Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts North America has named Steve Halliday
President. Halliday has held many key management positions with Pan Pacific
Hotels and Resorts since 1984, including opening the Pan Pacific Vancouver
in 1986, General Manager of the Pan Pacific Singapore, Executive Vice President
of Operations and Marketing at Pan Pacific's Corporate Office in Singapore,
and most recently, as Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts North America Senior
Vice President.
Randy Morton has been promoted to President of the Monte Carlo in Las
Vegas and will be in charge of upgrading the entire property to a much
higher level of service and quality of food and beverage. Morton has his
work cut out for him having previously been the Vice President Hotel Operations
at Bellagio since 2000 following a twenty-one-year career with Four Seasons.
Gary Seibert has been named Area Vice President and Managing Director
for Hilton in Hawaii, overseeing the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Doubletree
Alana Waikiki and Hilton Waikoloa Village starting in June. Seibert has
been serving as Area Vice President for Hilton Hotels Corporation and General
Manager of the Palmer House Hilton since 2000.
Changes at HotelsAB where Andrew Zobler, Vice President Development,
is gone; so is Chief Financial Officer Roberta Griffin. Also gone is David
Lemmond, former General Manager of the yet-to-open Miami Standard who returns
to the West Coast as Assistant General Manager at the Viceroy in Santa
Monica for the Kor Group. Laurent Fraticelli, who was the General Manager
of the Standard Hollywood prior to becoming the General Manager of the
Standard Downtown LA, will be the opening General Manager of the Standard
Miami, replacing Lemmond. As for Fraticelli�s successor at the Standard
Downtown LA, he is Karim El Raheb, who was previously the hotel�s Assistant
General Manager.
Brian Biggs has joined the CB Richard Ellis Hotels Group in Orlando
as Senior Vice President. Biggs, a CPA, was previously the principal of
his own Sunago CPSA Group, also in Orlando. He also spent ten years with
Four Seasons in Dallas, Philadelphia, New York (the Pierre) and at the
Four Seasons Nevis, where he was the Director of Finance.
At Nantucket Resorts, Bettina Landt is the General Manager of the Wauwinet.
Formerly, as co-innkeeper since 2002, she had shared the duties with her
husband Eric Landt who was recently named General Manager at the Jared
Coffin House. Prior to her current role, Landt served as co-innkeeper of
the Castle at Tarrytown in New York.
Scott Stuckey has been named General Manager of the Omni Jacksonville
Hotel. Stuckey most recently served as General Manager of the Vancouver
Marriott Pinnacle Downtown and was previously the General Manager of the
Calgary Marriott Hotel and at the Hickory Ridge Marriott Conference Hotel.
Xavier Lividini has joined Miami�s Hotel Mutiny as General Manager.
Lividini was most recently an Area Director of Sales and Marketing for
Real InterContinental Hoteles based at the InterContinental Miami Airport.
Lividini also served as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Mayfair
House in Coconut Grove and the Condado Plaza Hotel and Casino in Puerto
Rico.
Jon Kimball, a Cornell graduate, is transferring to the Westin St. Francis
as General Manager. A former Hyatt man, Kimball has been with Starwood
since 1995, starting as Director of Operations at the Westin Century Plaza.
He then became General Manager at the Westin at Los Angeles International
Airport, prior to being assigned to open the 700-room Westin Charlotte
Convention Center.
Jacques Roy has been named Regional Director of Operations at Group
Playa del Sol Mexico. Roy was previously with Starwood for three years,
most recently opening the Atlantic in Fort Lauderdale. Roy also ran the
W Honolulu following his run as opening General Manager of the Bora Bora
Nui Resort.
Roland Maldonado, who had been the Director of Operations at the Nine
Zero for over two years, has been promoted to General Manager at the Hamilton
Park Hotel in New Jersey, a property recently taken over by Destination
Hotels and Resorts. Thomas Holtmann, who had been the Director of Rooms
at Nine Zero, has been promoted to Director of Operations. Holtmann previously
worked for Ritz-Carlton in their Boston, Dubai and St. Louis properties.
Christopher Alto transfers as General Manager of the Melrose in Washington,
D.C. Alto comes to Washington, D.C. after almost four years as General
Manager of the Melrose in Dallas.
Heather Strauss joins Prime Hotels and Resorts as General Manager of
the Hilton Hasbrouk Heights. Strauss was previously in the same position
at Elk Mountain Resort in Telluride.
Mark Neubert leaves the Mina Group in San Francisco to join the Hotel
Andalucia in Santa Barbara as General Manager. The Andalucia is part of
the Edward Thomas Hospitality Corporation, the operators of Shutters on
the Beach and Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica, where Neubert once was a Director
of Food and Beverage.
Armin Schroecker, General Manager of the Hilton Toronto, has been promoted
to the position of Regional Director Canada for Hilton International. Prior
to joining the Hilton Toronto in March 2004, he was the General Manager
of London's Langham Hilton.
Mark Francis Osborne has joined Le Méridien Sunny Isles Beach
in Miami as General Manager. Osborne has worked for Le Méridien
since 1999, overseeing multiple operations throughout Europe.
Ian Wilson has been promoted to General Manager of the Fairmont Royal
York in Toronto. He replaces Francisco Gomez who has transferred to the
Fairmont San Francisco as Regional Vice President and General Manager.
Wilson was formerly the Hotel Manager and before joining the property,
Wilson served as Executive Director, Distribution Management, for Fairmont
Hotels & Resorts.
In Bermuda, Robin Gilbert is the new General Manager of the newly renovated
South Shore Hotel, replacing Andrea Jennings who has left the company.
In 2004, Gilbert was taken on as a consultant by Coco Reef�s owner John
Jefferis to assist in the transition and construction phase of the property.
Ed Burke has been appointed General Manager for the Omni Charlotte Hotel.
Burke most recently served with Interstate Hotels and Resorts as Corporate
Director of Room Operations and Brand Assurance.
Gabriel Ratner has joined the Oceana in Santa Monica as General Manager
replacing Patricia Yates who has left the company. Ratner comes from the
Sagamore in Miami where he was the Operations Manager. He previously spent
six years with Four Seasons in Las Vegas and Palm Beach.
Cliff Martine is the new General Manager of the Oceana Santa Barbara.
Martine was previously Assistant General Manager at the Torrance Hilton.
Robert Van Eerde has been appointed General Manager of the Raleigh on
Miami�s South Beach. Van Eerde hails from Ireland where he was the General
Manager at the Clarence in Dublin. He also previously ran Skibo Castle
in Scotland.
Sileshi Mengiste is the new General Manager at the Pan Pacific San Francisco
replacing Jacques Villeneuve. Mengiste was formerly the Executive Director
of Hotel Operations at Wynn Las Vegas. He also served as General Manager
at the St. Regis Houston, and at San Francisco�s Clift.
Eliezer Quinones is the new Hotel Manager at the Peabody in Memphis.
He was previously the Director of Rooms Division at the Lodge at Sea Island
and worked with Ritz-Carlton as Executive Assistant Manager, Rooms Division
at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas and at the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas.
René Peter will join Silversea Cruise Line on the Silver Shadow
as Hotel Director. Peter was previously the Hotel Manager on the World
of ResidenSea.
Andrew Mace has been appointed Hotel Director with Carnival Cruise Lines
in Miami. He was previously a Vice President with Passkey International
in Boston.
Rudy Sharp has been named Resort Manager at the Hollows at Lake Travis
in Texas. He was previously the General Manager at the Depot in Minneapolis
and also served as the General Manager and Director of Sales Marketing
of the Magnolia in Dallas. The Hollows is one of the first condo-hotel
projects of newly-formed Centex Hospitality, a subsidiary of Centex Destination
Resorts.
Deepak Mehra is the new Director of Operations at Raffles L'Ermitage
Beverly Hills. He was previously the Director of Rooms Operations at the
Hilton Checkers Los Angeles. Prior experience includes various Rooms Division
positions with InterContinental and Hyatt Hotels in the United States and
India.
Pablo Curtosi has been appointed Operations Manager at the Lennox Hotel
Ushuaia in Argentina. Curtosi was previously the Project Manager for Design
cE the new design hotel in Buenos Aires and previously served on the guest
services team at the Hilton Buenos Aires.
Olivier Maumaire, Director of Operations at the Caribe Hilton in San
Juan adds to his current responsibilities with his appointment as Regional
Director of Food and Beverage Operations for Hilton International Caribbean
Region.
Margie Fouracre has been promoted to Director of Operations at the Westin
Tabor Center. In 2000, Fouracre opened the Westin Westminster as the Director
of Rooms, where she also held the position of Operations Manager. With
Starwood since 1989, she transferred to the Westin Tabor Center in November
2002 as Director of Rooms.
Shutters on the Beach has appointed Craig Forbus Director of Rooms.
Forbus was previously an Assistant Director of Housekeeping at the Venetian
in Las Vegas.
Mickey Weill has joined ProTravel in Los Angeles in a dual role as Director
of Business Development and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Weill had been with Altour Travel for the past ten years and was formerly
a partner with Group 4. He worked at Pacifica Plaza Travel and La Cienega
Travel. Weill continues to serves on many industry advisory boards, including
Four Seasons, Rosewood, Abercrombie & Kent, Travcoa, and Preferred
Hotels and Resorts.
Contrary to what we announced mistakenly in our previous newsletter,
Steve Sampson has joined Preferred Hotels & Resorts as Vice President
of Group Sales. Sampson most recently was the Director of Sales & Marketing
at the Arizona Biltmore. Prior to that, he was the Director of Sales and
Marketing at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Biltmore has appointed Robert Filipelli as its
Director of Sales and Marketing. Filipelli previously served as Director
of Sales and Marketing for the Wyndham El Conquistador Resort & Golden
Door Spa and Las Casitas Village & Golden Door Spa in Puerto Rico since
2000. Previous positions include Director of Sales, Fontainebleau Hilton
Resort & Towers, Miami; and Director of Sales, the Pointe Hilton Resort
in Phoenix.
J. Thomas Baker has been named Vice President of Marketing for Melrose
Hotels to be based in Dallas. Baker takes this position after four years
as General Manager at the Westin Great Southern Hotel and two years as
Corporate Director of Marketing for Melrose Hotels.
Barbara Piagari joins Le Méridien Sunny Isles Beach Hotel in
Miami as Director of Sales and Marketing. Piagari was previously at the
new Fontainebleau Tower at the former Fontainebleau Hilton Resort in Miami
Beach, where she served as Pre-Opening Director of Sales. She has also
served at the Estancia La Jolla and the Warwick in Houston.
Philippe Parodi has been named Director of Sales and Marketing for both
the Delano and Shore Club in Miami. Parodi comes from the Hôtel Martinez
in Cannes and was previously Director of Sales at the Hôtel de Crillon.
Christina Romero-Peri has returned to Rosewood�s Las Ventanas al Paraiso
as Director of Sales and Marketing. She had left that same position nearly
two years ago to join the One&Only Palmilla as Vice President of Sales
and Marketing, following former Las Ventanas Managing Director Ed Steiner.
Las Ventanas is now owned by Ty Warner.
Tracy Kaltman-Ahmed has joined the Hilton McLean as Director of Sales
and Marketing. Kaltman-Ahmed was previously at the St. Regis Washington
DC and Loews L�Enfant Plaza.
Juergen Stutz has been appointed Senior Director of Sales, Caribbean,
for Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts. He previously was a Managing Director
of Sol Meliá in Germany. Prior to joining Sol Meliá, Stütz
was the Director of Sales for Lindner Hotels & Resorts and Vice President
of Sales & Marketing for LTI-International Hotels in Germany.
Bill Kairis joins the Palms Las Vegas as Director of Sales. Kairis was
previously the National Sales Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas.
He is also a veteran of Mandalay Bay and Caesar�s Palace, and served as
Director of Sales and Marketing at L�Auberge Del Mar.
Robin Kennovin has been promoted to Assistant Director of Sales of the
Hotel Plaza-Athénée New York. She was a Sales Manager at
the hotel for the past four years and previously was a Group Sales Manager
for Leading Hotels of the World.
Lucinda Gaudio has been named Sales Manager at the Shores Resort &
Spa in Daytona Beach. Gaudio previously had a twenty-year career in Sales
and Marketing in New York. Most recently the Director of Sales and Marketing
at the Hotel Kitano, she was previously the Director of Sales at the InterContinental
New York Central Park South until it closed to become a residential building.
P. Alice Fay is the new Director of Catering for the Westin St. Louis.
Previously Fay held the position of Catering Manager for the Chase Park
Plaza, St. Louis and prior to that spent over three years as Wedding Manager
at the Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis.
Franco Lanese has been named Director of Catering at the Fairmont Miramar
in Santa Monica. He was previously at the Hilton San Francisco as Senior
Catering Manager and also worked as Director of Sales and Catering at the
Queen Mary in Long Beach.
Camille Cress joins the Peninsula Beverly Hills as Director of Catering.
Cress previously worked in the same capacity at the Viceroy in Santa Monica
and at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey.
La Costa Resort and Spa has a new Director of Catering with the appointment
of Robert Schwab. Schwab was most recently Director of Catering and Conference
Services at the Regent Beverly Wilshire for five years. Previous to that,
he was the Director of Catering at Shutters on the Beach.
Karen Meno is the new Director of Human Resources for Le Méridien
Sunny Isles Beach in Miami. She comes from the Mandarin-Oriental Miami
and was also part of the opening team of the Mandarin-Oriental New York.
Barbara Bale has been named Director of Human Resources at the Loews
Coronado. She had been transferred to the Loews Santa Monica two years
ago from the same Loews Coronado.
Joie de Vivre Hospitality has appointed David Silver Corporate Director
of Employee Development. Silver is a former Director of Human Resources
at Hawaii�s Turtle Bay Resort, and served as Director of Human Resources
and Training at Raffles L�Ermitage in Beverly Hills.
Marina De Jesus has been named Director of Human Resources at Cheyenne
Mountain Resort. Previously, De Jesus was the Corporate Director of Human
Resources for the Hotel Valencia Corporation, based in San Antonio.
Bill Bracken has been promoted at the Peninsula Beverly Hills to Executive
Director of Food and Beverage. Sean Hardy, Executive Sous Chef, is promoted
to Executive Chef to replace Bracken. A CIA graduate, Hardy has been with
the hotel since 1994 in various chef positions, and originally joined Peninsula
from the Four Seasons Newport Beach.
Doug Zeif has been named Vice President, Food and Beverage for the Boca
Hospitality Collection, a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group, which includes
the landmark Boca Raton Resort and Club. Zeif was previously the Managing
Partner of La Olas Restaurants in Ft. Lauderdale. He is also a former Vice
President of the Cheesecake Factory.
Brian Marcus has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at the
Renaissance Las Vegas. Marcus was previously a General Manager at Innovative
Dining, the operators of Sushi Roku, Boa and Katana in Los Angeles and
Las Vegas. Marcus also served as the General Manager of Fujimamas Restaurant,
Bar and Catering in Tokyo.
Peter Dickinson has left the not-yet-fully-open Setai in Miami to become
the Director of Food and Beverage at the Windsor Court in New Orleans.
There, he reports to General Manager Anthony McHale, who had been Dickinson�s
mentor in the past at Shutters on the Beach and at the Peninsula Beverly
Hills. At the Windsor Court, Dickinson takes over part of the responsibilities
of Clive O�Donoghue, recently promoted by Orient-Express to General Manager
of El Encanto in Santa Barbara.
The W New York has named Wolfgang Wehen Director of Food and Beverage.
Wehen was previously Director of Food and Beverage at the Westin Diplomat
Resort & Spa in Florida and Assistant Director of Food and Beverage
at Turnberry Isle Resort & Club also in Florida.
Carlos Salazar has been named Director of Food and Beverage at the Kahala
Mandarin-Oriental. Salazar hails from the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the
Big Island of Hawaii. At Kahala, he replaces Wayne Woods, now the Executive
Assistant Manager in charge of Food and Beverage at the Mandarin-Oriental
Washington.
Robert Mansfield is the Controller of Hotel QT in New York. Mansfield
comes from the Morgan Hotel Group and also served at the New York Palace
as Assistant Controller.
Bill Tremper has joined the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino as Vice President,
Hotel Operations. He works for the developers/owners of the 2,600-room
hotel-condo project that will eventually be operated by Hyatt. Tremper
was previously with Starwood where he served as Corporate Director of Sales
for W Hotels Worldwide.
Rudolf Gimmi was promoted by Fairmont to Rooms Director at the soon-to-open
Fairmont Mayakoba in Mexico. He hails from Fairmont's Turnberry Isle Resort.
Gimmi previously worked at the Chateau de Bagnols in France.
Claude Le Tohic will be the opening Chef at the Restaurant Joel Robuchon
at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Le Tohic, who was a winner in 2004 of the coveted
Meilleur Ouvrier de France, did work under Robuchon many years ago. Since
1998 he has been a Chef Instructor at a French cooking school.
At Alain Ducasse New York (located at the Essex House) Chef Christian
Delouvrier, who had been manning the stove for the past year, has moved
on. His successor is 33-year-old Tony Esnault, who hails from the Ritz-Carlton
Boston, where the Dining Room was recently shuttered. Esnault had also
spent four years as the right-hand whisk to Sylvain Portay at the Ritz-Carlton
San Francisco. He had logged two years at Alain Ducasse�s Louis Quinze,
in Monte Carlo, prior to coming to the United States.
David Walzog, fresh from the success of his just-published New American
Steakhouse Cookbook, takes over where Jimmy Sneed left at the Country Club
Grill at Wynn Las Vegas. Walzog was the Chef-Partner at Michael Jordan,
the Steak House in New York, the Steak House at the Monkey Bar, and Strip
House in Livingston and Houston.
Lissa Doumani and Hiro Sone of Terra in St. Helena, have been chosen
to operate the restaurant of the soon-to-open St. Regis San Francisco.
The hotel will have one other restaurant, a breakfast-only venue for guests.
Peter St. John transferred from the Sheraton Four Points Denver Southeast
to the Westin Tabor Center as Executive Chef.
Marcel Driessen has joined Sandy Lane in Barbados as Executive Chef
taking over for Richard Ekkebus who has left to open the Landmark Mandarin-Oriental
Hong Kong. Driessen was previously the Executive Chef at the InterContinental
Phoenicia in Beirut.
Thomas Gisler has been appointed Executive Chef at Cornell University's
Statler Hotel & J. Willard Marriott Executive Education Center. A former
Hyatt man, he most recently served as Executive Chef for the Otesaga Resort
in Cooperstown, New York. Gisler replaces former Statler Executive Chef
Craig Hartman, who relocated to Washington D.C. as Executive Chef for two
of Classic Hospitality's luxury properties, the Morrison-Clark Inn and
the Henley Park Hotel.
Executive Chef Jean-Louis Dumonet leaves Rosewood�s Carlyle (where the
restaurant had been renamed after him) to be the new Executive Chef for
Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. Prior to joining the Carlyle in September
2001, Dumonet was the Executive Chef at the late Jean-Louis Palladin�s
restaurant at the Times Hotel. From 1992 to 2000 he was the Chef-Partner
at Restaurant Troisjean on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Francois Kwaku-Dongo is the new Executive Chef at Jean Denoyer�s and
Rick Wahlstedt�s L�Escale in Greenwich, Connecticut. Kwaku-Dongo was previously
the Corporate Chef at Lettuce Entertain You in Chicago following fifteen
years with Wolfgang Puck Restaurants. He was a Chef-Partner at Spago Chicago
until it closed in 2003.
Drew Deckman has been named Executive Chef at Orient-Express� Maroma
Resort in Mexico. Deckman was previously the Executive Chef de Cuisine
at the former Four Seasons Berlin.
Robert Wilson has been named Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Dearborn.
Wilson transfers from the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel where he had served
as Executive Sous Chef since 1997.
Richard Chen joins Wynn Las Vegas as Executive Chef of the Chinese Restaurant,
Wing Lei. Chen was previously the Chef de Cuisine and General Manager at
the Peninsula Chicago in charge of Shanghai Terrace.
Jean Pierre Dutéron is the new Restaurant Manager for Peacock
Alley at the Waldorf=Astoria. Dutéron was previously the General
Manager at Morrell�s Restaurant, which closed in December 2004.
Sensi at the Bellagio has appointed Sébastien Silvestri as General
Manager. Silvestri was previously the Director of Restaurant Operations
at the Telluride Ski and Golf Company and Food and Beverage Director at
the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort.
Loic Launay has been named Restaurant Manager at the upcoming Joel Robuchon
Restaurant at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Launay hails from the Métropole
Palace in Monte Carlo where he ran Joel Robuchon�s outlet for the past
year. Launay previously spent four years managing Pierre Cardin�s Maxim�s
de Paris also in Monte Carlo.
Joshua Alderete joins the Westin Tabor Center as Banquet Manager. Alderete
previously worked at the Sheraton Four Points Culver City where he was
the Director of Food and Beverage. He has been with Starwood since.
Scott Roby, a Cornell Graduate, has joined Tarsadia Hotels as Corporate
Director of Revenue Management. Roby was previously at La Costa Resort
and Spa as Director of Revenue Management and began his career with Hilton
Hotels in San Diego.
David Crouch is the new Front Office Manager for the Hyatt Regency Maui.
He was previously the Executive Housekeeper at the Hyatt Lake Las Vegas.
He also served as Front Office Manager at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort,
after starting his Hyatt career at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki.
Daryl Morris has joined the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention
Center as Director of Relâche, the Spa at Gaylord Opryland opening
this summer. Morris joins Opryland from Las Vegas, where he was an Executive
Hotel Manager of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and Operations Manager
of the Canyon Ranch SpaClub at the Venetian Hotel.
Fabien DeGuffroy is the Assistant Spa Director at the newly-opened Palms
Resort and Spa in the Turks and Caicos. He was previously a Massage Therapist
at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. |