▪ CHANGING FACES
Angela White has joined the group sales team of Marriott Resorts Hawaii. She will be responsible for sales in the Southwest and will work out of her home in Austin, Texas. White was most recently director of Marriott's national accounts for the Southwest market.
At Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa and Marina in Cambridge, Md., Amy Fuss Rossi, CMP, has been named senior sales manager. Fuss Rossi previously worked as regional sales manager for Seminar Source and as a global account director for Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
Stewart F. Davis has been named director of sales and marketing at The Seelbach in Louisville, Ky. Davis was most recently director of sales and marketing at the Hilton St. Petersburg (Fla.).
Anne Phillips has been appointed director of Mid-Atlantic sales at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee-St. Cloud, opening in February. The hotel is five minutes from Walt Disney World Resort, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Phillips was formerly national sales manager at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resorts.
Janet Ziegler has been promoted to associate director of regional sales for Sonesta Hotels, Resorts & Nile Cruises. She will be based in the Mid-Atlantic regional sales office in Washington, D.C., and will handle group sales business for all Sonesta properties in the Mid-Atlantic territory. www.sonesta.com
Matt Lindley has been promoted to vice president of golf operations at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Destin, Fla.
John Buschman was named director of meeting and incentive sales for the Posadas Hotel Group, which owns and operates more than 60 hotels in Latin America. Buschman previously worked for Sheraton Hotels in Mexico, Brazil and the Caribbean.
William Renken has joined Adam's Mark Hotels and Resorts as national sales manager. He is based in the company's Chicago national sales office. Renken will be responsible for clients from the Midwest and Northwest, representing all Adam's Mark properties. He joins Adam's Mark from Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, Ill., where he was director of sales and marketing. www.adamsmark.com
Jim Tierney has been named director of sales and marketing at World Golf Village Renaissance Resort in St. Augustine, Fla. Before joining the World Golf Village, Tierney was managing director of sales and marketing for Hershey Resorts and Entertainment in Hershey, Pa.
Ronnachai Ngamkham has been promoted to director of sales at Amari Watergate Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. www.amari.com
At Boca Raton Resort & Club, Jim Ballard has been appointed national sales manager, responsible for the Southeast corporate market. Previously, Ballard spent six years with Hilton Hotels, most recently with Fontainebleau Hilton Resort in Miami as Southeast sales manager. www.hilton.com
Denise Harmon has been appointed director of sales at The Mayfair House Hotel in Coconut Grove, Fla. Harmon was most recently director of sales at the Alexander All Suite Luxury Hotel in Miami Beach. Also at The Mayfair House, Jon Wubbena has been named area managing director. An 18-year veteran of the hospitality industry, Wubbena most recently served as general manager at the Holiday Inn Select in Niagara Falls, N.Y. www.mayfairhousehotel.com
At Hawk's Cay Resort in the Florida Keys, Gary Hoover has been named national sales manager of corporate, insurance, and sports accounts. For the past 15 years, he has worked in sales at the Radisson Suite Beach Resort on Marco Island (Florida) and at Renaissance Wailea Resort, Maui, Hawaii. Also at Hawk's Cay, Pat Reilly has been appointed sales manager, responsible for Midwest group business. She returns to Hawk's Cay after a stint with Lago Mar Resort and Club of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Reilly also serves as a board member of the South Florida chapter of Meeting Professionals International. www.hawkscay.com
At Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine, Texas, Susan Beyers has been appointed director of sales and marketing. Beyers had previously been with Wyndham International. dfwlakes.hilton.com
Tyler McDonald has been named director of sales and marketing at the Hilton Austin, in Austin, Texas. The hotel is scheduled to open in early 2004. McDonald has been in sales and marketing in the hospitality industry for 17 years, having worked for Starwood, Meristar, and Hilton. www.hilton.com
Janice O'Neill-Cox has been appointed director of sales and marketing at Hilton Americas-Houston, scheduled to open in late 2003 adjacent to George R. Brown Convention Center. O'Neill-Cox was most recently area director of sales and marketing for the Westin Galleria & Westin Oaks hotels in Houston.
At Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., Jessica Giraldo-Phillips is the new senior sales manager, responsible for corporate accounts out of the Southeastern United States. She was most recently associate director of sales of Hyatt Regency St. Lucia in the Caribbean. www.hyatt.com
Rick Moad has joined the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort in Honolulu as director of group sales. Moad was formerly senior sales manager, Hawaii area sales for Marriott International. Moad will be responsible for the corporate market.
At Philadelphia-based McGettigan Partners, Timothy Meell has been appointed vice president of sales for the Eastern region. Meell previously served as director of strategic relationships at VerticalNet, a business-to-business online service based in Horsham, Pa. McGettigan specializes in serving companies in the pharmaceutical, financial, and technology industries, managing event programs. www.mcgettigan.com
John Parke, former vice president of national accounts for Marriott International, has launched Leadership Synergies, which he bills as a “sales performance improvement company.” Parke has named fellow Marriott veteran Todd Piety executive vice president. The company has offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C. www.leadershipsynergies.com
▪ GOING PLACES
A $281 million Convention Center and Arena is on the horizon for Omaha, Neb. The new 336,200-square foot convention center is scheduled to open in August 2003. The main exhibition hall will offer 195,000 square feet of continuous flat floor area. A horseshoe-shaped arena will accommodate up to 17,000 people, and the 30,500-square-foot grand ballroom will seat 2,183 banquet-style. The center will also offer more than a dozen meeting rooms that will total 32,700 square feet of space. A large pre-function area, as well as a 9,000-square-foot open air terrace, will be available. www.visitomaha.com
This month the Snake River Lodge & Spa, Jackson Hole, Wy., will open its renovated meeting center. The center's 3,250 square feet of space accommodate 10 to 200 people. The largest of the resort's four meeting rooms is 2,300 square feet and can be divided into two areas. The property offers 88 renovated luxury lodge rooms and 40 luxury suites, a 17,000 square foot spa and health club facility, full-service catering facilities, and a year-round indoor/outdoor pool. www.snakeriverlodge.com
The Sheraton Yankee Clipper and Sheraton Yankee Trader Beach Hotels, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently completed a $7 million renovation that includes a refurbishment of their combined 960 guest rooms. The hotels also offer new meeting rooms and boardrooms. The Yankee Trader conference center's remodeled 10,000 square feet of meeting space complements the center's four new executive meeting suites. The Yankee Trader can accommodate meetings of up to 400 people. The Yankee Clipper's remodeled and expanded meeting space brings the property's total to 8,898 square feet. Many meeting rooms at both properties offer ocean views, and each hotel has added a staffed business center.
The 346-room Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort has completed a multimillion-dollar meeting room makeover. The Southern California resort, with 55,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, renovated its Pacific Learning Centre to include tiered amphitheater seating and a computer-controlled multimedia presentation system. The system offers a panel with touch controls for videoconferencing, teleconferencing, presentation audio and visual, and lighting. Each of the center's 68 workstations has been wired with phone capability and high-speed Internet access. www.marriotthotels.com
Marco Island Marriott Resort and Golf Club, Marco Island, Fla., announced a $43 million renovation project slated to add a 24,000-square-foot health spa with 24 treatment rooms. A 10,000-square-foot ballroom will bring total meeting square footage to 60,000, and a beachside terrace will be added off the new ballroom. The resort's two restaurants will see a complete redesign, the 18-hole golf course a $3.5 million enhancement, and all 735 guest rooms will receive a refurbishment. The project is scheduled for spring 2003 completion.
The South Snohomish County Public Facilities District has announced plans for a 35,000-square-foot convention center in Lynwood, Wash. The facility will be able to host multiday meetings for groups of up to 300 people, single-event banquets for up to 850, and have auditorium seating for up to 950. It will be the largest conference center north of Seattle. The center is expected to open in fall 2003.
Mandarin Oriental International Ltd. recently announced plans for a new luxury hotel, to open in Tokyo in late 2006. The 171-room Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo, will occupy the top 10 floors of the new 41-story.
▪ BEYOND BORDERS
Muromachi Mitsui Shinkan building. In other Mandarin Oriental news, the Mandarin Oriental, New York, will open in 2003. The $200 million property will feature 250 guest rooms, a full-service spa and health club, and a 5,500-square-foot ballroom with views of Central Park. www.mandarinoriental.com
