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Association News
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People & Places Presented by Association News (June 2015)
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Los Angeles, CA – June 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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Association News (June 2015)John Oros has been named president of the Greater Birmingham (Alabama) Convention & Visitors Bureau. Oros will succeed Jim Smither, who has announced his retirement. Oros currently is executive vice-president of the Memphis (Tennessee) Convention & Visitors Bureau and will begin his new role on August 1.

Mike Bowman has been appointed president of the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, effective June 15. He currently serves as the organization’s board chair and as president and CEO of the Valley Forge Casino Resort.

Tom Loftus has been appointed vice-president of communications at VisitPittsburgh. Loftus previously served as director of marketing and media relations for the Allegheny County Bar Association, also located in Pennsylvania.

Harriet Porter has been promoted to vice-president of convention sales at the Anaheim/Orange County (California) Visitor & Convention Bureau. She has worked at the bureau for more than eight years, most recently serving as the organization’s director of convention sales.

Tricia Vecchio has been appointed destination sales manager for the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau. She most recently worked at the InterContinental/Los Angeles–Century City.

Hospitality & Suppliers

Nina Kressler has been named president and CEO of Shaw Centre in Ottawa, Canada. Since October 2013, Kressler was general manager of Shaw Centre’s food and facilities operation. Prior to that, she was vice-president of business development for the Toronto Congress Centre.

Doug Gehret has been appointed the area vice-president of operations for Hilton Worldwide properties in Central Florida and South Carolina. Gehret most recently served as general manager of the Hilton/Orlando in Florida, a position he held since 2008.

Jeffrey Klein has been appointed vice-president and managing director of the Turnberry Isle Resort in Miami. With nearly 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Klein most recently served as vice-president of operations for the Fontainebleau/Miami Beach.

In the British Virgin Islands, the Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina has named James Miller as managing director and Douglas Nelson as general manager. Miller previously was general manager of the Fox Harb’r Golf Resort & Spa in Wallace, Nova Scotia. Nelson previously served as general manager of the Christophe Harbour Development Company on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts.

Hans Ritten has been named general manager of the Omni/Chicago Hotel, which is currently undergoing a multimillion- dollar renovation. He previously served as general manager of the Silversmith Hotel in downtown Chicago.

The Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, scheduled to open this month, has appointed Patrick Hatton as general manager and Vicki Poplin as director of sales and marketing. Hatton most recently served as general manager of Commune Hotels & Resorts. Poplin previously served as regional director of sales and marketing for the Denihan Hospitality Group.

The Hotel Van Zandt, scheduled to open this summer in Austin, Texas, has named Joe Pagone as general manager and Jess Johnson as director of sales and marketing. Pagone previously served as general manager of the Hotel Monaco/Baltimore. With more than 20 years of experience, Johnson most recently served as director of sales at the Horseshoe Bay Resort in Horseshoe Bay, part of Texas Hill Country.

The Hyatt/Union Square–New York has appointed David McManus as general manager and Angela Pina as director of sales and marketing. McManus most recently served as the general manager of Hotel Hugo in SoHo. Pina previously served as area director of sales and marketing for a cluster of hotels under Hersha Hospitality Management.

Edd Karlan has been named director of sales and marketing at the Hilton/ West Palm Beach, a 400-room hotel currently under construction next to Florida’s Palm Beach County Convention Center. Most recently, Karlan led the sales team at the Hilton/Atlanta.

Jennifer Wasserman has been named director of sales and marketing at the Highland Dallas (formerly the Hotel Palomar). She previously served as area sales leader for Marriott, managing five hotels in the downtown Dallas market.

Josephine Fontana has been appointed senior group sales manager of the New York Palace Hotel in New York City. Fontana previously worked at the Plaza Hotel, also in New York City, where she most recently held the position of group sales manager.

The Red Lion Hotels Corporation has acquired the GuestHouse International and Settle Inn brands for more than $8 million. The transaction added 73 hotels to the Red Lion brand portfolio, which now owns 130 hotels in 30 states.

Effective June 2, the Philadelphia- based Comcast-Spectacor will re-brand three business units—Global Spectrum, Ovations Food Services and Paciolan—as well as its newest endeavor, Digital Services, and launch them together under a new brand called Spectra. The realignment is thought to better serve Comcast-Spectacor’s more than 300 clients and more than 500 facilities around the world.

Construction & Expansion

The Sheraton Mesa Hotel at Wrigleyville West has opened in Mesa, Arizona, between the Chicago Cubs’ spring training park and Riverview Park. The 180-room hotel offers more than 37,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space, including a 12,400-squarefoot ballroom, five additional breakout rooms and a business center.

The Hyatt Regency/Tysons Corner Center has opened in downtown Tysons Corner, Virginia, with connection to the city’s famous mall and just steps from the new Silver Line Metrorail stop. The 18-story hotel features 300 guest rooms and 15,500 square feet of event space, including a 7,000-square-foot ballroom.

The Hyatt Place/Boulder – Pearl Street opened in Boulder, Colorado, within a new mixed-use development called Depot Square at Boulder Junction. Features include 150 guest rooms and 4,963 square feet of event space.

The Westin/Jekyll Island recently opened in Jekyll Island, Georgia, adjacent to the Jekyll Island Convention Center. The oceanfront hotel offers 200 guest rooms and more than 5,600 square feet of event space, but for larger functions—of up to 6,450—groups can be accommodated at the convention center, which has some 78,000 square feet of space.

The AC/ Washington, D.C., at National Harbor has opened in National Harbor, Maryland with 192 guest rooms and 3,700 square feet of meeting space. It is only the third AC Hotel by Marriott to open in the United States.

In Baja, Mexico, the all-inclusive Marquis Los Cabos Resort & Spa has reopened following a $10 million renovation and redesign. The 235-room property features new guest-room amenities and a newly refinished exterior. It also offers meeting space for up to 1,000 attendees and four restaurants.

The DoubleTree by Hilton/Grand Rapids Airport (formerly a Hilton) recently opened in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after a five-month renovation. The hotel offers 226 rooms and more than 7,500 square feet of meeting space.

In San Diego, a new nightclub called the Omnia has opened in the downtown Gaslamp Quarter. In addition to its nightly music scene, it also welcomes events with more than 22,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space.

The Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, California, has completed a $15 million renovation, which included an update of its 1,030 guest rooms. The hotel offers 100,000 square feet of meeting space. The Renaissance/Chicago Downtown has completed a $27 million renovation of its lobby and all 553 guest rooms and suites. For group events, the hotel offers 34,867 square feet of space.

The Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu has completed a $21 million renovation of its 17-story Diamond Head Tower. All of the tower’s 380 guest rooms and corridors were transformed and its lobby refreshed. In total, the hotel offers 3,986 guest rooms and more than 150,000 square feet of meeting space.

The College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in East Hyattsville, Maryland, has completed a multiyear renovation, which included updates to its guest rooms, public spaces and function space. The hotel has 297 guest rooms and 40,000 square feet of event space, which includes 18 meeting rooms.

And Finally...

At the groundbreaking ceremony of the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California on April 21, members of the convention center’s customer advisory board created a time capsule, which will be buried in the new center and dug up in 2030. The capsule contained items such as trade show programs, battery chargers, room keys, golf balls and personalized messages. The venue is currently undergoing its seventh expansion, which is expected to be complete by the summer of 2017 and will add an additional 200,000 square feet of space.
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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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This current issue of Association News can be viewed in digital format online by clicking here.

About Schneider Publishing
Schneider Publishing is the parent company of Association News, America’s most-read magazine for association executives, and SportsTravel, the sports world’s event magazine. In addition to Meetings Quest, Schneider Publishing organizes the TEAMS Conference & Expo, the world’s largest gathering of sports-event organizers, which will be held November 9–12 in Las Vegas. TEAMS ’16 will be held September 26–29, 2016, in Atlantic City. The group travel markets served by Schneider Publishing generate 106 million hotel room nights annually.

For press information, please contact Ann Shepphird, or call 310-577-3700.

Association News, Meetings Quest, SportsTravel and TEAMS are registered trademarks of Schneider Publishing.

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Placement Dates: 06/30/15 – 08/30/15
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