Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

Jon Bortz, the Chairman, President, and CEO, leads all investment decisions alongside a senior executive team that has worked together across multiple lodging platforms. Bortz previously founded and chaired LaSalle Hotel Properties before launching Pebblebrook in 2009. The firm operates as an internally managed REIT, meaning acquisitions, dispositions, and asset management are handled by in-house professionals, not an external advisor.

Pebblebrook is an internally managed UPREIT — properties are held in an operating partnership, and the management company is owned directly by the REIT rather than by an external sponsor. This structure aligns management compensation with shareholder returns. It contrasts with externally advised REITs, where the management entity is a separate company that earns fees based on asset volume or acquisition activity.

Pebblebrook invests exclusively through direct property acquisitions. It does not make fund commitments, participate in blind-pool vehicles, or act as a limited partner in third-party hotel investment platforms. All real estate is held on the balance sheet of the operating partnership subsidiary.

Pebblebrook acquired LaSalle Hotel Properties in a $5.2 billion transaction that closed in November 2018, absorbing a portfolio of approximately 41 upscale and luxury hotels. The deal effectively merged two of the largest pure-play lodging REITs into a single entity, with Jon Bortz — who had chaired LaSalle before founding Pebblebrook — leading the combined company.

The trust's assets are operated under management agreements with third-party hotel operators including HEI Hotels & Resorts, Davidson Hospitality Group, Sage Hospitality, and Highgate. Pebblebrook itself does not brand or directly operate the hotels; it selects operators, negotiates contracts, oversees capital expenditure programs, and drives asset-level strategy.

The firm targets existing upper-upscale and luxury hotels in major US gateway cities with high barriers to new supply. Acquisitions are opportunistic, often involving properties that can benefit from brand conversion, operator change, or capital renovation. Pebblebrook does not engage in ground-up hotel development, preferring to acquire stabilized or underperforming operating assets.

Because the executive team and board are employees of the REIT — not an external advisory firm — their compensation is tied to total shareholder return and earnings growth rather than asset accumulation fees. Key executives, including CEO Jon Bortz, hold material equity stakes in the trust, reinforcing owner-operator alignment uncommon among externally managed lodging REITs.