Davidson Hospitality Group’s lifestyle operating vertical, Pivot serves a bold and responsive hotel portfolio.
We’re for owners who value bold strategy, data-driven insights, and the signature adaptability that allows us to pivot on a dime in an ever-evolving marketplace. Unique, contextual, and design-forward, our properties are infused with innovative amenities, inviting spaces, and genuine heart — elevating the boutique lifestyle experience like never before.
Backed by decades of industry experience and a keen understanding of the lifestyle market, the Pivot operations team expertly infuses our portfolio with heartfelt hospitality and an authentic sense of place. We take a holistic, personalized approach to enhancing operations, offering broad support across every discipline to deliver results-driven value for your lifestyle hotel.
What do you get when you combine vision, passion, and creativity with data-supported market insights? A bold new recipe for high-performance sales. At Pivot, we lean into the knowledge and expertise of our talented Direct Sales team: natural-born salespeople with a passion for delivering industry-leading performance and hospitality with heart.
Dynamic, experienced, and relentlessly analytical, the Pivot team goes beyond mere room revenue to focus on whole-property profit management. Our holistic approach takes into consideration a host of factors, from ancillary revenue and F&B pricing to acquisition cost and asset valuation, for a comprehensive revenue strategy that ensures our hotels are set up for long-term asset value growth.
Attuned to the tastes of the modern traveler, we elevate the lifestyle hotel experience through locally inspired dining concepts grounded in an indelible sense of place. Think seasonal ingredients, signature cocktails, and spectacular F&B offerings with true culinary artistry at their heart.
Our people are what make the difference: caring, warm, and genuine folks who aren’t afraid to show a little heart. We pride ourselves on hiring the best in the industry, consummate professionals who are talented in the art of hospitality and attentive to the needs of the lifestyle market.
At Pivot, we believe a truly great lifestyle hotel is more than just a place to rest your head; it’s also a point of connection to the wider community. Informed by this ethos, we’re proud to curate authentic local experiences our guests won’t find anywhere else.
Building his career at both global and emerging hospitality companies, Rick has extensive experience and an established reputation in the industry’s lifestyle sector. Prior to joining Davidson as Pivot’s Executive Vice President, he served as Senior Vice President of Operations at Virgin Hotels where he spearheaded the brand’s growth, opening hotels in Dallas, Nashville, Las Vegas and most recently New Orleans. His resume also includes stints at Hyatt Hotels Corporation, overseeing the brand’s lifestyle portfolio as Senior Vice President of Field Operations, and at Two Roads Hospitality where he led the evolution of the Thompson and Joie de Vivre brands as Executive Vice President. There, he played an integral role in the company’s nationwide expansion while continuing to add value to the portfolio’s existing 35 hotels and resorts. Prior to that, Colangelo held an 11-year tenure at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants during which he grew the brand’s footprint in the Northeast, South Florida and Texas markets.
Colangelo currently serves on the Hospitality and Tourism Management Advisory Board for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Harry joined Davidson Hospitality Group shortly after the launch of Pivot in 2015. He assisted in repositioning Hotel Zephyr, the first property in the Pivot portfolio. As the Corporate Director of Revenue Management, Harry helped to grow Pivot from 4 hotels to over 20. In 2018, Harry moved to Atlanta and was promoted to Vice President of Revenue Management. He now oversees total property revenue management for Pivot as well as 12 KSL owned assets. In 2022, Harry was promoted to Senior Vice President of Revenue Management. With over 20 years of hospitality experience in both the independent and branded environments, he has been able to drive total revenue and gain market share for diverse properties. Before joining Pivot, Harry worked with leading lifestyle companies at SBE and Viceroy Hotel Group as well as branded hotels at Interstate Hotels and Resorts, Starwood and Hilton.
Vanessa joined Pivot in September 2018. In her role, she has been instrumental in building Davidson’s first ever Global Sales Organization that focuses on creating value for meeting and event planners as well as our owners. Vanessa leads the Global Sales Organization as well as all Pivot hotels in sales strategy to propel the organization to best-in-class sales achievement. Vanessa has 25 years of unique sales experience in high profile independent, lifestyle, luxury and branded hotels. Prior to joining Pivot, Vanessa served as head of sales for Sydell Group, where the portfolio doubled in size during her tenure with properties in the UK and North America. In addition, she served in senior leadership roles for Hilton and W Hotels.
Antoine has extensive experience with opening and operating premier independent and global lifestyle brands across the US and around the world. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Operations at Graduate Hotels where he oversaw 30 US Graduate Hotels across the United States. Previously, Antoine was the Senior Vice President of Operations at Proper Hospitality. In this role, he led all operations for the company’s seven luxury properties across three brands and oversaw the opening of multiple properties in San Francisco, Downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Austin.
His resume also includes a long stint with Thompson Hotels where he joined the company at the early stage of development in New York City and helped it grow throughout the US and Mexico. The company merged to become Two Roads Hospitality, where he also oversaw Chip Conley’s Joie de Vivre hotels. During those 11 years, he helped grow the Thompson and Joie de Vivre brands across the United States and Mexico.
Earlier in his career, Antoine held a variety of leadership roles with global hospitality firms, including Intercontinental, Westin, and Hilton International. These roles exposed him to every facet of hotel and food and beverage operations and took him to Washington DC, Toronto, New Orleans, Miami, Bali, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and New Jersey.
Antoine had always been passionate about promoting the importance of sustainability, a subject very dear to his heart and he intends to put it front and center in every hospitality related project that he is involved with.
Fluent in French and Arabic, Antoine holds a Master of Business Administration in International Hotel Management from a joint program between Cornell University and ESSEC Business School in France.
As Regional Vice President of Operations, East Region for Pivot, Paul is responsible for driving operational excellence, optimizing financial performance, ensuring that hotels are delivering an exceptional guest experience that fosters a sense of place and providing support to team members in the field in a servant leadership manner.
Prior to joining Pivot, Paul served as area managing director and area general manager at Sage Hospitality, overseeing The Blackstone in Chicago, Ill., The Darcy in Washington, D.C., The Alexandrian / Morrison House in Alexandria, Va., Renaissance Hotel in Pittsburgh Penn., and the Hutton Hotel and Union Station in Nashville, Tenn. During his tenure, he built an outstanding culture of teamwork and impeccable treatment of one another, garnering him the Leader of the Year award, Eagle Award (Sage’s highest honor for excellence and cultivating the Sage culture) and Mentor of the Year. Previously, Paul was general manager at Highgate Hotels and Interstate Hotels & Resorts in Pittsburg, where he regularly received superior customer service satisfaction scores and earned a number of additional awards acknowledging strong performance on a balanced scorecard. Spending nearly two decades with Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Paul held numerous leadership positions and worked his way up through all aspects of hotel operations, from front desk to catering. He possesses unique interpersonal skills that enable successful, dynamic partnerships with owners, corporate team members and field operators.
Paul is deeply committed to community service and helping others in need. It is a personal passion and belief of his that we should always give back to the communities in which we work.
Paul holds a B.S. in Accounting and Business Management from Indiana University.
Elizabeth joined Davidson Hospitality Group in February 2021 and serves as the Senior Director of Marketing overseeing Pivot, Davidson’s lifestyle operating vertical. In her role, she loves working with the properties to help develop unique programming, promotions, and partnerships to position the hotels and restaurants as destinations for both local and out-of-town guests.
Prior to joining Davidson, Elizabeth was the Director of Marketing at International Bay Clubs, where she worked closely with ownership to oversee marketing efforts for their luxury resort and private membership clubs. During her tenure, she successfully managed the marketing transition from Pacific Hospitality Group to a fully independent luxury property, receiving marketing campaign recognition from Visit California’s Poppy Awards.
Elizabeth grew up in the DC area before heading to Boston, where she started her career in hospitality at the iconic Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA. She has previously served as Director of Marketing at Cape Cod’s historic Ocean Edge Resort, and as Senior Marketing Manager at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo.
As Regional Director of Operations, Owen acts as a property performance mentor and liaison and provides direct and timely feedback and guidance to GMs on the success of their operations.
At PIVOT, we approach our business with an owner’s mentality and financial cunning while embodying hospitality and deep reverence for our craft.
During his 25+ years of business experience, Owen has worked for brands such as Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotels Group, Ian Schrager Company, Jean-Georges Management, and MGM Resorts, in addition to his entrepreneurial foundations in multi-unit operations as a franchisee for National Brands such as Burger King, Snap Kitchen, and Q-Doba Mexican Grill. This broad background allows Owen the unique perspective of both the luxury/ lifestyle brand experience while also thinking like an owner.
Through my experience, it’s proven that people give loyalty and discretionary effort to those who foster growth, show appreciation, share a compelling vision, and are trustworthy – OD.
Trista Ma joined Davidson Hospitality Group in May 2022 as a Corporate Marketing Manager, supporting a portfolio of hotels and restaurants across Davidson. She currently serves as the Senior Manager, Integrated Marketing for Davidson’s Pivot lifestyle operating vertical. In this role, she helps to execute marketing plans, leverage programming and activation opportunities, and drive growth across Davidson’s portfolio of lifestyle properties. Trista holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.