Jon Bortz, chairman and CEO of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITworld: 2019 Annual Conference in Los Angeles.
Bortz highlighted some of Pebblebrook’s unique assets, such as Hotel Monaco in Washington, D.C., the Argonaut Hotel in San Francisco, and Union Station Hotel in Nashville. He stressed that what hotel guests today are in search of is history, as well as a unique experience.
Pebblebrook, he explained, is moving away from the traditional golf and spa idea of a resort in favor of more active options. As an example, he pointed to Skamania Lodge in Oregon that offers zip lines, axe throwing, and tree houses. In its urban locations, Pebblebrook is integrating repurposed or recycled artwork, Bortz said. “We think of the hotel as a work of art. At the end of the day you should leave our hotels with a wonderful experience of discovery that you’ve had just by walking around the hotel,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bortz noted that Pebblebrook is “significantly reinvesting” back into the hotels that it acquired from fellow hotel REIT LaSalle Hotel Properties in late 2018.