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People & Places Presented
by Association News (September 2015)
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Los
Angeles, CA – September 2015 / Newsmaker Alert / Each monthly issue of
Association
News contains information from state and regional associations,
convention bureaus, hotels and hotel chains and other meeting facilities.
CVBs/DMOs
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Johanne
Bélanger has been named president and CEO of Tourism Toronto.
For the past 10 years, Bélanger served as president of Freeman Audio
Visual Canada. She also served as chair of Tourism Toronto’s board of directors
from 2012 to 2014 and has been a member of the board since 2009.
Laurie
Paolicelli has been named director of the newly created community relations
and tourism department for Orange County, North Carolina. The new department
merges the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau and Orange County
Public Affairs. Paolicelli previously served as executive director of the
Orange County Visitors Bureau.
Visit
KC in Kansas City, Missouri, has appointed Cori Day as vice-president
of sales and services, Traci Preus as senior vice-president of marketing
and communications and Ashley Jones as vice-president of partnerships
and events. Day previously served as tourism director of the Independence
(Missouri) Tourism Department. Preus most recently worked as vice-president
of marketing and advertising for the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
And Jones was previously executive director of the Olathe (Kansas) Convention
& Visitors Bureau.
Justin
Page has been named director of sales at the Atlanta Convention &
Visitors Bureau, where he will manage the in-house and small-meeting sales
teams. Prior to working at the Atlanta CVB, Page served as senior sales
manager for the Hyatt Regency/Atlanta.
Zack
Davis has been promoted to director of marketing at the Louisville
(Kentucky) Convention & Visitors Bureau. Davis previously served as
convention sales manager, a position he had held since starting at the
bureau in 2008.
Abby
Spatz has been appointed chief marketing officer of NYC & Company.
Spatz previously served as the head of integrated marketing and communications
at Bliss, the spa and beauty brand.
The
Walnut Creek (California) Convention & Visitors Bureau has named Scott
Slocum regional director of sales and marketing. Slocum has held similar
positions at the Orchard Hotels of San Francisco and the Hotel Shattuck
Plaza in Berkeley, California.
Brendon
Wagner has been appointed director of event management at the St. Louis
Convention & Visitors Commission. Wagner previously worked as director
of operations for VenuWorks in Iowa and North Carolina.
Amy
Schmidt has been named destination sales manager for Visit Wichita
(Kansas), where she will manage trade associations. She previously was
convention sales and catering manager at the DoubleTree by Hilton/Wichita
Airport.
Hospitality
& Suppliers
Mark
Becker has been appointed area vice-president and general manager of
the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. Becker has been with Hyatt
for 25 years and most recently served as general manager of the Hyatt Regency/Minneapolis.
Tracy
Marks has been appointed general manager of the Washington Hilton in
Washington, D.C., which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Marks most
recently was general manager of the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower
in Portland, Oregon.
Jason
Kern has been named general manager of the Shores Resort & Spa
in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, where he most recently served as director
of sales. Prior to that, Kern served as director of sales and marketing
at the Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, Florida.
Eron
Hodges has been appointed general manager of the Andaz/Napa in Napa,
California. Hodges most recently served as director of rooms for the Hyatt
Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa in Huntington Beach, California.
Julian
Miller has been named general manager of the Eventi Hotel in New York
City, where he most recently served as hotel manager. Prior to working
at Eventi, Miller was hotel manager of two Kimpton properties in the Boston
area: Hotel Marlowe and Nine Zero.
The
One Ocean Resort & Spa in Atlantic Beach, Florida, has named Marc
Bauer as general manager and promoted Jeanne Bothwell to director
of sales and marketing. Bauer most recently served as complex general manager
for Benchmark Resorts & Hotels. Bothwell previously served as the resort’s
associate director of sales.
Brian
Honan has been named director of sales and marketing at the Trump/Soho–New
York. Honan most recently served as director of marketing at the New York
Palace Hotel.
Bob
Frear has been named director of sales and marketing at Pendry/San
Diego, the first of a new Montage Hotels & Resorts brand scheduled
to open in 2016. Frear most recently served as director of brand sales
for Montage Hotels & Resorts.
Christie
Evans has been appointed director of sales and marketing at the Embassy
Suites Mandalay Beach Hotel & Resort in Oxnard, California. Evans began
working at the hotel in 2007, serving as front office manager.
April
Storms has been promoted to director of sales at the Andaz/Fifth Avenue
in New York City. She previously worked for several other New York City
properties, including the Andaz/Wall Street and the Grand Hyatt/New York.
Nick
Anderson has been promoted to associate director of sales at the Walt
Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida. Anderson started
working at the property in 2014 as the group sales account director. Additionally,
Dan
Determan has been named the resort’s group sales account director.
He was formerly a senior sales executive at the Orlando World Center Marriott.
Jamie
May has been named property sales manager of the Caesars Entertainment
Corporation and will serve as the on-property sales manager for Harrah’s
Resort Southern California in Valley Center, California. May was previously
an area sales executive with Marriott International.
Construction
& Expansion
The
Hilton
Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino has opened in Palm Beach, Aruba,
with 355 guest rooms offering views of the gardens, pools or sea. For meetings
and events, the property has nearly 40,000 square feet of space.
The
50-room Hotel Vandivort has opened in Springfield, Missouri. The
hotel offers two meeting rooms and the Vandivort Ballroom, which can accommodate
up to 200 guests.
The
Hotel
RL/Baltimore Inner Harbor, the first of a new Red Lion Hotel brand,
recently opened within the historic Keyser Building. Features include 130
guest rooms and 2,400 square feet of meeting space for up to 175 attendees.
The
Garland in North Hollywood, California, has completed a $20 million,
multiphase renovation, which included a new dining area, revamped guest
rooms and an updated lobby and lobby bar. The hotel features 257 guest
rooms and more than 16,000 square feet of event space, including a new
4,000-square-foot outdoor venue, Beverly Park.
The
Renaissance
Indian Wells Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, California, has completed
an extensive renovation of its 100,000 square feet of meeting space. The
property features 560 rooms.
The
Grand
Traverse Resort & Spa in Acme, Michigan, has completed a $7 million
renovation of the guest rooms in its 17-story glass tower. The property
offers nearly 600 guest rooms and 86,500 square feet of meeting space.
The
Abbey
Resort in Fontana, Wisconsin, has completed the final phase of a multimillion-dollar
renovation project, which included updates to its meeting facilities, guest-room
lounge areas, the Avani Spa, two restaurants and the lobby. The resort
offers 334 guest rooms and 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
The
Semiahmoo
Resort, Golf & Spa in Blaine, Washington, has completed a multimillion-dollar
renovation, which included updates to its guest rooms, lobby and Packers
Oyster Bar and the opening of the new Pierside Kitchen. The hotel features
212 guest rooms and more than 35,000 square feet of meeting space.
The
Hyatt/Fisherman’s
Wharf–San Francisco has completed a $10 million renovation, which included
a redesign of its 316 guest rooms, two dining outlets and public spaces.
The hotel offers more than 19,000 square feet of event space.
The
1,622-room Hilton/New Orleans Riverside recently opened Public Belt,
a cocktail lounge that can accommodate up to 61. The hotel offers more
than 130,000 square feet of event space.
The
MGM/National
Harbor, expected to open in the second half of 2016 in National Harbor,
Maryland, recently unveiled the design of its 308 guest rooms. Other plans
include a casino with more than 125,000 square feet of space, some 18,000
square feet of retail space and 27,00 square feet of meeting space.
And
Finally...
Breakfast
is often referred to as the most important meal of the day, and the InterContinental
Hotels Group is taking the morning ritual very seriously. The company
appointed actor and comedian Rob Riggle as the Holiday Inn Express
brand’s first creative director and to serve as the “breakfast excellence
honcho,” rolling out several projects and programs over the fall.
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What’s
Ahead at Convention Centers for Meeting and Event Planners?
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Download “Convention
Trends 2015” (PDF
File)
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