consistently apply financial discipline to every part of the process.
Although we have earned the most prestigious awards in our industry, our proudest accomplishments are our low employee turnover rates, the loyalty and enthusiasm of our staff, and the high economic returns to our clients and investors.
30+ yrs
In the hotel business
20–40%
Annualized returns, realized investments
75+ yrs
Combined leadership experience
Inn of the Anasazi · Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Approach
What we do
Beyond management, acquisition and development, we offer consulting across the real-estate and hospitality spectrum, with a proven track record of both financial and critical success.
01
Management, Development & Acquisition
A record of operating hospitality assets day to day for third-party owners and developers, delivering premium financial results.
02
International Feasibility Studies
Our principals have played leadership roles in real-estate projects across the U.S., Europe, Japan and Russia, and know the business customs and practices of those markets. We can assist in evaluating existing and potential investments in most international markets.
03
Management-Agreement Negotiation
If you’re contemplating a hospitality investment and already have a preferred operator, we provide behind-the-scenes assistance negotiating the management contract, with keen and current insight on industry practice.
Portfolio
The properties
The hotels, resorts and restaurants in which the firm and its founders have played leading roles.
01
Lough Erne · Enniskillen, N. Ireland
Lough Erne Resort
Acquired out of administration in 2015 and operated by TRU ever since. The resort sits on a 600-acre peninsula in the Fermanagh lakelands; Sir Nick Faldo designed its championship parkland course, and its Catalina dining room is named for the flying boats once stationed on the lough.
Best-Rated UK Hotel · Which? 2026
The Thai Spa at Lough Erne Resort
02
Encantado · Tesuque, New Mexico
Encantado Resort & Spa
Opened in 2008 in the high desert north of Santa Fe, Encantado earned New Mexico’s first and still only AAA Five Diamond, one of 113 hotels in North America then holding AAA’s highest rating. Today it operates as Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado.
AAA Five Diamond
03
Inn of the Anasazi · Santa Fe
Inn of the Anasazi
Our principals opened the inn in 1991, and for years it was the only New Mexico property to hold both Mobil Four-Star and AAA Four-Diamond ratings. Today, as Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, it still ranks among America’s very best hotels.
Departures · Best Boutique Hotel
04
Hotel Crescent Court · Dallas, Texas
Hotel Crescent Court
The hotel, club and spa within The Crescent, the $400-million Dallas landmark that Philip Johnson designed and our principals helped develop during their years at Rosewood.
Condé Nast · Gold List
05
Amelia Island · Florida
Seaside Amelia Inn
A small oceanfront inn on Florida’s Atlantic coast, a management client of the firm in the mid-2010s.
Oceanfront
Lough Erne · County Fermanagh
The resort hosted the 2013 G8 Summit, and TRU has managed it since 2015.
Recognition
Awards and ratings
AAA
FIVEDIAMOND
AAA Five Diamond Encantado · the first, and still the only, in New Mexico2009
Which? Best-Rated Hotel in the UK Lough Erne Resort, under TRU management2026
Hotel of the Year Lough Erne · LCN Awards, back-to-back · Tourism NI 20142024–25
AAA Four Diamond Inn of the Anasazi, hotel & restaurant1994–2005
Condé Nast Traveler Gold List · Top 25 U.S. Resorts · Readers’ Poll—
Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards · The T+L 500 · Inn of the Anasazi—
Gourmet Magazine Top Fifty Restaurants in America—
Departures #1 Best Boutique City Hotel, U.S. & Canada2003
Mobil Four-Star Inn of the Anasazi · New Mexico’s only1995–2005
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence1993–96 · 1998–2005
Leadership
The founders
Mark Ward and Jeff Mahan have combined more than seventy-five years of experience encompassing virtually all aspects of hotel and resort management, investment and development.
Mark Ward
Co-Founder · Managing Partner
A long and stable track record as both a developer and operator.
Mark Ward’s career in finance and real-estate development spans more than four decades, delivering high-quality real-estate investments as well as annualized returns consistently in the range of 20–40%. A Certified Public Accountant, he was Rosewood’s Vice President for Development, helping develop The Crescent and expand the world-famous Hotel Hana-Maui, before founding TRU in 1995.
He began as a CPA, then spent years as a Controller with the Trammell Crow Company in Dallas and six years with Rosewood Property Company and Rosewood Hotels. In 1990 he became managing partner of the group that developed and operated the Inn of the Anasazi, achieving New Mexico’s only Mobil Four-Star and AAA Four-Diamond — and a fixture among Condé Nast Traveler’s top fifty U.S. hotels in its annual readers’ survey, ranking as high as 20th.
He also served as president of one of the first American companies to develop Class A office space in post-Soviet Moscow and Tallinn — Its projects included the Tallinn Business Center, which today houses three embassies. Since founding TRU, the firm has developed, owned or managed luxury resorts and restaurants around the globe, and since 2015 has managed Lough Erne Resort. Mr. Ward holds a degree in Accounting from The University of Texas at Dallas, serves on the board of the Interfaith Housing Coalition of Dallas, and lives in Plano, Texas.
Jeff Mahan
Co-Founder
A level of service that surpasses the competition.
Jeff Mahan brings nearly four decades of executive experience launching and operating award-winning luxury hotels, resorts and spas. He has a proven track record of improving revenues, employee morale, service levels and reputation, and ultimately profits, for the properties he has been associated with. He opened the world-renowned Inn of the Anasazi in 1991 and ran it for its first fourteen years.
In 2008 he opened Encantado Resort & Spa, which earned the AAA Five Diamond in its first full year of operation. Earlier he led El Monte Sagrado in Taos to AAA Four-Diamond status, and helped reposition the then-distressed Hotel Hana-Maui and Hana Ranch as a world-class resort.
Mahan has served as President of the New Mexico Lodging Association, on the board of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and as Chairman of Destination Taos. Named New Mexico’s Innkeeper of the Year in 2007, he was featured as a lodging mentor on Gordon Ramsay’s Hotel Hell, and sits on the advisory board of NMSU’s School of Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism Management. He holds a degree in Accounting from New Mexico State University and lives in Santa Fe.
Contact
Get in touch
We’re happy to discuss your plans. Call either office, or use the form.
