|
People & Places Presented by Association News (March 2014)
|

CVBs/DMOs

Visit St. Paul (Minnesota) and the RiverCentre Authority have appointed Terry Mattson president and CEO. Mattson formerly worked as president of Visit Duluth (Minnesota), a position that he held for 28 years.
|
The Emerald Coast (Florida) Convention & Visitors Bureau has appointed Ed Schroeder as executive director. Prior to his new appointment, Schroeder served as general manager of the Marcus Pointe Golf Course in Pensacola, Florida.

Darren Green has been named senior vice-president of sales for the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board. Most recently, Green worked for Starwood Hotels & Resorts as director of sales for its New York Metro Marketing Team.

Meet Puerto Rico has appointed Joyce Martínez vice-president of business development and sales. Prior to her latest appointment, Martínez served as the organization’s director of research and business development.

Visit Fort Collins (Colorado) has named Erik Barstow director of sales. Most recently, Barstow served as a sales manager at the Boulder (Colorado) Convention & Visitors Bureau. He also previously worked in sales management positions for Starwood Hotels & Resorts and for the Sheraton/ Overland Park in Kansas.

Hospitality & Suppliers

Elisa Putman has been named senior vice-president and chief operations officer of the Music City Center in Nashville. Most recently, Putman served as vice-president of operations for the Nashville Convention Center.

Matthew Chilton has been appointed general manager of the Delano/Las Vegas, expected to open this fall within the Mandalay Bay Resort Complex. Most recently, Chilton served as Mandalay’s vice-president of hotel operations.

Shawn Jervis has been named general manager of the Embassy Row Hotel in Washington, D.C. His appointment comes in time to lead the property through a $16 million renovation, which is scheduled to take a full year to complete. Most recently, Jervis served as general manager of the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Highgate Hotels has named John Trovato managing director of the Lexington/ New York City. Most recently, Trovato was general manager of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

New Castle Hotels & Resorts has appointed Nora Gomez general manager of the Westport Inn in Westport, Connecticut. Previously, she served as assistant general manager of the Hampton Inn in Shelton, Connecticut.

Hotel Teatro in Denver has named Afsi Bird general manager. Bird previously served as general manager for two other properties: the Oxford Hotel, also in Denver, and Hotel Terra in Teton Village, Wyoming.

The Lake Arrowhead Resort & Spa in Lake Arrowhead, California, has appointed Norm Santos general manager. Most recently, Santos worked as general manager of the Belamar Hotel in Manhattan Beach, California. He was also the director of operations for the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in Southern California.

Stacey Edinger has been named director of sales and marketing at the Hyatt Regency/San Francisco. Edinger has worked for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts for three years, most recently as director of sales and marketing for the Hyatt Regency/San Francisco Airport in Burlingame, California.

The Knickerbocker Hotel, which is expected to open this summer in New York City’s Times Square, has named Gemma Keating as its director of sales and marketing. Most recently, Keating was director of sales and marketing for the Chatwal New York Hotel. She has also worked as director of international sales for the Waldorf Astoria/New York.

Alvin Wong has been appointed director of sales and marketing for two Hawaiian properties: the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa on Maui and the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa on Hawaii Island. Prior to joining Marriott International, Wong worked as the director of sales and marketing for the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel in Honolulu.

William McBroom has been named director of sales and marketing at the Renaissance World Golf Village Resort & Convention Center in St. Augustine, Florida. Previously, McBroom was director of sales at the Renaissance Charlotte Suites Hotel in North Carolina.

Jason Kycek has been appointed director of sales and marketing for the Capella/Marigot Bay (formerly the Discovery at Marigot Bay) on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Prior to his new role, Kycek was vice-president of sales and marketing for the Villa Group, a Mexican hotel and resort company.

The Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Williamsburg, Michigan, has named Ryan Buck director of sales. Most recently, Buck served as the complex director of group sales for the W Hotels of Chicago.

La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California, has appointed Josh Herman marketing director. Herman previously served as regional director of marketing for KSL Resorts in La Quinta.

L’Auberge Del Mar in Del Mar, California, has appointed Christina Benson director of group sales and Amanda Fietz national sales manager. Most recently, Benson was senior sales manager of the Sheraton/Portland Airport in Portland, Oregon. Fietz joined the L’Auberge Del Mar sales team from the Westgate Hotel in San Diego, where she worked as national sales manager.

The Hilton Campus San Diego – which consists of a Hilton Garden Inn and a Homewood Suites by Hilton in the city’s northern Del Mar area – has named Kimmy Vandervelde sales manager and Terri Ann Miller catering sales manager. Previously, Vandervelde worked as a representative of the San Diego Business Travel Association, and Miller assisted the catering and conference services department of the Lodge at Torrey Pines, also in San Diego.

Construction & Expansion

The Loews Regency/New York in Midtown Manhattan has completed a $100 million property-wide renovation. The hotel’s 379 guest rooms and four private meeting spaces were upgraded, and the lobby now features a grand marble entrance and velvet sofas. And this month, the 10,000-square-foot Julien Farel Restore Salon & Spa is expected to open with a fitness center.

The Radisson Hotel at the University of Toledo has opened in Toledo, Ohio, on the university’s Medical Center campus. The hotel features 212 guest rooms, 14,000 square feet of event space, a fitness center, an indoor pool and a 24-hour business center.

The Bear Mountain Inn has opened in Bear Mountain, New York, overlooking the shores of Hessian Lake in the Hudson Valley. The inn features 15 guest rooms and several spaces for meetings. The inn’s ballrooms can be combined to offer 5,695 square feet of space.

The Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, has completed a multimillion-dollar renovation that included the property’s 510 guest rooms, all of which received new furnishings. The Sawgrass Marriott offers 56,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

The Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California, has completed a multimillion-dollar renovation, which included updates to the property’s two restaurants and its lobby. The 517-room resort offers 200,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space.

The 802-room Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel recently completed a $3.5 million renovation of its 50,000 square feet of meeting space. The property, which is now owned by Hazens Investment, LLC, also plans to update all guest rooms and public spaces this year.

The Radisson/Santa Maria in Santa Maria, California, has completed a $2 million renovation, which updated, among other things, its 184 guest rooms, lobby, lounge and 9,000 square feet of meeting space. The property is located adjacent to the Santa Maria Public Airport.

The Fess Parker, a DoubleTree by Hilton Resort in Santa Barbara, California, has completed a renovation of its 360 guest rooms. The resort also features a spa, dining options and 45,000 square feet of function space.

And Finally…

Loews Hotels now offers complimentary wireless Internet access in every one of its guest rooms in its 18 properties throughout North America. Keeping in line with the company’s “The Room You Need” principle, the complimentary service is designed to provide guests with a comfortable, productive experience that allows them to stay connected while traveling. The new policy went into effect earlier this year.
|

Timothy Schneider is the publisher of Association News and SportsTravel magazines, which serve group travel planners responsible for generating 106 million hotel room nights annually. Schneider Publishing also organizes Meetings Quest, America's longest-running series of trade shows for meeting planners, and the TEAMS Conference & Expo, the world’s largest gathering of sports-event organizers. TEAMS '14 will be held in Las Vegas, November 10-13, 2014. For further information on advertising or sponsorship opportunities, please call toll-free 877-577-3700 or 310-577-3700 if calling from outside the United States.

Association News, SportsTravel and TEAMS are registered trademarks and Meetings Quest is a trademark of Schneider Publishing Company, Inc.
|
Media Contact:
Timothy Schneider
310-577-3700
Schneider Publishing Company, Inc.
||