NEW YORK (January 2003) � Drawing on 20 years of success handling marketing, sales and yield management for a variety of highly visible properties in the U.S., Brenda G. Fields has launched Fields & Company to assist independent hotel owners and operators achieve target revenue results despite market current market conditions.

The Kitano Hotel, Park Avenue at 38th Street in New York, recently engaged Fields to develop a marketing and operations plan to help turn-around declining sales resulting from increased competition from nearby chain-affiliated properties. 

�The situation currently facing The Kitano is, unfortunately, not uncommon among independently owned hotels and resorts today,� said Fumio Kanto, general manager.  �Brenda Fields� creative approach and highly valuable resources have helped us realize increased occupancy for 2003.�  The Kitano Hotel recently received AAA�s Four Diamond designation.

Among the initiatives for The Kitano, Fields focused on restructuring the sales department and effectively increasing the upscale property�s distribution channels to reach new markets.   �Our mission,� she commented, �is to help protect properties against changing market conditions by creating a comprehensive strategic plan with quantifiable, cost-effective solutions that incorporate marketing, sales and yield management.�

According to Fields, most independent properties� sales, marketing and yield management programs are based on the high demand experienced for the last seven years by the industry, which are now ineffective.  With demand dramatically decreased, independents need to rethink and restructure these programs to compete and succeed in today�s highly volatile environment. 

The company also brings extensive experience in pre-openings and repositioning and was responsible for the successful opening and stabilization of the Paramount Hotel in New York, one of Ian Schrager�s first �boutique� hotels.  The strategies and sales and marketing structure developed for that high profile property have since been used as a prototype for new acquisitions. 

Fields & Company has provided marketing consultation to a variety of independent hotels and resorts, ranging from Apple Core Hotels, a group of privately owned and operated hotels in New York including flags such as Red Roof Inn, Best Western, Quality Inn and Comfort Inn to Woodlands Inn and Resort, a AAA Five Diamond property in Charleston, South Carolina.

A former vice president of marketing for the Hotel Macklowe (now the Broadway Millennium), a deluxe hotel and conference center in Manhattan, Fields has helmed the marketing efforts for several premier properties, ensuring the Owner�s preferred return by creating and implementing successful and cost-effective comprehensive plans.