Photo courtesy of Pinnacle Advisory Group
A Boston-based firm that advises hotel owners on financial strategy announced its first change of leadership since its founding in 1991.
Sebastian Colella will take over as Pinnacle Advisory Group’s managing principal Jan. 1, following a recent stint working for a hotel development company. Rachel Roginsky will transition to founder and senior advisor.
“We started talking about the future of Pinnacle and the idea came pretty organically,” Colella said.
His homecoming at Pinnacle takes place during a precarious moment in the hotel industry. By one recent measure, Boston is the world’s priciest hotel market.
But hotels’ operating performance is flattening, a reflection of macroeconomic conditions including a decrease in international travel. Revenues per available room, a key measure of hotels’ finances, is up just 0.2 percent this year both nationally and in Greater Boston, Colella said.
“There are uncertainties around trade policies and international travel contributing to the softness we’re seeing,” Colella said. “Once that begins to be resolved, the national economy will pick up along with Boston, but right now Boston is as sluggish as the others.”
Local hotel development activity is increasing, following a lull during and after the pandemic. Allston’s Atlas Hotel on the Harvard Enterprise Research Campus is scheduled to open in 2026. City Realty Group is seeking approval for a 96-room hotel at 339 Cambridge St. in Allston.
And a Los Angeles developer submitted plans this month for a 438-room hotel near the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
“There have definitely been ebbs and flows with the cycle of hotel investment, and a lot of it is related to hotel development,” Colella said.
Pinnacle also provides asset management advisory services on existing hotels, acting as a go-between for owners and operators on ways to unlock value such as repositioning projects or changes of brands.
From 2022 to 2025, Colella worked as director of acquisitions for Wild Air Ventures, a hotel developer that’s in predevelopment for a hotel in Plymouth, Vermont. He previously was a vice president at Pinnacle for 11 years.
