President Robert Cotter will be retiring after 32 years from what is now Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Cotter, 53, joined Sheraton Hotels in 1973. Starwood acquired Sheraton in 1998. Cotter was named Chief Operating Officer in 2000 and President in 2004. There are no immediate plans to replace him at Starwood.

John Carnella, a Cornell graduate, has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. Prior to joining Fairmont, he served as Senior Vice President Finance and Treasurer of Host Marriott Corporation.

Khaled Hashem is the new Managing Director at Nantucket Island Resorts, taking over from Michel Ducamp, who has left the company. Hashem had been the General Manager and Director of Operations for the group since September 2004. He is also a seven-year Four Seasons veteran, for whom he opened the Four Seasons Amman as Hotel Manager.

Albert Mertz has been named General Manager at the soon-to-open (late 2005) Mandarin-Oriental Riviera Maya, in Mexico. Mertz is no newcomer to Mandarin-Oriental or to Mexico: he comes from the award-winning Mandarin-Oriental Miami, where he was the Resident Manager. Mertz opened the Miami property after opening the Loews Miami. He also served as Director of Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Cancun.

Peter Schall, Senior Vice President for Hilton Hotels and Managing Director of the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa is retiring at the end of July. Schall joined Hilton in 1965 and came to Hawaii in 1986 as the General Manager of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. In 1994, he became Director of Hilton's Hawaii region.

Randy Gantenbein has been appointed General Manager of the newly re-opened, 118-year-old, nine-room Britt Scripps Inn in San Diego. Prior to joining the Inn, Gantenbein was a marketing and new business development consultant with Project Dynamics, working with such companies as St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts and Peninsula. Gantenbein also had a fourteen-year career with Loews Hotels until 1992.

Rick Ueno is the new General Manager at the Sheraton Chicago. He had been the General Manager of the Westin Riverwalk in San Antonio for the past four years.

At Orient-Express, Clive O�Donoghue has been appointed General Manager of El Encanto Hotel & Garden Villas in Santa Barbara, taking over for Nick Davaz who has left the company. O'Donoghue was previously the Assistant General Manager at the Windsor Court. He joined Orient-Express in 2001 from the Four Seasons Austin where he was the Executive Assistant Manager, having been promoted from Food and Beverage Operations at the Four Seasons Dallas.

Robert Cioffi has returned to New Orleans as General Manager of the Wyndham Bourbon Orleans. Cioffi was formerly the Hotel Manager at the Wyndham Bel-Age. He also served as Director of Food and Beverage at the Loews Santa Monica and the Omni Royal Orleans.

Scott Mahr has been promoted from Assistant General Manager to General Manager at Barnsley Gardens, a property he originally joined in 1999. He takes over from Euan McGlashan who left the company and returned to Scotland.

Andrew Lee has been promoted to Vice President of Hospitality for Turning Stone from the position of Vice President of Food & Beverage. He is a former Resident Manager of the Resort at Squaw Creek.

Chuck Ocheltree is Vice President of Operations for EMCVenues. He was most recently a Senior Vice President for Sentry Hospitality for seven years.

Ian Powell has been named General Manager of the Fairmont Hamilton Princess. He comes from the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, where he served as General Manager since 1998.

Nicholas Dimeglio is now the General Manager of the Williamsburg Inn as well as the Director of Food and Beverage for Colonial Williamsburg Companies. Dimeglio was, for the past eights years, a Vice President for Guest Services, a family-owned hotel management company.

Ali Ozer is the General Manager/Director of Hotel Operations at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. Ozer has been with the resort for the past four years, most recently as its Director of Quality Assurance.

Leo Percopo is the new Director of Operations at the Phoenician. Percopo is a Starwood transfer, having been the General Manager of the Westin Galleria/Oaks in Houston. At the Phoenician, he takes over from Tim Steckbeck, who has left the company.

Pierre Beswick is the General Manager of the Sands at Grace Bay. He comes from Island Outpost, where he served as Hotel Manager of the Caves in Jamaica.

Andrea Enzo Melotti is now the Director of Hotel Operations Worldwide for Hard Rock Hotels based in Orlando. He was most recently the Managing Director of the Bentley Group in Miami. He also served as General Manager of Miami�s Raleigh.

Omar Said is now the Director of Residences at the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota. Said has been with Ritz-Carlton for twelve years, most recently at the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas and previously at the Ritz-Carlton Dearborn.

Alan Klein has been promoted to Director of Operations at the Westward Look Resort after being the resort�s Rooms Division Manager for five years.

Joe Derks is Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Hard Rock Hotels based in Miami. Prior to his joining HRH, Derks was the Regional Director of Marketing and Managing Director of Global Sales for the Morgans Hotel Group (formerly Ian Schrager Hotels) for six years and spent ten years with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.

Mel Logan is the Director of Sales and Marketing for the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort & Casino, the Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino and La Terrasse Suites Maho Village, all in St. Maarten. He previously held sales and marketing positions with Hilton International in the Caribbean and Latin America, Hyatt International Mexico and Allegro Resorts.

Jamie Bruce is Vice President Sales and Marketing for Coral Hospitality. Bruce had been with KSL Resorts since 1999 in Miami and Hawaii. He also spent four years at Sol Kerzner�s Atlantis in the Bahamas.

Pete Zudyk is the Area Director of Sales and Marketing for the Kor Group in Chicago. Zudyk was previously the Director of Sales and Marketing at both the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago and the W Chicago Lakeshore. Kor is launching three hotels in Chicago this year.

Victor Woo will be the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Hotel del Coronado. He is being transferred by KSL Resorts after assuming the role of interim General Manager at the Claremont in Oakland along with his duties in Sales and Marketing, pending the takeover of the hotel by Fairmont.

Catherine Faber has been named Director of Sales & Marketing for the Inns of Monterey, a collection of four boutique properties. Faber comes from the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa where she was a Sales Manager She also spent four years at the Carmel Valley Ranch.

Thomas Thorn has been promoted to Area Director of Sales for Kimpton Hotels. Thorn was formerly the Director of Sales at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge.

Nicole LeBoeuf is Director of Sales at Kimpton�s Hotel Onyx in Boston. She previously served as Business Transient Sales Manager at the Radisson Hotel Boston and was Corporate Sales Manager at the Radisson Riverfront in Augusta. 

Talin Kugu is Area Director of Revenue for Kimpton in Boston. Kugu spent most of her career with Swissôtel, both in Istanbul and Boston. 

Danielle St Louis is the new Director of Human Resources at the Windsor Court. She came from the W Seoul, and takes the position left vacant when Laura Hamilton left to join the opening team at the InterContinental Atlanta.

Tamir Shanel will be the new Director of Food and Beverage at Las Vegas� Venetian, a position that had been vacant for one year. Shanel, a fifteen-year Four Seasons veteran, slides over from the position of Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Las Vegas.

Jens Kliemann has been named Director of Wine and Cuisine at Meadowood. He was most recently at the Vintners Inn in a similar capacity. Kliemann also worked as Director of Restaurant Operations at the Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa.

Patrick Cowen was promoted to Director of Food and Beverage at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. He was formerly the Assistant Director of Food & Beverage at the hotel.

Frederick Fung has been promoted to Director of Food and Beverage at the Mandarin-Oriental Miami. Fung had previously held the position of Director of Catering & Conference Management at the hotel.

At China Grill Management, Michael Flint becomes Regional Director of Operations for New York. Flint moves from London, where he held a similar post, watching over China Grill Operations at Sandersons and St. Martin�s Lane.

William Hacking becomes the Assistant Regional Director at China Grill Management, based in New York. Hacking was previously the Director of Food and Beverage at the Hard Rock Chicago, for China Grill, following a seven-year stint at the Four Seasons Philadelphia.

Stéphane Gras is the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Newport Beach. Gras moves from France where he was the Food and Beverage Manager at the Château de Bagnols near Lyon. This is a return to Four Seasons for Gras who was formerly in Food and Beverage operations at the Four Seasons Austin and the Four Seasons New York.

Debra Shinn has been promoted to Rooms Division Manager at the Peninsula Beverly Hills. Shinn joined the hotel three months ago as Director of Sales-West Coast. She was previously the Director of Sales and Catering at San Ysidro Ranch and the General Manager of Fess Parker�s Wine Country Inn and Spa.

Lynn Brutman is the Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Miami. Brutman moves from the same position at the Four Seasons Newport Beach.

Andrew Broderick has been appointed Assistant Rooms Division Manager at Raffles L'Ermitage in Beverly Hills. He was previously with Abercrombie & Kent Destination Clubs in Aspen. Prior experience also includes four years at the Little Nell in various rooms division positions.

Robert Curry will be the new Executive Chef at Napa Valley�s legendary Auberge du Soleil, starting later this month. Curry had been the Executive Chef at the Culinary Institute of America's Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant for the past year. A well-known figure in Napa Valley�s food world, he also spent eight years at Domaine Chandon, first as Sous Chef to Philippe Jeanty, then as Executive Chef when Jeanty left to open Bistro Jeanty in Yountville.

Joseph Humphrey, who was the Executive Chef at Auberge du Soleil, has reconnected with his former employer and mentor George Morrone. He will be the Chef at Morrone�s Boca, due to open in Novato later this spring. Humphrey had worked under Morrone at Bradley Ogden�s One Market, at the Fifth Floor, at the short-lived Redwood Park, and at the Mina Group.

Kimball Jones has taken over from Philip Wang as Executive Chef of Carneros Inn, also in Napa. Jones had been the Executive Chef of Wente Vineyards for several years.

Rolf Weithofer is the new Executive Chef at El Conquistador Resort and Casino. Weithofer has spent the past eighteen years with InterContinental Hotels in Los Angeles, Hawaii and most recently in Puerto Rico, as Executive Chef.

David Yeo has been named Executive Chef at Asia de Cuba at the Clift in San Francisco. Yeo�s previous stints as Executive Chef included the Straits Café in Santa Monica and the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa. He also toiled at Tavern on the Green, Le Cirque and Joel Robuchon.

Katsuo "Suki" Sugiura is now the Executive Chef at the Beverly Hilton. Sugiura was previously the Executive Chef at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where his successor is Eric Scuiller.

Rodger Martin is the new Executive Chef of the Homestead.  His twenty-five-year career has included stints at the Grand Hyatt New York, the Mandalay Four Seasons and Halekulani. 

Jamie West comes back to his hometown to be the Executive Chef at the Westward Look Resort in Tucson. He was previously the Chef at the Mayflower Inn. West also served as the Executive Chef of San Ysidro Ranch. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.

David Mc Callum is Executive Chef at Coral Sands on Harbour Island. He previously held comparable posts at Pink Sands and Cotton House.

Michel Ré is now the Executive Chef at the Flamingo Las Vegas. Ré was previously at Bally�s and Paris La Vegas both sister properties to the Flamingo. He also was the opening Executive Chef at the Conrad Istanbul.

Carlo Apolloni is the Chef at New York�s Osteria del Circo. Apolloni comes from Le Cirque in Las Vegas.

Patrick Farjas is at the California Culinary School as Chef de Cuisine at the newly reopened Academy Grill. Farjas was previously at the Olympic Club at Lakeside in San Francisco.

Glenn Jones is the Chef de Cuisine at Michael Mina at Bellagio. Jones comes from Bouchon at the Venetian where he was the Executive Sous Chef. He originally came to Las Vegas as the Chef de Cuisine at Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Bruno Lopez has been appointed Chef de Cuisine at the Hotel Bel-Air with the mandate to bring the famed restaurant back to the forefront of Los Angeles�s fine-dining scene. Lopez had recently left the Regent Beverly Wilshire where he had been the Executive Chef since July 2004.

Gregory Gourreau is the Pastry Chef at Mix Las Vegas. Gourreau was previously at the St. Regis Monarch Beach, Osteria del Circo, Le Cirque at the Bellagio, Restaurant Daniel, and the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco.

Michael Collins is the Banquet Chef at Bacara. He was previously with the Beverly Hills Hotel and St. Regis Monarch Beach.

Jan-Bastian Breuer is the Restaurant Director at the newly-opened Palms Resort and Spa in Turks and Caicos. Breuer was previously at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, most recently as Director of Restaurants.

Ignace Lecleir is the new General Manager at Restaurant Daniel in New York. Lecleir comes from Gary Danko in San Francisco and was previously at L�Orangerie in Los Angeles. At Daniel, he takes over from Michael Lawrence, who moves up to Dinex�s corporate office.

Keith Fergel is the Restaurant Manager for Charlie Trotter at "C" at the One and Only Palmilla. Fergel was previously at the Fifth Floor in San Francisco.

Laurent de Kousemaeker is Vice President in charge of development for Spain and Portugal for Marriott. He will be based out of Madrid. He previously worked with HVS International for six years, most recently as Director of their Madrid office.

Régis Lecendreux is the General Manager at the Hotel de Castille in Paris. He was previously with GLA International as General Manager of the Hotel Lancaster, which he left last summer. Also for GLA, Lecendreux was the General Manager of the Hotel Montalembert. The Castille is now part of StarHotels of Italy.

Thomas Noll has been appointed General Manager of the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg, by Orient-Express. He comes from the nearby Corinthia Nevskij Palace, where he was the General Manager for over three years.

Pascal Groell is the new General Manager of Starwood�s Trianon Palace and Spa in Versailles. He joined the company at the Sheraton Hotel Paris Airport in 1997 as Director of Food and Beverage and was later promoted to Director of Operations.

Giampaolo Ottazzi is the General Manager of the Hotel Caruso in Ravello. He spent several years at Orient-Express� Hotel Splendido, in different positions and was recently managing the Hotel Continental and the Park Hotel in Siena. His career also includes significant experience with Starwood and the Villa d'Este Group.

Alain Mourgues is the new General Manager of the Grand Hôtel de Saint-Jean-de-Luz replacing Philippe Berry. A Lausanne graduate, Mourgues comes from the Sofitel Montpellier.

Vincent Rouard has been named General Manager at the Moulin de Lourmarin and at La Bastide de Capelongue. He joins Edouard Loubet in Lourmarin after two years at the Hotel Mirabeau in Monaco as Director of Food and Beverage.

Franco Girasoli has been appointed Hotel Manager of Orient-Express� luxe Villa San Michele in Florence. Girasoli started at the Villa San Michele in 1986 and had been a Deputy Manager since 1994.

Gerard Denneny is the Resident Manager at the Carlton Tower in London. Denneny spent the last five years as the Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Dublin.

Jean-Pierre Trévisan is now the Director of Operations at the Cercle de L�Union Interalliée in Paris. Trévisan was previously the Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons George Cinq, which he had joined in October 2001 from the Hotel InterContinental Paris.

Andrea Filippi has been appointed Regional Director of Sales and Marketing at Orient-Express Hotels for their four Italian properties. Trained at the Hotel Splendido, Filippi is a former Starwood, Hyatt and Four Seasons man.

Hannes Borchers is the Director of Sales and Marketing at the InterContinental Duesseldorf due to open this summer. Borchers comes from the Kempinski Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Munich where he was the Director of Sales. He also spent five years at the Four Seasons Berlin.

Isabelle Bouvier Rosski is the new Sales and Marketing Director - France for Starwood. She was previously the group�s Director of Sales and Marketing for the Paris area.

Sabina Galdiolo has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing at Sina Hotels. She comes from the Aldrovandi Palace in Rome and also held sales positions at the Hotel and Palazzo al Bauer in Venice and at the Hotel Hassler in Rome. She replaces Matilde Salvo, who has been appointed Vice President of Sina Hotels.

Simon Tanner is now the Corporate Director of Food and Beverage for Global River Cruises. Tanner was formerly on the QE2 Cruise Ship, Orient-Express Trains & Cruises and more recently Executive Chef of London's Le Méridien Piccadilly.

Lausanne graduate Sébastien Noat will be the opening Director of Food and Beverage at the Monte Carlo Bay Resort. Noat has been with Shangri-La since 2001 in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. He previously spent four years with Ritz-Carlton in the United States.

Peter Drescher, the former Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Doha, is now the Corporate Executive Chef for Athens-based Crekotels.

Benoit Rambaud is the Chef de Cuisine at Le Jardin des Cygnes restaurant of the Hôtel Prince de Galles in Paris. He takes over from Dominique Cécillon who is retiring and is planning to open a culinary school for children.

Maytza Ouy is the Executive Housekeeper at Domaine de Fayence. Ouy comes from the Dolce Frégate and was previously at Disney Paris.

Roland Muntzer transfers as General Manager to the Hilton Yaounde. Muntzer comes from the Hilton Algiers where he has been the General Manager for the past three years.

Nick Chatzipetros is opening the Al Raha Beach Hotel in Abu Dhabi as Food and Beverage Manager. Chatzipetros was previously the Acting Food and Beverage Director at the Sofitel Athens Airport Hotel.