PM Hotel Group and Sightline Hospitality recently announced a strategic merger that will further the growth of PM Hotel Group’s lifestyle hotel division, Modus by PM Hotel Group, by integrating Sightline’s expertise in experiential travel and innovative property management. The new entity will continue to operate under the PM Hotel Group name. A shared history and cultural alignment between the two organizations paved the way for the merger, as PM Hotel Group President Joseph Bojanowski and Sightline Hospitality President Kirk Pederson told LODGING.
“We have known each other for quite some time, having served on a number of industry advisory boards and councils together, and there was always a deep mutual respect for the accomplishments of each organization,” Bojanowski related. “So, there was a friendship and a relationship, and it sort of evolved into ‘Hey, maybe combining these will be better than the two alone.’” From a cultural standpoint, both PM and Sightline are “people first” companies, he added. “One of the things that we share from a culture perspective is that both of our organizations have always focused on ensuring that performance will always intersect with opportunity. We’ve got a lot of high performers on both sides, and this [merger] creates a lot of opportunities for their performance to intersect with personal growth. And we believed that there was a really complimentary depth and level of talent in each of our organizations without a tremendous amount of overlap.”
From a business development perspective, the merger will not only bolster PM Hotel Group’s lifestyle hotel division, but also enhance Sightline’s operations through PM’s resources. “Lifestyle hospitality is here to stay, and that’s where our business is growing,” Pederson affirmed. “And I think we do a great job at Sightline on independent and lifestyle hotels, and we’ve been operating in some very unique markets. But there wasn’t a day that I didn’t go to sleep and think about how nice it would be to have these additional resources.” Bojanowski noted that these resources and services include “everything from risk management to insurance to sustainability to energy procurement to marketing … all those things could be a force multiplier to [Sightline’s] experience and expertise, specifically in that experiential travel market. And if you look at some of the larger management companies, that expertise just doesn’t exist in too many places. And to the extent that it does, it’s not very scalable. With Kirk and the team that he’s put together, it’s unique in that aspect.”
The merger with Sightline will add 22 properties to PM’s portfolio that are either open or set to open within the coming months—mostly under the Modus brand—and bring the total property count to 85. The expansion will diversify the geography of the portfolio, especially in mountain regions along the West Coast, and introduce PM’s first hotel in the Hawaiian Islands. Distinctive brands that Sightline manages will join the portfolio, including RESET, providing immersive, nature-centric experiences, and evo Hotels, which combines combine urban comfort with easy access to outdoor activities. These brands particularly appeal to the younger generations. “Every study that’s done is showing a pretty significant demographic shift from the majority of travelers being Baby Boomers to Millennials and Gen Z. And while Baby Boomers may still be spending more per trip, Gen Z is taking more trips, spending more overall, and is highly focused on an experience when they travel. So that equates to the lifestyle and the experiential side,” Bojanowski explained.
He added that the merger is an example of PM’s focus on thoughtful growth. “We are privately held, and so we don’t have those constant pressures of net unit growth and squeezing the last dollar of profitability out of the management company. … We align with partners that we want to do business with [so] we can have some durability in those relationships and those income streams. And so, we’re feeling pretty good about where we are right now.”
