Hotel Online Special Report


Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What
September 2003
Heads Above the Rest
The Newsletter of The Boutique Search Firm
The Americas
Susan Ward-Freeman has been named General Manager of the Sam Houston Hotel. She previously held the position of Hotel Manager at the property. Prior to that, Ward was the Director of Sales and Marketing at The St. Regis Houston. Her background also includes positions of Director of Sales and Marketing at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland, the Four Seasons Houston, and the Waldorf-Astoria.

Bradley Reynolds is the new General Manager at Auberge du Soleil where he replaces Philippa Perry who left the company. Reynolds hails from Rosewood¹s Mansion on Turtle Creek, where he was the Food and Beverage Director.

Benchmark Hospitality has appointed Roy Young as Managing Director of the Georgian Terrace Hotel in Atlanta. Young previously was the General Manager of the Northland Inn for Benchmark. Prior to joining the company he served as Vice President of Hotel Operations for the Claridge Casino Hotel in Atlantic City.

Millennium Hotels and Resorts have appointed Stephen Baker as Vice President of Sales and Marketing-North America. Prior to joining Millennium, he was Vice President of Global Sales for Raffles International Hotels & Resorts in the Americas.

Joseph Long, a Cornell Hotel School graduate, was recently named Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Development for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants in San Francisco. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President, Acquisition & Development for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Prior to joining Starwood, Long was Vice President of Acquisitions and Asset Management for LaSalle Hotel Properties.

Elon Kenchington will be the opening General Manager of the upcoming 188-room Hotel Gansevoort on Manhattan¹s Lower West Side. Kenchington was the opening General Manager of New York¹s Bryant Park Hotel, following tenure at the St. Regis New York as Front office Manager.

Benjamin Davis has been appointed Vice President & General Manager at the Radisson Cable Beach & Golf Resort in the Bahamas. Prior to that, Davis was the Operations Director at the 1,350-room Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort, on Grand Bahama Island.

Liam Doyle has been appointed Hotel Manager at Miami¹s soon-to-open Ritz-Carlton South Beach scheduled to open in December 2003 after a two-year delay. As such, Doyle moves up from the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead where he has been the Executive Assistant Manager in charge of Food and Beverage.

Jacqueline Four Sanders returns to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company as Hotel Manager of the Ritz-Carlton New York Central Park after positions as Resident Manager at the Hotel Plaza-Athénée and as Rooms Division Manager at the Rihga Royal. Her previous tenures with Ritz-Carlton took place in Atlanta, New York and Amelia Island.

Second-generation hotelier Patrick Birchall has been named Hotel Manager at the Presidente InterContinental Mexico City. Birchall, who has been with InterContinental for many years, was most recently the Resident Manager at the InterContinental Paris, following a stint as Manager at Le Grand Hotel InterContinental Paris.

John Tolbert has been appointed to the position of Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Naples. He replaces Roberto Van Geenen who was recently promoted to General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach. Most recently, Tolbert served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Boca Resorts.

John Crellin has been promoted to General Manager of the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston. A 40-year old Bostonian, he moves up from the position of Hotel Manager. He also was previously the hotel's Director of Sales and Marketing. As General Manager he replaces Dennis Clarke, who took over as General Manager of the newly renamed Fairmont Olympic in Seattle.

David Gibbons has been named General Manager of the Drake Swissôtel. He originally joined the company in 1985, and eventually became the Food and Beverage Director and the Hotel Manager at the Drake, before accepting the General Manager position at the Swissôtel Boston (which recently became a Hyatt).

Ahmad Siddiqui has been appointed Director of Finance at the New York Palace. He takes over from Yi Shang, who left the company. Prior to joining the New York Palace, Siddiqui spent fourteen years with Four Seasons in various positions in North America and Asia.

Paul O'Dowd has been appointed General Manager of Big Sur's Ventana Inn and Spa. He previously was the Director of Food and Beverage at the St. Regis Monarch Beach. At Ventana, O¹Dowd takes over from Sal Abaunza, now the General Manager at the Mandarin-Oriental San Francisco.

Doerte Lau has been appointed Director of Marketing at the New York Palace. She relocates from Frankfurt, where she was the Director of Marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa for The Leading Hotels of the World. Prior to that she was Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for the Kempinski Hotel Group.  

Also at the New York Palace, Joe Gaeta has been promoted from Director of Conference Services to Director of Sales. Peter Sofides has been hired as Director of Banquets. He came from the St. Regis New York, where he was the Assistant Director of Banquets.

Still at the New York Palace, Brian Cardoz has been hired as Assistant Director of Banquets. He was previously the Banquet Manager at the Peninsula New York.

John Berndt, (a Cornell Hotel graduate) has joined Harrah¹s Hotels and Casinos at their property in East Chicago, as Vice President of Rooms and Food and Beverage Operations. With Ritz-Carlton from 1993 until earlier this year, he was most recently the opening General Manager of the highly successful Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay.

Ron Vlasic has been named Regional Director of Operations for Kimpton Hotels in Chicago, overseeing the operations of Hotels Allegro, Monaco and Burnham. Prior to Chicago, he was the General Manager of Kimpton's Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco.    
  
Edward Pinchard has been named Director of Sales and Marketing at the InterContinental The Barclay New York. He transfers from the Crowne Plaza Hotel Dubai, where he was the Director of Marketing for three years. Prior to that, he was the Director of Sales and Marketing at the InterContinental Muscat in Oman.

Jay Ramstead is the new General Manager of the Orbit Inn in Palm Springs. He was most recently the Opening General Manager of Spa Helios in Rancho Mirage. Ramstead also had a long tenure at Two Bunch Palms in Desert Hot Springs.

Richard Rennie has joined the Outrigger Guam Resort as Director of Sales and Marketing. Rennie replaces Tom Goresch, who left the company.

Mari Garcia has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing for the Conrad Miami opening in January 2004. Garcia's most recent position was Director of Sales and Marketing for the Omni Colonnade Hotel in Coral Gables and the Savoy Hotel in Miami Beach.

Jorge Collazo has been appointed Sales Manager at the new Four Seasons Miami. He was previously at the Four Seasons Newport Beach as Director of Housekeeping, Director of Reservations, then Group and Corporate Sales Manager.

David Quinn is the new Financial Controller at Fisher Island. He joins from a similar position at the Roney Palace, which he joined one year ago, following a two-year stint as opening Controller at The Shore Club.

Peter Tischmann (Junior) has joined the pre-opening team of Steve Wynn¹s Le Rêve as Food and Beverage Operations Analyst reporting to Vice President of Food and Beverage Kevin Stussi. For the past year, Tischmann had been an Assistant General Manager under Christophe Chatron-Michaud at Charlie Palmer's Aureole at the Mandalay Bay. Tischmann previously spent over three years with Le Cirque, both in New York and Las Vegas.

Scott Lewis is the Director of Food and Beverage at Napa Valley¹s Villagio Inn. He took over from Sven Wiedenhaupt who went to the Inter-Continental New York Barclay. Lewis was previously at the Inn at Morro Bay where his successor is Trevor Bridge, an internal promotion.

Eric Truglas has joined the posh Bonita Bay Club in Naples as Director of Food and Beverage. He was previously the Executive Chef at the Sofitel San Francisco, where his successor is Vincent Cachot, formerly of the Ocean Club in the Bahamas.

Thomas Innocenzi has been appointed Food and Beverage Manager at Morton's of Chicago in Costa Mesa. Until recently, he was the Food and Beverage Manager at the Lodge at Rancho Mirage (formerly the Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage). Innocenzi also served as Food and Beverage Manager at L¹Auberge Del Mar Resort and Spa.

Thomas Norberg has joined the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota as Director of Food and Beverage. Most recently, he was the Executive Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at The Plaza in New York. Norberg began his career at The Plaza in 1995 as Beverage Director.

Patrick Beaury has left his position of Director of Food and Beverage at the InterContinental Hotel San Jose, in Costa Rica, to become the opening Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Costa Rica.

Ronen Aviram has been appointed Front Office Manager for the Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole as part of the opening team. He previously held the same position at the Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara.

Foster Burnett has returned to the Drake Swissôtel in the capacity of Executive Assistant Manager. Burnett rejoins from the Grand Summit Resort Hotel & Conference Center in Bartlett, New Hampshire, where he was the General Manager.

Anne-Juliette Maurice has been named Director of Sales and Marketing at the Drake Swissôtel. She joins from the Hotel Parker-Méridien, three blocks away.

Vijay Singh has left Ritz-Carlton after a thirteen-year tenure to join the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island as Executive Assistant Manager. His most recent position with Ritz-Carlton was one of Director of Food and Beverage Operations at the Ritz-Carlton Naples.

Robi Christenson has joined the Mirage Hotel and Casino as Assistant Food and Beverage Director. She thus rejoins her former boss Christina Clifton with whom she worked at the Four Seasons Scottsdale. Most recently Christenson was with KBC Summerlin, also in Las Vegas.

Lawrence McFadden Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Naples is becoming the Corporate Executive Chef for Ritz-Carlton Hotels, replacing Peter Schoch who has joined Horst Schulze¹s West Paces Ferry Group.

Ludovic Lefebvre will be the opening Executive Chef at his namesake Ludo at the W in Los Angeles. Lefebvre, a former Chef de Cuisine at L¹Orangerie, is teaming up with the owners of Sushi Roku to revive the food and beverage operation at the W. In addition to Ludo, the team will also be responsible for operating the hotel¹s other restaurant and producing food for its room service and banquet operations.

At Bernardus Lodge and Quail Lodge, Sue Dryer has been promoted to the position of Director of Sales and Marketing. The position had been left vacant when Kimberly Hoffmann left to become the opening Director of Sales and Marketing at the Four Seasons Jackson Hole.

Jeffrey Armstrong is the new Executive Chef at the Sam Houston Hotel. This follows a five-year tenure with Tim and Liza Goodell¹s Domaine Restaurant Group. Armstrong¹s latest position with the group was that of Chef de Cuisine for Whist Restaurant at The Viceroy, in Santa Monica.

Scott Leyrer has been hired as Financial Administrator at Kerry Hotels. He comes from BCBG Max Azria where he held the title of Corporate Travel Administrator. Also at Kerry Hotels, Kerry Cooper has been appointed e-Commerce Director. Cooper has previously worked for Design Hotels, Lexington Services and the JPS Group.    

Philippe Rispoli has been appointed Executive Chef at Aureole in Las Vegas. Rispoli takes over from Robert Kirchhof who plans to be opening his own restaurant in the near future. An alumnus of Daniel and Payard Patisserie, Rispoli spent the past three years as Executive Chef of the Mansion at the MGM Grand Las Vegas.

Michael Gillet has been appointed Pastry Chef at the Five-Star Five-Diamond Peninsula Chicago. A Frenchman, Gillet joins from the Ritz-Carlton Naples where he was the Assistant Pastry Chef. Prior to that, he was the Pastry Chef at La Grenouille in New York.

Céline Plano has been named Executive Pastry Chef at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco. Plano worked in Paris after her apprenticeship, eventually coming to the United States to work at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. She transferred to the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco in 1999.

Cesar Biggeri has been appointed Corporate Sales Manager handling East Coast and International at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills. Previously, he was a Sales Manager at the Sofitel Los Angeles.

Kenneth Abisror has been appointed Chief Concierge at the soon-to-open Mandarin-Oriental New York. Abisror has been the Assistant Chief Concierge at the Four Seasons New York.

Sylvie Mirete has been appointed Area Sales Manager with Accor for the Caribbean region. She represents twelve hotels for the group. She was previously Director of Sales at Le Méridien St. Martin.

Europe
Maurice Tapie, a former Senior Vice President for Méridien Hotels, passed away at age 63. Tapie can be credited for Méridien's once mighty growth in North America in the early eighties, when it built and opened luxury hotels in Houston, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Newport Beach, New Orleans and Vancouver within four years of each other. At New York's Parker Méridien, the restaurant Maurice, where Christian Delouvrier built his name under the tutelage of Alain Senderens, was named after Tapie.

Martin Rinck has been named Senior Vice President of Business Development at Rezidor SAS Hospitality. Rinck will succeed Bahram Sadr-Hashemi, who will continue to work as an advisor to the executive committee of Rezidor. Rinck comes from Mövenpick Gastronomy International where he was since 1998. Prior to that, he was the General Manager of the Mandarin-Oriental Majapahit in Surabaya.

Olivier Jacquin has been appointed Senior Vice President of Sales at Rezidor SAS Hospitality. Since 1994, Jacquin had been with the Concorde Hotel Group at the sales and marketing head office advancing to Director of Sales. In 1999, he was appointed Director of Sales and Marketing of the 1,000-room Concorde Lafayette.

At France's Le Manoir de Beauvoir, new owners Mona Lisa Hôtels & Résidences have named Didier Broquerault General Manager. He comes from the Château de Périgny and takes over from Jean-Philippe Hubau, who moved on to become the General Manager of Les Barmes de L¹Ours in Val d¹Isère. Prior to Le Manoir de Beauvois, Hubau was the Assistant General Manager at Le Méridien Cancun. Les Barmes de L¹Ours will be the newest Five-Star property in the French Alps when it opens for the 2004-2005 ski season.

Peter Van Der Vliet is taking over from Bart Van De Winkel, as Vice President Hilton International Benelux and General Manager Hilton International Brussels. Van Der Vliet, a 39-year (!) Hilton International veteran, was most recently the Regional Vice President Hilton International Mediterranean Region, and General Manager Athens Hilton International.

Fabrice Mercier has become the third General Manager in a year at Baglioni Hotels' Villa Gallici. Mercier joins from Baglioni's sister property, the Chateau de Mirambeau. Prior to joining Baglioni, he was the General Manager of the Vista Palace in Eze.

After several years at Paris' Concorde Lafayette, Jean-Claude Dumet has been hired as General Manager of the Hotel California Paris Champs-Elysées. As such, he takes over from Eric Guinebretière, who has been promoted to Group General Manager for Hôtels et Résidences du Roy.

Didier Boidin, General Manager of the Carlton InterContinental in Cannes, has been promoted to the additional responsibility of Regional Director for InterContinental in the South Mediterranean region, supervising fourteen hotels.

Philippe Orville has been named Area Human Resources Director for Méridien Hotels in Northern France and Belgium. These include Méridien¹s two largest hotels, in Paris, as well as hotels in Lyon and Brussels. He previously had similar responsibilities for four Méridien Hotels in Spain, namely the Ritz Madrid, the Ritz Barcelona, Le Méridien Barcelona and Le Méridien Los Monteros in Marbella.  

Peter Knoll has been appointed General Manager at Schlossle-Hotels in Tallin, Estonia. He was previously the Resident Manager at the Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal in Budapest.

Marco Nijhof has left his position of Chief Operating Officer of Boscolo Hotels International in Italy to become the Director of Operations of His Royal Highness the Aga Khan¹s Serena Hotels, based in France.

Frédéric Picard replaces Patrick Birchall as Resident Manager of the Hotel InterContinental Paris. He joins InterContinental following a five-year stint with Méridien, most recently as Director of Food and Beverage for Le Royal Méridien and Le Méridien President, both in Bangkok.

At Paris' Warwick Champs Elysées, Director of Sales and Marketing Séverine Gréault has left, replaced by Valérie Buttignol.

Jeroen Sirag has been appointed by Starwood Hotels and Resorts as Director of Sales for the Westin Rotterdam. Sirag moves after two years from his position as International Sales Manager at Conran's Great Eastern Hotel in London. Previously he was in Sales and Marketing at the Grand Sofitel Demeure Amsterdam.

Sophie Valette has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing at the Société des Bains de Mer in Monaco. She was previously with Starwood Hotels and Resort for over six years. Her latest position with Starwood was that of Director of Sales and Marketing at the Four Points Sheraton Elysées Palace in Nice.

Nicolas Villemin who was previously a Sales Account Manager with Sofitel in Rio de Janeiro is moving back to France for the pre-opening of the Hilton Arc de Triomphe. He will be joining the team there as Senior Sales Manager.

Lionel Richard has joined the posh La Réserve in Geneva as Food and Beverage Manager. He previously spent two years in a similar position at the nearby Lausanne Palace.

Eric Damidot, until this month the Executive Sous Chef at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, will be the opening Executive Sous Chef at Nice¹s Palais de La Méditerranée. As such, he will be reporting to Executive Chef Bruno Son, formerly of Petrossian in Hong Kong. Prior to joining the Rio last year, Damidot was for two years the Executive Banquet Chef at Bellagio, also in Las Vegas.  

At the Mandarin-Oriental Hôtel du Rhône the new Chef de Cuisine for the Neptune restaurant (rated One Michelin Star) is Franck Ferigutti who is a Meilleur Ouvrier de France and comes from Le Chapon Fin in Bordeaux. New Pastry Chef for the hotel is Ralf Hölzemann who previously was the Pastry Chef at the Schloss Bensberg in Germany.

Asia and the Pacific
At the Sheraton Moorea, General Manager Giuseppe Ressa takes over from Philippe Guitton. Ressa was most recently the Hotel Manager at the Sunway Lagoon in Kuala Lumpur. Guitton will be the opening General Manager of the upcoming Radisson Plaza Tahiti.

Blaise Montandon has been appointed General Manager of the Raffles Nai Lert Park in Bangkok. It is a promotion from his former position of Director of Operations at Raffles Montreux Palace in Switzerland.

Helmut Meckelburg has been appointed Area Director Goa by Taj Hotels. He oversees the operations of the Taj Exotica, as well as that of the Fort Aguada Beach Resort, the Holiday Village and the Chiplun River Lodge.

Theo Ocks is the new Director of Sales and Marketing at Accor Asia Pacific Indonesia. He has been with Accor for over three years and will be based in the Jakarta office.

Gert Noordzy has been named General Manager of the Novotel Palembang. He has been with Accor since 1996, and most recently was the General Manager of the Novotel Century Harbourview in Hong Kong.

Michael Murphy has been appointed General Manager of the Richmond Group, a Phuket-based resort, restaurant and residential development company. The group currently owns and operates The Himmaphan, a luxury Thai-villa resort and has several upscale residential and resort development projects in the works, including The Residences and the future rebuild of the Fishing Lodge Hotel. Murphy was formerly the Executive Assistant Manager at the Lyford Cay Club in the Bahamas.

Dominique Mercier has been appointed General Manager at the Ibis Bandung West Java. He rejoins Accor in Asia from the Hotel Ibis World Trade Centre in Dubai, where he was the pre-opening General Manager.

Sylvain Julien has been appointed General Manager of the Gran Mahakam Hotel in Jakarta. Prior to this appointment, he was the General Manager of the Novotel Solo since the end of 2000.

Chaja Kersten has been appointed General Manager of the Hotel Ibis Tamarin. She had been Marketing Services Manager for Accor in Indonesia since early 2001.

Joel Fenoyer has been assigned to the Royal Seminyak Hotel Bali as General Manager. Prior to that, he was the General Manager of the Novotel Coralia.

Uday Rao will be the new Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Singapore. As such he will be transferring from the same position at the Four Seasons Maldives.

Philippe Chanut has been appointed Executive Pastry Chef at the Shangri-La Singapore. He was previously with the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino and also worked at Lenôtre.

At the soon-to-open Huvafen Fushi resort in the Maldives Christian Fogliani has joined as Executive Chef, coming from the Ana Mandara Spa in Vietnam. Louise Da Silva has joined as Director of Finance, from London¹s Halkin. Scot Toon, Director of Human Resources, comes from the Stamford Sydney where he was the Human Resources Manager. Claire Branch, Director of Spa Operations, joins from the Hilton Maldives.

Middle East and Africa
Hakan Ozel has been appointed Food and Beverage Manager at the new Mövenpick Hotel Bur Dubai. He previously held a similar position at the Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul.

Caroline Mir, opening Director of Housekeeping at the Bora Bora Nui Resort, has left to take similar responsibilities at La Plantation, on Mauritius. Prior to Bora Bora, Mir had been the Executive Housekeeper at Paris¹ Pavillon de La Reine.

Joel Vivien has been appointed Executive Chef at the Mövenpick Hotel Bur Dubai joining from the Mövenpick Hotel and Casino Tangier.

Raffaele Solferino has been appointed Director of Operations at the Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi Grand Hotel. Originally from Italy, he was previously Director of Food and Beverage at the Royal Méridien Bahrain.


 
Edited by 
Benoit Gateau-Cumin
President
The Boutique Search Firm
http://www.boutiquesearchfirm.com
[email protected]
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THE BOUTIQUE SEARCH FIRM
A California Corporation
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CULVER CITY, California
Tel. 310-398-9320
Fax. 310-398-9541
[email protected]


Karen Jolley, Vice President, 
Europe, Middle East, Africa 
The Boutique Search Firm
BP 16 26111 Nyons CEDEX, France
Tel:  (33) 4-75-27-10-31
eFax:  (1) 240-331-0079
[email protected]

http://www.boutiquesearchfirm.com

Also See:
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / August 2003
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / July 2003
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / June 2003
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / May 2003
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / April 2003
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / March 2003
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / Feb 2003
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / Jan 2003
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / Dec 2002
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / Nov 2002
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / Oct 2002
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What - the Americas / June 2002
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / May 2002
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / April 2002
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / Feb 2002
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / December 2001
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / November 2001
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / June 2001
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / May 2001
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What / April 2001
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What  / February 2001
Global Update: Who�s Where and Doing What  / Nov 2000
 
 

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