John Chadwell has left us. One of the industry¹s friendliest faces
and most even tempers, he had been battling pancreatic cancer for several
months. Chadwell spent the past eleven years at Pebble Beach where
he served as President of Hospitality under three successive owners. He
previously worked briefly for Disneyland Paris after a long international
career with Méridien Hotels. He will be missed.
Frank Bowling has resigned from his position of Managing Director at
the Hotel Bel-Air. Bowling spent ten years at the Bel-Air, and was previously
for several years at New York¹s exclusive Carlyle.
Michael Hoffmann has been named Director of Operations for the Shore
Club on Miami¹s South Beach. He was most recently the Manager of the
Ocean Club in the Bahamas. Hoffmann was also the Vice President and General
Manager of Bacara in Santa Barbara, after a nine-year tenure with the Peninsula
Hotel Group in New York, Hong Kong and Carmel.
Norm Rich is the new General Manager of Los Angeles prestigious Jonathan
Club. A Cornell Hotel School graduate, Rich has had a global food and beverage
management career with Hyatt, Amfac and Shangri-La prior to assuming the
role of Senior Vice President for Universal Citywalk for a period of twelve
years.
Seamus McManus has left his position of Managing Director at the spanking
new St Regis Monarch Bay, in Orange County. McManus was at the property
for one year and saw to its spectacular opening in the fall of 2001. He
is being replaced by Ulrich Krauer, most recently the General Manager of
the Sonoma Mission Inn. Krauer, like McManus, is a former Rosewood General
Manager. In fact he was at the helm of the Hotel Crescent Court in Dallas
a few years after McManus, who ran the property from 1988 until 1992.
Paul Pusateri has been named Chief Operating Officer of Turnberry Associates.
He originally joined the company as it was planning a 3,000-room London-themed
hotel and casino in Las Vegas, to be built next to its luxury high rise
Turnberry and its exclusive Stirling Club. The hotel and casino project
has since been shelved.
At the upcoming 2,010-room Borgata in Atlantic City, Peter Finamore
will serve as Vice President of Hospitality. Prior to joining the Borgata,
Finamore enjoyed a 14-year association with the prestigious Peninsula Group
of hotels. He recently served as the opening General Manager of the Peninsula
Chicago. His replacement there is Maria Razumich-Zec, until recently the
Managing Director at the New York Palace. Razumich-Zec used to live in
Chicago while working for Hilton Hotels for several years.
Victor Tiffany serves as Vice President of Food and Beverage of the
Borgata. Prior to joining he was Director of Food and Beverage for the
Boca Raton Resort and Club in Boca Raton. He also worked for fifteen years
with Drew Nieporent of the Myriad Restaurant Group. Like Nieporent, Tiffany
earned his Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration from Cornell University.
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas has named Don Marrandino
President & Chief Operating Officer. Marrandino was most recently President
of Station Casinos East in Las Vegas, overlooking four hotel casinos. Prior
to working at Station Casinos, he worked at the Rio Hotel and Casino for
six years. Also at the Hard Rock, Yale Rowe was named Vice President of
Marketing. He most recently was the Director of Marketing for Green Valley
Ranch Resort & Spa in Las Vegas. Prior to this position, he worked
as the Director of Sales, Marketing and Entertainment for the Sahara in
Las Vegas.
Six Continents Hotels named Brian Quinn Regional Director of Development
for the Northeastern United States. Prior to joining Six Continents, he
held senior positions with Hilton Hotels Corporation and Bass Hotels &
Resorts. Also at Six Continents Gordon Watkins, a Cornell Hotel School
graduate, has been named Vice President of Development for the Western
United States. Prior to joining Six Continents, Watkins held several senior
positions in investment banking and hotel development with Tishman Hotel
Corporation, Deloitte & Touche and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.
Michael Murphy, who was the Director of Catering at the Four Seasons
Palm Beach, has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at the exclusive
Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough, New York.
At New York's Boutique Hotel Group Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Christopher Perry is assembling his team: Melinda Allen Bennett has been
hired as Corporate Director of Sales. Prior to joining Boutique Hotel Group,
she was Director of Sales and Marketing, North America, for Design Hotels
International since June 1999. Lourdes Del Valle joins the team as National
Sales Manager. She was most recently Director of Sales & Marketing
at the Empire Hotel in New York. Veronica Popova has been named Corporate
Sales Manager. She was previously Sales Manager at the Iroquois in New
York.
Colm O¹Callaghan is the Director of Food and Beverage at New York¹s
St Regis. An Irishman, O¹Callaghan had moved from California to New
York as the Director of Food and Beverage at the New York Palace prior
to being snapped up by the St Regis. In Los Angeles, O¹Callaghan had
been the Director of Food and Beverage at Merv Griffin¹s Beverly Hilton.
At the New York Palace, Jeffrey Seldon is the new Director of Catering.
He comes from the Pierre where he was the Assistant Director of Catering.
He had previously worked at the St Regis with current Pierre Director of
Catering Arthur Backal.
Ellen Miller is the General Manager of the newly renovated Hotel Oceana
Santa Barbara, sister property to Santa Monica's Oceana. Miller was until
the end of last year the General Manager of Avalon in Beverly Hills.
Six Continents Hotels has named Chris Ward Vice President of Strategy.
Prior to joining Six Continents, Ward was for six years at the Boston Consulting
Group.
At Miramonte in Palm Springs, Jean Pierre Alotte is out as General Manager
after seven years with the Marcus Corporation. He has been replaced by
Dana Holck, who comes from St Charles, Illinois. She has previously worked
with Marcus Vice President Operations Paul Upchurch, at Adams Mark Hotels.
Douglas Kemp leaves Hershey where he was in national sales for both
the Hershey Hotel and the Hershey Lodge, to become Director of Sales at
Orient-Express' Keswick Hall in Virginia.
William Hall is the new Managing Director of the Century Plaza in Los
Angeles. The peripatetic Hall has been going back and forth between the
East and West coasts in recent years. Among others, he has held the General
Manager position in Laguna Niguel, Pasadena and Naples with Ritz-Carlton.
Merril Yu has been appointed Executive Director for the Mansion, the
posh ultra-luxury high-roller "secret" annex to the 5,000+room MGM Grand
Las Vegas. Yu's international career took him to such properties as Peninsula¹s
Kowloon Hotel, Regent International Hotels in Auckland and Jakarta and
Pan Pacific Hotels in Auckland and San Francisco. He was also a rooms executive
at the Clift when Four Seasons still operated that hotel.
Jason Lapin, a Cornell graduate, is the General Manager of Craft Steak
at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. The new outlet, a joined venture between New
York chef Tom Collichio and the MGM Grand, will be replacing the Brown
Derby at the MGM Grand. Lapin was recently a partner in Jar, in Los Angeles
with chefs Mark Peel and Suzanne Tracht. It is homecoming to Vas Vegas
for Lapin who was, several years ago the opening General Manager at Wolfgang
Puck¹s Spago Las Vegas.
Also at the MGM Grand, Deborah Evans has been hired as Food and Beverage
Training Director. She was previously the Director of Food and Beverage
at the W San Francisco.
Kim Beto has been hired as Director of Beverage Operations at the MGM
Grand. A former Manager of Postrio in San Francisco, he was recently a
Regional Director for the Avenir Restaurant Group in San Mateo, responsible
for six restaurants.
Canadian (and US citizen) Jacques Villeneuve has been named General
Manager of the Pan Pacific San Francisco, replacing Volker Ulrich who retired
from the company. Prior to that, Villeneuve was the Hotel Manager at Bacara
in Santa Barbara for almost two years. He also served four years at the
Beverly Hills Hotel as Manager.
At the Bel-Air, the position of Executive Chef, which had been kept
vacant since Gary Clauson left for health reasons more than six months
ago, has been filled by Philippe Reininger. An Alsatian, the 41-year-old
Reininger made his name working with Louis Outhier at his seminal restaurant
L'Oasis in La Napoule as well as at the Grosvenor House in London and,
at the Swissôtel Lafayette. Instead of following the tracks of colleague
Jean-George Vongerichten who launched his own restaurant, followed since
by many more, Reininger stuck with hotels. He recently logged eleven years
with Ritz-Carlton where his last posting was at the former Ritz-Carlton
Rancho Mirage, since sold to Rockresorts and renamed the Lodge at Rancho
Mirage.
Speaking of the Bel-Air the property lost its Director of Sales Thulan
Banh, who joined Rosewood's Los Angeles Regional Sales Office as Director.
She had joined the Bel-Air merely one year ago, coming from Four Seasons'
Los Angeles Regional Sales Office. Prior to that she had worked for Sterling,
under new Rosewood Corporate Director of Sales Bob Boulogne. Bahn replaces
Rob Roche, who has left the company to open the Los Angeles Regional Sales
Office for Starwood¹s St Regis Brand.
Also at the Bel-Air, exit Director of Catering Deanna Maddalena, who
had been there for a few years, following a comparably stable tenure at
the Ritz-Carlton Huntington.
Randy Lewis is now the Executive Chef for Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates
in Sonoma County. Lewis, 32, was running Indigo, his own New Orleans restaurant
and was named one of the 10 best new chefs in America by Food and Wine
Magazine. Earlier, he worked at Norman's in Coral Gables, Florida, under
renowned Chef Norman Van Aiken. He was trained at the New England Culinary
Institute in Vermont.
Sean Worker has been named Senior Vice President, Sales at MeriStar
Hotels & Resorts. He reports to Hoyt Bacon, Chief Marketing Officer.
An Irishman, Worker was previously an Area Director of Sales with Bristol
Hotels & Resorts.
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts have appointed Paul Iacovino as Regional
Director of Sales and Marketing, Asia Pacific. He replaces Vice President
Sales and Marketing Jonathon Sicroff, who is now based in San Francisco.
James Cecil, General Manger of Carmel Valley¹s tony Bernardus Lodge,
now assumes the additional responsibility of Managing Director for Valley
Resort Management, a joint management entity for Bernardus and the Peninsula
Group¹s Quail Lodge, also in Carmel.
More changes at the St Regis Los Angeles: last month it was Food and
Beverage Manager Kurt Wiksten who joined his former boss Henri Birmele
at the Kor Group. Wiksten is now the General Manager of the Estrella Inn
Palm Springs. Prior to joining the St Regis, Wiksten was the Director of
Food and Beverage at the Omni Interlaken. Speaking of the Kor Group, Mark
Neubert, Vice President of Operations, is no longer part of the group:
his position has been eliminated. Also leaving the St Regis Los Angeles
is Director of Catering Laurie Weil who takes a similar position at La
Quinta in Palm Springs.
Gerard Van Grinsven, until recently the Vice President of Food and Beverage
for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, has been promoted to the position of
Vice-President/Director in charge of new hotel openings worldwide. His
successor in charge of food and beverage is Eric Steinbock, until now the
General Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland. In Cleveland, he is
being replaced with Elizabeth Mullins who found herself without a hotel
when Vail Resorts/Rockresorts took over the former Ritz-Carlton Rancho
Mirage in December. Vail Resorts appointed Herbert Spiegel as General Manager
of the newly renamed Lodge at Rancho Mirage.
Tom Juliano has been appointed General Manager of the Rosario Resort
on Orcas Island, a Rockresort. This came following the takeover of Rockresorts
by Vail Resorts. Juliano, who once was a regional man for a major Embassy
Suites franchisee, replaces Samuel Schorr, who left the company.
Bill Smith has been appointed President of Noble House Hotels and Resorts.
He was previously for the last six and a half years the President and Chief
Operating Officer of Silversea Cruises. An airline and cruise specialist,
he held positions with Costa, Commodore, Princess and Sitmar cruise lines
as well as the defunct Eastern and Braniff Airlines.
Adrian McNally has been promoted from Director, Front Office Services
at the Fairmont San Francisco to Rooms Division Manager at the Fairmont
San Jose.
At the Loews Santa Monica, Pat Clairmont has left as General Manager
to be replaced by John Thacker. The latter¹s successor at the Loews
Miami Beach is Mike Welly, who managed the Walt Disney World Dolphin at
Walt Disney World in Orlando. Thacker is now also a Regional Vice President
for Loews.
Christophe Rolland is the Head Sommelier at the soon-to-open Bastide,
Alain Giraud's restaurant in Los Angeles. Rolland was previously the sommelier
at Aqua in Las Vegas' Bellagio and at the famed Auberge de L¹Ill in
Illhausern, France. He joins Bastide Restaurant Manager Donato Poto, formerly
of the Water Grill in Los Angeles.
Roy Kretschmer has been named General Manager of the upcoming Hotel
Valencia Riverwalk San Antonio, scheduled to open in the fall of 2002.
Kretschmer was most recently Director of Rooms Operations for the Omni
Houston Hotel. He also held rooms positions at the Four Seasons Austin.
Bonnie Best has been named Corporate Director of Sales & Marketing
for the Valencia Group in San Antonio, currently building two luxury properties
in that city. Prior to joining Valencia, she was the pre-opening Director
of Sales & Marketing of the Westin Westminster in Denver. Best
was also Director of Sales & Marketing for the Westin Mission Hills
Resort in Rancho Mirage, California, from 1989 to 1992.
Emmanuel Guémon has been named Executive Chef at Grace Leo-Andrieu's
Cotton House on Mustique. He takes over from Jean-Jacques Ugé. Guémon
comes straight from equally posh Sandy Lane in neighboring Barbados where
he was the Executive Sous Chef to Mark Patten. Prior to Sandy Lane, Guémon
had held the same position, also under Patten, at the Anassa in Cyprus.
Jim Young has been named Vice President of Global Distribution for Six
Continents Hotels and Resorts. Prior to joining Six Continents Hotels,
Young was Managing Director, Distribution Planning, for Continental Airlines.
At Callaway Gardens in bucolic Pine Mountain, Georgia, Eric Scuiller
has left as Director of Food and Beverage, and has been replaced with Michael
Fleisen, formerly of the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.
Joe Henry has joined Callaway Gardens Resort as Director of Operations.
He joins after a twenty-five-year tenure at Nashville¹s Opryland Hotel.
Tracey Ford is the Director of Food and Beverage at the Grand America
in Salt Lake City where he takes over from Gérard Agid. Agid left
a few months ago to become the opening General Manager of the 110-room
Madison Hotel in Memphis, slated for an April opening. Ford once was the
Director of Food and Beverage at the Ihilani in Hawaii as well as Maui's
Grand Wailea Resort.
Olivier de Saint Martin is getting ready to open the 14-room Morris
House and Restaurant Olivier in Philadelphia. The house was built in 1787.
De Saint Martin was previously the Chef and a Partner in the Dock Street
Brewery and Restaurant also in Philadelphia.
Christopher Holbrook was named General Manager of the 91-room Monticello
Inn for the Kimpton Hotel Group. It is Holbrook¹s third posting with
the group. He was most recently the Executive Assistant Manager at the
newly opened Hotel Monaco New Orleans as well as the Hotel Monaco San Francisco.
He also spent two years as the Assistant General Manager at the Sir Francis
Drake Hotel and at the Galleria Park Hotel, both in San Francisco. Prior
to joining Kimpton, Holbrook spent three years with Hyatt in San Francisco
and Monterey.
David Maloney has been named Chief Financial Officer of Méridien
Hotels and James Lamb has been appointed Chief Information Officer for
the company. During the past two years, Maloney served as Chief Financial
Officer for Thomson Travel Group. Previously, Maloney served as Chief Financial
Officer of Avis Europe. James Lamb has over seventeen years of information
technology experience, including the last twelve with Perot Systems.
Debra Shinn is the new General Manager of Fess Parker's Wine Country
Inn & Spa. She joins from the Merv Griffin Hotel Group in Beverly Hills.
Prior to that, Shinn was the General Manager of the Beverly Hills Inn for
over five years. She also worked at the Hotel Bel-Air and was a Vice President
of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce.
David Feder has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer
of Boca Resorts. He replaces Richard Rochon who has resigned. Feder originally
joined the Boca Raton Resort & Club in 1987 as Senior Vice President
of Marketing and Sales, and was later named Senior Vice President and General
Manager. In 1999, Boca Resorts, Inc. acquired the Arizona Biltmore Hotel
and Spa in Phoenix and named Feder Senior Vice President and Managing Director.
He returned to the Boca in October of 2001 shortly after the sale of the
Arizona Biltmore to KSL Resorts.
Win Person has been transferred by Four Seasons from Director of Food
and Beverage at the Four Seasons Houston to the same position at the Sports
Club of the Four Seasons Dallas.
Ressul Rassallat is the new Chef de Cuisine at Dux, the signature restaurant
at the Peabody Orlando. He replaced Christophe Gérard who left in
August to take over as Chef at Park Plaza Gardens in Winter Park, Florida.
Rassallat was most recently a Sous Chef at L'Orangerie in Los Angeles.
Brian Hardy has been promoted from Assistant Manager of Spice Island
Beach Resort (a position he held for two years) to Resort Manager.
Sheldon Keens-Douglas replaces Hardy as Assistant Manager. He comes from
the Four Seasons Nevis. Also at Spice Island Michael Carroll is the
new Executive Chef. He previously worked for Forte, De Vere and Swallows
Hotels.
The new Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee, Florida
has promoted Jeanine Payne from Associate Director of Sales to Director
of Sales. Payne has been with the resort nearly two years. She was also
with the Buena Vista Palace Resort and Spa/Wyndham Palace, Orlando, as
the Associate Director of Sales. She was also previously in management
with the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Hyatt Orlando, Hyatt Regency Knoxville
and Hyatt Arlington.
The Pinehurst Company has announced the appointment of William Van Loon
as Vice President of Incentive Industry Sales. Van Loon most recently has
served as Senior Travel Program Manager for Maritz Travel Company.
Peter Wirth announces the arrival in California of Swiss hotelier/chef
Roberto Ruprecht, 52, once considered one of the most successful young
chefs in Geneva, with his one star Michelin Restaurant called "Au fer à
cheval". He has been named General Manager for the AAA 4 star Rocklin Park
Hotel at Rocklin, California. He replaces Dirk Oldenburg who joined a hotel
on the East Coast.
Frank Stocek left as General Manager of the Mandarin-Oriental Macau
to take over as General Manager of the Mandarin-Oriental Bermuda, Elbow
Beach. Stocek replaces Hartmut Zunk. Replacing Stocek in Macau is Jonas
Schuermann, previously Resident Manager of the Oriental, Bangkok.
Full circle for Executive Chef Eric Brunel who is again the Executive
Chef at the Grace Bay Club in the Turks and Caicos, after a two-and-a-half-year
stint at Orient-Express¹ Bora Bora Lagoon Resort. Brunel was
the top toque at Grace Bay from March 1997 to March 1999. Prior to
that he served as Executive Sous Chef at Rosewood¹s Little Dix Bay.
Todd Shallan has been promoted by KSL Resorts to Vice President and
General Manager of the historic Claremont Resort & Spa in Oakland,
California. Shallan brings more than 22 years experience in the hospitality
industry to the position, having most recently been Director of Operations
at KSL¹s famed Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa. Shallan is replacing
Ted Axe, who was appointed General Manager of KSL's newest hotel acquisition,
La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California. Shallan¹s career
has come full circle, since he began working in the hospitality industry
over 18 years ago at the St. Francis in San Francisco. He then worked in
catering and convention services at the Westin Hotel in Santa Clara, California
as well as the Ritz-Carlton in Rancho Mirage. He next spent five years
at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Florida. He was transferred by then-owner
Wayne Huizenga to the Arizona Biltmore, which has since then been purchased
by KSL. Shallan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Administration
from Cornell University.
Eric Bourdales has been promoted to General Manager of the Hotel Melia
Cohiba in Cuba. He previously was the Resident Manager at that same property.
Prior to joining Melia, Bourdales was the Executive Assistant Manager in
charge of Food and Beverage at the Conrad Rey Juan Carlos Primero in Barcelona.
Carlson Hospitality has named John Reynolds Vice President of Human
Resources. A 15-year Carlson employee, he was promoted from the Carlson
Marketing Group, where he was Vice President of Projects.
Executive Chef Hans Schadler, a renowned chef at Colonial Williamsburg
for 15 years, has returned home. Schadler has become the Director of Food
and Beverage and Executive Chef at the Williamsburg Inn and Historic Area
Hospitality Operations, which includes Colonial Williamsburg's four dining
taverns. The inn's current top chef, Calvin Belknap, will stay at Colonial
Williamsburg and take on a newly created position Food and Beverage Director
and Executive Chef at the Williamsburg Lodge, the Woodlands Hotel and Suites,
the two Golden Horseshoe golf clubhouses and the Woodlands Conference Center.
Schadler originally came to Colonial Williamsburg in 1982 as the inn's
Executive Chef and later added the titles of Food and Beverage Director
and Executive Chef at the Lodge and Inn. Belknap came to Colonial Williamsburg
in 1997, when Schadler left to become the Executive Chef of the Caneel
Bay Resort on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Schadler had already
worked as the top chef at the Caneel Bay Resort from 1968 to 1974.
Six Continents have transferred Philippe Schwartz to Regional Director
of Finance for the West Coast and Controller for the company¹s Mark
Hopkins Inter-Continental in San Francisco. Schwartz, a Frenchman, was
previously a Regional Controller for Six Continents, based in Athens, Greece.
He originally joined the company (then known as Inter-Continental Hotels)
in 1983.
Maarten van Wijk has resigned his position as General Manager of the
Hotel Hershey to take a "sabbatical", traveling to Utah where he worked
with Heineken in the Holland Heineken House during the 2002 Winter Olympics
in Salt Lake City. Van Wijk originally joined Hershey Entertainment &
Resorts Company in 1991 as Director of Food and Beverage at the Hershey
Philadelphia Hotel. He then became General Manager of the Hershey Country
Club in 1992. In 1994, Maarten was promoted to Assistant General Manager
at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center. In 1996, he assumed his position
of General Manager at the Hotel Hershey. A Dutchman, Van Wijk comes from
a high profile family of hoteliers and is a graduate of the Maastricht
Hotel School.
Gabriel Kreuther has been picked by Ritz-Carlton to be the Executive
Chef at their new Central Park South New York flagship slated for a spring
opening. Kreuther moves two blocks from Jean-George at Trump International
where he was the Chef de Cuisine. Also at the Ritz-Carlton New York at
Central Park South, Ronan Henaff will be in charge of the hotel's signature
restaurant. He was most recently the General Manager of Aqua at the St
Regis Monarch Bay. Henaff previously worked as Director of Operations for
New York¹s Le Bernardin.
Thomas Zeisel is the new General Manager at the Lodge at Cordillera,
a posh boutique property in Vail Valley. He replaces Jean-Marc Jalbert
who was the interim General Manager since September. Zeisel joins Cordillera
from the Chesterfield in Palm Beach. He had also been the General Manager
of the Mayfair House in Coconut Grove and Vail¹s Mountain House. As
for Jalbert, he is now the Director of Operations for the soon-to-open
(June 2002) Sofitel Chicago. The 400-room property, where Patrick Filatre
is the General Manager, also recently hired Olivier Bottois as Director
of Food and Beverage Operations. A nine-year veteran of Four Seasons Hotels
and Resorts, Bottois was most recently the Director of Food and Beverage
at Chicago¹s Ritz-Carlton. Rounding up the team as Executive Chef
is yet another Frenchman, Frédéric Castan, who was most recently
the Executive Chef at the Big Horn Country Club in the California desert.
Castan's previous stints as Executive Chef included the Westin South Coast
Plaza and the Ritz-Carlton Huntington.
Scott Mawhinney, former General Manager of the Hotel Bora Bora, is the
opening General Manager for the Soho Metropolitan in Toronto. The boutique
property will feature two restaurants and a spa, and is due to open at
the end of the year.
Johnny So has been moved by KSL Resorts from his position of General
Manager at La Quinta to that of General Manager at the Grand Wailea Resort
on Maui. So had originally joined KSL in August 2000. He had previously
logged five years with Starwood and fourteen with Loews Hotels. |