The soon-to-open AC Hotel by Marriott in Naples, Fla., has recruited an executive leadership team. OTO Development, part of The Johnson Group, is developing and will manage AC Hotel by Marriott Naples 5th Avenue, slated to open mid-December.
Jacob Kucinski will be general manager of the AC Hotel in Naples and Kimberly Hilty director of sales. Douglas Gaquer will be food and beverage director with oversight of Limón, the hotel’s signature rooftop restaurant and bar.
Kucinski previously was general manager of AC Hotel Spartanburg in upstate South Carolina, where his team consistently ranked in the Top 3 in guest satisfaction scores across the entire AC Hotels brand.
Hilty brings more than 20 years of hospitality sales and marketing experience to her role leading the sales effort at the new AC Hotel. A graduate of Penn State University, Hilty began her career at a convention hotel in downtown Philadelphia. Her company sent her to Naples on a task force assignment and she never left. After adopting Naples as her hometown, Hilty went on to open four hotels in the city—Inn on Fifth and three Marriott properties.
Gaquer brings 16 years in the corporate restaurant space to his role as opening director of food and beverage at Limón. In addition to management positions with Brinker International and Darden Inc., he has worked in boutique hotels.
Scheduled to open in December, the three-story, 150-room AC Hotel Naples 5th Avenue is located at 455 12th St. South in Naples, Fla. It’s the hospitality component of Naples Square, a mixed-use development master-planned by Wheelock Street Capital and The Ronto Group which also comprises nearly 300 luxury condominium units, multiple restaurants and a 350-seat performing arts complex.
OTO Development project partners for AC Hotel Naples 5th Avenue include MHK Architecture & Planning, architect; DLR Group, interior designer; DeAngelis Diamond, general contractor; and Kevin Barry Art Advisory, art curator.