George Fistrovich is the new Executive Chef at the Hotel Hershey, where
General Manager Steven Bello, a former Ritz-Carlton General Manager, is
gone after six months. Fistrovich joins from the Shangri-La Beijing at
Kerry Center.
Reto Torriani has been promoted to General Manager of Tamarind Cove
Hotel, a deluxe Hotel on the West Coast of Barbados from the position of
General Manager at Turtle Beach Resort. Both properties are part of Elegant
Hotels Group.
James Bermingham has been appointed General Manager of Alan Fuerstman¹s
Montage Resort and Spa in Laguna Beach. He was most recently the General
Manager at Meristar¹s Latham and Georgetown Inn in Washington, DC.
Bermingham also served as General Manager of the St. Regis Houston.
Ralph Behrsin has left his position of Vice President Incentive Sales
at Bacara. After 3-1/2 years, he was the longest-standing employee there.
He will soon be joining KSL as Director of Incentive Sales for La Costa,
coming home to Carlsbad, his home where he was the Director of Incentive
Sales for the Four Seasons Aviara. Behrsin is a 1973 Cornell Hotel School
graduate.
Henri Birmele who was the General Manager at the Viceroy in Santa Monica,
California just left and has been replaced by Vincent Piro. Henri had been
at the Viceroy since last December and was previously Hotel Manager at
the St. Regis in Los Angeles.
Marisol Quintero is the Director of Rooms at Hollywood¹s Roosevelt,
currently undergoing a multi million dollar renovation. She comes from
the Omni Berkshire Place in New York. She had worked with Roosevelt General
Manager Sam Cole previously at Island Outpost. Also at the Roosevelt,
Kelly Fogarty is Director of Sales and Marketing. Fogarty was previously
at the Crowne Plaza Beverly Hills.
Roger Ploum has been appointed General Manager of the Celebration Hotel
located lakeside in Disney's quaint town of Celebration. Most recently,
he functioned as the Food & Beverage Director and Operations Manager
for Disney's flagship, the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando.
He also served as the Director of Food & Beverage, catering & conventions
services for the Chateau Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans and took part in
the opening of Sun International's Palace of the Lost City in South Africa.
Barry Cregan has been appointed General Manager of the Rhiga Royal New
York, a JW Marriott Hotel. A seasoned hotelier, he once was the General
Manager of New York¹s Plaza while the property was under Donald Trump¹s
ownership.
Michael Steinhart has been appointed General Manager of L'Auberge de
Sedona. Steinhart has been at L'Auberge for the last fifteen months as
Director of Food and Beverage. Prior to moving to Sedona, he was Director
of Operations at Pete's Boca Ratone.
Roger Stettler has been appointed Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton
St. Thomas. Most recently, he served as Executive Chef at Conrad
International Centennial Singapore for more than three years.
Pascal Billard, previously with the Royalton is transferring to sister
hotel the Delano in Miami as their Director of Food and Beverage. His assistant,
Melissa Trumbull, is now in charge at the Royalton.
Teresa Holden is now the Director of Sales and Marketing with the St.
Regis in Los Angeles where she is replacing Lisa Hagen who is now with
the Hotel Bel-Air . Holden was previously the Director of Sales at the
Mondrian and the W where she was part of the opening team. Joining her
on the sales team at St Regis are Dee Doak, who was with Loews Hotels and
Paula Dirks, previously at Raffles L¹Ermitage in Beverly Hills.
Too much: Bruno Davaillon went from Chef de Cuisine at Encore at the
St. Regis Los Angeles, to Executive Chef at Beaucoup on Nob Hill
in San Francisco. Beaucoup is the latest creation from the Real Restaurant
Group. At Beaucoup, Davaillon replaces Bruno Chemel who left two
months earlier. Joining Davaillon at Beaucoup as General Manager
is Cornell-educated Peter Peterson, previously with the French Laundry.
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has appointed David Flack Managing Director
of Little Dix Bay Resort in the British Virgin Islands. Flack, was previously
General Manager of Cerulean Private Villa Resort on Anguilla. Prior to
that, he served in management positions at CuisinArt Resort & Spa in
Anguilla, Turtle Island Resort in Fiji, and the Biltmore in Los Angeles.
Flack takes over the position left vacant by Peter Shaindlin.
George Morrone has abruptly left the Next Century Restaurant Group,
operators of Redwood Park in San Francisco where he became the Executive
Chef upon leaving The Fifth Floor in 2001. Morrone, who had been the opening
chef at Aqua, the flagship of the group, thus became the subordinate of
his former Pastry Chef Michael Mina, a partner in the company. The majority
partner remains Charles Condy.
At Aqua at the St Regis Monarch Beach, some further changes with the
departure of Joseph and Janice Nase, the husband and wife team hired
to manage the restaurant in March. Joseph Nase had also been
the Wine Director for the St. Regis New York. Chef Chris L¹Hommedieu
is also leaving Aqua at the end of November. He is relocating to New York
for personal reasons. Prior to taking charge of the kitchen at Aqua, L¹Hommedieu
had worked with Michael Mina for seven years.
Reinhard Haubner was named General Manager of Chateau Elan Hotel &
Spa, an 81-room boutique property in Sebring, Florida. Reinhard served
at Chateau Elan Winery & Resort near Atlanta from 1992-1998 as Executive
Chef.
At MGM Mirage, Scott Snow, George Boyer and Renee West have been appointed
to key executive positions. Scott Snow will become Executive Vice President
of MGM Mirage Development. He currently serves as President and Chief Operating
Officer of MGM Grand Detroit Casino. He had joined the Company in
1997 as Vice President of Finance and Treasurer for New York-New York Hotel
and Casino. George Boyer has been named the new President and Chief Operating
Officer for MGM Grand Detroit. Boyer until now served as President and
Chief Operating Officer of the Primm Valley Resorts, a position to which
he was named in 2000. Renee West has been named President and Chief Operating
Officer for Primm Valley Resorts. Ms. West currently serves as Vice President
of Human Resources for Primm Valley Resorts, a position she has held since
2000.
Olivier Bottois has been appointed General Manager of the unique and
plush Lake Placid Lodge in Lake Placid, New York. Bottois joins from the
new Sofitel Chicago, which he opened in June as Director of Food and Beverage.
Bottois¹ successor at the Sofitel Chicago is Doris Timmen, until then
the Director of Food and Beverage at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica.
Timmen previously worked in Chicago as Food and Beverage Manager at the
Drake.
Andrew Daly left his position as President of Vail Resorts. He had been
with the company since 1992.
Jay Rosenthal is the new General Manager of the W Lakeshore in Chicago,
where he replaces Carlton Hudson who left the company. Rosenthal was previously
the General Manager of the W San Francisco.
Mary Vogt has joined the Krisam Group in Chicago as Director of Sales,
following a nine-year stint as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Inter-Continental
Chicago.
Keystone Resort and Convention Center appointed Tina Frank to the position
of Director of Sales and Marketing. Ms. Frank was most recently the Director
of Sales and Marketing of the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque; previously she
served as Associate Director of Sales for the Hyatt Regency San Antonio.
Maria Hirt is the new Director of Marketing, at the Four Seasons Palm
Beach. She originally joined the hotel in April of 1998 as a Sales
Manager. She was formerly with the Indian River Plantation. Since
May 2000, she had been the Director of Sales at the Four Seasons Atlanta.
Danielle Custer has left the Elliott Grand Hyatt in Seattle where she
was the Executive Chef. Custer originally opened the hotel as Chef de Cuisine
in their gourmet restaurant. She was previously at the Sheraton Park Central
Hotel in Dallas as Chef at Laurels.
Nora Melikian has left her position of Director of Sales and Marketing
at the Peninsula Chicago (just named by Zagat Best Hotel in the United
States) .She had joined the hotel in its pre-opening phases from the Ritz-Carlton
Cleveland. She is launching a business in Chicago with her sister.
Willem Plegt has been appointed General Manager of the Inter-Continental
San Juan Resort & Casino. Prior to this appointment, Plegt was General
Manager of the Crowne Plaza London, and before that General Manager of
Amstel Inter-Continental Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Plegt joined Inter-Continental
Hotels and Resorts in 1984 at Inter-Continental The Barclay New York.
Ed Fasulo has been named Senior Vice President and General Manager for
Ameristar Casino Hotel Council Bluffs, Iowa. Fasulo has 33 years
of experience at gaming and hotel properties. Most recently, he served
as General Manager of the Fiesta Casino Hotel in Las Vegas.
Bryan O¹Shields has resigned from his position of Vice President
of Food and Beverage at Las Vegas¹ Bellagio after five years. He originally
joined Bellagio from the Rio where he held a similar position. O¹Shields
intends to consult in the food and beverage industry.
Ian Schrager Hotels announced the appointment of Francesca Galante to
the position of Vice President of European Acquisitions and Business Development.
Galante, 26, was hired from European based private equity fund Soros Real
Estate Partners. Prior to that, she worked in investment banking at Merrill
Lynch International in London.
David Cocks has been appointed Executive Vice President, West coast
Operations for Noble House Hotels and Resorts, and Managing Director of
the Edgewater hotel in Seattle, Washington. He joins Noble House Hotels
and Resorts from Holland America Line Westours where he served as President
of the company's hotel division, Westmark Hotels.
Jonathan Caplan is now the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Westin
Riverwalk in San Antonio. He previously was the Director of Sales and Marketing
at the Shore Club in Miami.
Ilan Segal will be joining Hyatt as General Manager for the new Victor
Hotel on Miami¹s South Beach. The Victor will be a unique boutique
hotel with 91 ocean front rooms and suites designed by Jacque Garcia. The
hotel will open by late 2003. Prior to that, he was with Island Outpost,
he first joined the Tides as Rooms Division Manager and later assumed management
of the Marlin and Tides Hotels.
Thomas Zeisel is no longer the General Manager of The Lodge & Spa
At Cordillera, which is now managed by Discover Resorts International,
which is a subsidiary of Prestige Hotels International.
Desi Szonntagh is the new Executive Chef at Le Mérigot, in Santa
Monica. For the past eighteen months, he was the Executive Sous Chef
at the Hotel Bel-Air. Szonntagh previously spent three and a half years
as the Chef de Cuisine for One Pico at Shutters on the Beach.
Amazing Pastry Chef Patrice Caillaud has left Lespinasse at New York¹s
St. Regis to become the Pastry Chef at the soon-to-open Ritz-Carlton
Lake Las Vegas. Caillaud comes home to Vegas where he was the Executive
Pastry Chef at Bellagio.
Grant Coonley has been named General Manager of the Hilton Los Angeles
Airport. Coonley was the property's Director of Front Office Services from
1992 to 1996. He most recently served as Director of Rooms Division for
the Hilton San Francisco.
Robin William transferred as Director of Quality from the Ritz-Carlton,
Laguna Niguel, to the same position at The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas.
Prior to joining The Ritz-Carlton, Robin worked at the Betty Ford Center.
Robin joined The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage as Director of Quality in
April 1999.
Sarah Santaella, former Director of Quality at the Ritz-Carlton Half
Moon Bay, has accepted the same position at The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor
Gulch. She joined The Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel, Spa & Casino
as part of the pre-opening team as the Director of Revenue Management,
in September 1997. She was then promoted to Director of Quality.
Daniel Bourgeois is the new Executive Pastry Chef at Colorado¹s
Inverness Resort. Bourgeois illustrious international career include top
pastry jobs at the Opryland Hotel, Trump¹s Castle and the former Registry
in Dallas.
Wayne Moor is becoming Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
of Boca Resorts. Moor, who was from ANCC Rental, once was the Chief Operating
Officer of Key Biscayne Hotel and Villas.
Mohamed Islam is the next Executive Chef for André Balasz¹
Chateau Marmont and Hollywood Standard in Los Angeles. He comes from Jean-Georges
Vongerichten¹s Mercer Kitchen, located in Balasz¹ Mercer in New
York.
Ella Messerli has been appointed General Manager of the Marquis Los
Cabos Beach Golf, Spa & Casitas Resort, opening in February 2003. Her
past positions includes executive and marketing positions at Hoteles Camino
Real and Mandarin-Oriental in Mexico.
Tom Santora joined the Kor Hotel Group after a 16-year career with Marriott
International. Most recently, Santora served as Director of Sales
and Marketing for the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.
Steven André became the General Manager of the 86-room Avalon
Hotel in July. Prior to joining Avalon, André worked for the
Kimpton Group in Chicago, serving as General Manager of the Hotel Burnham,
the Hotel Manager of the Hotel Allegro, and the Assistant General Manager
of the Hotel Monaco.
Jim Myers, former Director of Food and Beverage at the newly opened
Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in South Florida has joined Caesar¹s
Palace in Las Vegas as Assistant Vice President of Food and Beverage.
The Saunders Hotel Group named Susan Cullen Director of Sales and Marketing.
Most recently, she served as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Sheraton
Ferncroft Resort.
Jeffrey Guillory has been named Director of Sales and Marketing at the
Stanford Court Renaissance. He joins following a two and a half-year stint
in the same capacity at the Swissôtel Chicago. Guillory replaces
Joe Malia who is now the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Boston
Harbor Hotel.
Alfred Bernardin started in August as Food and Beverage Manager at André
Balazs' Hollywood Standard. He comes from Jean Denoyer's Orsay on Manhattan¹s
Upper East Side.
Suzanne Tatis is Assistant Pastry Chef at Las Vegas¹ Bellagio.
She came from the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix and previously worked for renowned
pastry chef Richard Ruskell at his now shuttered Pastry Maxine in Phoenix.
Tatis is a graduate of New York¹s French Culinary Institute.
Peter Melvin was promoted to the position of Director of Rooms at the
Four Seasons Houston. He had originally joined the hotel as Front Office
Manager in 1998.
At New York's Pierre, Gérard Madani is taking over as Executive
Chef from Franz Klampfer who had been a fixture at the hotel for many years.
Madani, a Frenchman, moved from Washington DC where he was the Executive
Chef at the Willard Inter-Continental since 1997.
Albert Ramirez is the new Director of Finance at the Four Seasons Houston.
He had joined the hotel in July 2002 as Assistant Controller, and was previously
the Account Manager at the Four Seasons Nevis.
Klaus Tenter is retiring from Four Seasons after a long and varied career.
His last position was that of General Manager at the Four Seasons Toronto.
Tenter was also the General Manager of the Four Seasons Newport Beach.
He is being replaced by Chris Hart, a Canadian, who moves up from the Four
Seasons Scottsdale. Hart also carries responsibilities as Regional Vice
President for Four Seasons.
Greg Pirkle has been named Resort Manager of their upcoming Four Seasons
Resort Exuma in the Bahamas. He is a 13-year veteran of the company. He
recently was the Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Maui Wailea.
Resort.
Paul Cherrett, a twenty-year Four Seasons veteran, will be opening the
property's Jackson Hotel Resort. For the past four years, he was the General
Manager of the Four Seasons Austin. Cherett¹s successor in Austin
is Tom Segesta, who has been with Four Seasons for fourteen years. Most
recently, he was the Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Las Vegas.
Mark Birtha, a Cornell Hotel School Graduate, has been promoted by the
Venetian in Las Vegas to the position of Corporate Development Manager.
He previously was a Convention Services and Catering Manager at the Venetian,
and is to be credited for setting-up the Cornell Annual Hospitality Millennium.
Yogi Hutsen has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of Noble House
Hotels and Resorts. He joins Noble House from Starwood. Most recently,
Hutsen served as Vice President of Operations for Starwood¹s hotel
group with oversight of the company¹s 11 properties in Washington
and Oregon.
Philippe Langlois will be the Opening General Manager of Café
Boulud Palm Beach scheduled to open in February 2003 at the Brazilian Court
Hotel. Langlois, who was the Opening General Manager of the first
Restaurant Daniel (now the location of New York's original Café
Boulud) went on to be the Restaurant Manager at the Ritz in Paris. Most
Recently, he was the General Manager of Paris' Ledoyen, a recent three-star
Michelin winner.
Bruno Jamais, who was Langlois' successor at Daniel before he moved
on to Alain Ducasse New York just opened his own restaurant in Manhattan.
At Island Outpost¹s Compass Point in the Bahamas, Aldwyn Hogg and
Stephen Bastian have been brought in as General Manager and Executive Chef,
respectively. Hogg¹s past experience includes positions with SuperClubs
Breezes, in the Bahamas. Bastian returns to Compass Point, where he served
as Executive Chef from 1997-2000. He spent the past year and a half as
Executive Chef for Sodexho in Boston. He also was at Jumby Bay, where he
served as Executive Sous Chef.
Jacques and Pamela Brouchier are the Co-Managers at Cayo Espanto, the
smallest and most exclusive resort property in Belize. The Brouchiers were
previously the Managers of the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort in Bora Bora.
They also previously ran Biras Creek and David Garett¹s The Pointe.
Martina Hilldorfer is now the Executive Chef and Director of Food and
Beverage with the Sheraton Molokai. Martina has been in Hawaii for few
years since she comes from the Kapalua Bay Resort where she was the Executive
Chef and was with the Westin Maui prior to that.
Aaron Black has been appointed as the Director of Rooms at Four
Seasons Resort Maui. Aaron comes from Four Seasons Toronto where
he was Assistant Resort Manager, before progressing onto Reservations Manager,
followed by the role he pioneered at the Four Seasons Resort Maui, as Director
of Revenue, before moving onto Assistant Director of Rooms, earlier this
year.
Donna Romano has been promoted to the position of Director of Human
Resources at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. As Assistant Director of
Human Resources at the Four Seasons Newport Beach for the last year and
a half, she has nearly twenty years of experience in the hospitality industry,
having worked at the Helmsley Palace and the Ritz-Carlton in New York.
Nikheel Advani is going back home in Singapore after seven years with
Ritz-Carlton. His last posting was as Director of Food and Beverage at
the Ritz-Carlton New York Battery Park. He has joined the flagship Raffles
Hotel in Singapore as Executive Assistant Manager in charge of both Rooms
and Food & Beverage. He will also be involved in the development of
Food and Beverage concepts and process developments that will be used in
the expansion of the Raffles Hotel Master Brand. |