CHANGING FACES Jamie Carrow has been named director of sales and marketing of the Hyatt Newporter in Newport Beach, Calif. Carrow will be responsible for the overall management and operations of the resort's sales division. Prior to this position, she was associate director of sales at the Hyatt Regency San Diego.
Clinton D. Fischler has been appointed director of sales and marketing at the New Otani Hotel & Garden in Los Angeles. He was most recently national sales manager for the Omni Los Angeles Hotel & Centre, Los Angeles.
Mary Alana Frederick has been appointed group sales manager, Eastern U.S.A. and Canada, for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. She will be based in the regional sales office in New York City. Prior to this appointment, she held positions at the New York Palace as director of conference services and group sales manager.
Diana M. Gonda has been named director of national accounts for the Midwest for Marriott's Harbor Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Gonda will be based in Chicago and will be available to corporate and association clients. She has represented Marriott International hotels and resorts in the region for several years and has been director of sales for the Marriott at Sawgrass Resort in Ponte Vedra, Fla., and director of sales and marketing for the Jacksonville Marriott Hotel.
Michael K. Hausman has been named global sales account director, representing Regal Hotels and Richfield Hospitality Services hotels in New York and the Northeast. Hausman comes from the New York-based position as director of national sales for Marriott Renaissance Hotels International.
Shan Kanagasingham has been named national sales manager for The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, a restored property set to open as a luxury hotel in the spring. Her most recent position was director of conference services at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia, Singapore.
Cindi Kniff has been promoted to director of sales and marketing for the Westin Galleria Dallas in Dallas, Texas. She had been the director of convention services and catering at that property.
MaryGrace McCaffrey has been appointed director of sales and marketing for the Sheraton Boston Hotel. She recently served as director of group and convention sales for the same property.
Mary Neister has been promoted to the position of area director of sales and marketing for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., with responsibility for four Starwood hotels in the Greater Boston area. Based at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, she will oversee the sales and marketing efforts of that property as well as those of the Sheraton Ferncroft Resort in Danvers, the Sheraton Colonial Hotel and Golf Club in Wakefield, and the Sheraton Newton Hotel in Newton. She had formerly served as director of hotel sales at the Warner Center Marriott Woodland Hills in Calif.
Bruce Siegel has been named director of sales and marketing for The Ritz-Carlton St. Louis. He joins The Ritz-Carlton from the Radisson Plaza, the Hotel Syracuse in Syracuse, N.Y.
David Sneider has become director of sales for Tempe Mission Palms Hotel and Conference Center, Tempe, Ariz. Sneider formerly served as national account manager of the Scottsdale Conference Resort.
Craig Sundell has been appointed sales and marketing director for Westin Park Central and Sheraton Park Central Hotels in Dallas, Texas. Sundell will oversee two sales teams focused on corporate meetings and group business. He had been area director of sales and marketing for the Westin Fairfax, the Westin Grand, and the St. Regis, all Starwood properties in Washington, D. C.
Connie Williams has been named director of sales and marketing for the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica in Santa Monica, Calif. Prior to joining the Fairmont team, Williams was the executive director of resort sales for the Whistler Resort Association in British Columbia.
* GOING PLACES Announcing its third Opryland development outside of Nashville, Gaylord Entertainment Co. unveiled plans for a 2,000-room destination hotel and convention center in Prince George's County, Md. The Opryland Hotel Potomac will be the first phase of National Harbor, a 534-acre development that will feature 400,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. Phase one will open, complete with a signature Opryland atrium, in 2004. There are also plans for a 24,000-square-foot spa and fitness center and 18,000 square feet of retail space.
The Grand America opens in November in Salt Lake City with 775 rooms (including 420 suites). The luxury hotel has been chosen as Olympic headquarters by several major corporate sponsors of the 2002 Games. The 24-story hotel will offer a 24,664-square-foot Grand Ballroom and a 13,104-square-foot Junior Ballroom, plus 21 meeting rooms. Combined with its sister property, the Little America Hotel & Towers, the two offer 96,000 square feet of meeting space and 1,627 guest rooms.
The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, will open in mid-2001 with 270 rooms. Overlooking Sarasota Bay and the downtown waterfront, the hotel will offer a beach club, 20,000-square-foot spa, and nearby golf. Plans call for more than 18,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 12,000-square-foot ballroom.
The Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca sees its first major hotel open this month. The 203-room TriBeCa Grand, sibling of the SoHo Grand, offers 24-hour concierge service and in-room broadband Internet connections, demonstrating attention to old-fashioned service and modern technology. A 98-seat auditorium/ screening room and two other conference rooms serve corporate meetings and events. Meeting space can accommodate up to 100 for a banquet and 200 for receptions.
Renaissance Hotels recently announced the conversion of a 101-room facility in Jackson Hole, Wyo., to the Renaissance Resort & Spa at Jackson Hole. The refurbished resort has a conference center with 3,500 square feet of meeting space accommodating up to 200 guests. The property will be expanded this year, with a new spa pool complex set for completion in May. One-, two-, and three-bedroom condos will open by December.
* BEYOND BORDERS The Westin Sydney opened last September, exactly one year before the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. The 417-room hotel is divided between the historic former General Post Office building, with 51 Heritage Rooms and one Long Suite, and 366 rooms, including 18 suites in the modern, 31-story tower designed to complement the Heritage building. The Grand Ballroom accommodates 1,000 guests for a banquet. The Heritage Ballroom holds 300 banquet guests.
In March, the new MeliB Panama Canal Hotel, Casino and Conference Center will open in Colon. Last December, the Panama Canal was returned to the country of Panama after almost 100 years of U.S. control. Located at the Caribbean mouth of the canal and its famous duty-free trading station, the hotel will offer a casino, 24-hour room service, swimming pool, videoconferencing center, Royal Service executive floors, and nine meeting rooms for up to 600 people.
Set in the English countryside, Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, has added new dining and conference facilities plus seven suites. The 32-room country house hotel now offers a private room, opening onto a sculpture garden, for dinners and meetings of up to 55 guests.
The 400-room Celtic Manor Hotel Golf & Country Club, in Newport, Wales, is a 90-minute drive from London's Heathrow Airport. The new development is Britain's largest residential conference and leisure resort. The Celtic-themed manor has a convention center with 39 purpose-built conference suites (accommodating up to 1,500 delegates), replete with ISDN lines and separate reception area. A plush health spa has two swimming pools and 16 treatment rooms, and the three championship golf courses here are by Trent Jones Ventures.
