A number of hotel companies have filled executive positions during the past month.
Terrapin Hospitality
Terrapin Hospitality named Sarah Garcia SVP of sales and marketing. Garcia is a long-term hospitality professional with more 20 years of hospitality experience in sales, marketing and revenue management. She will run the company’s sales organization, including full-service, select-service and economy properties.
Before joining Terrapin, Garcia was corporate VP, sales and marketing for Aimbridge Hospitality. She also served as VP, sales, marketing, and revenue management for Shamin Hotels and held positions with Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Noble Investment Group and Columbia Sussex Corp.
Great Wolf Resorts
Tim Brown has been named chief development officer for Great Wolf Resorts. He most recently was global head of construction for Hyatt Hotels Corp. Before Hyatt, Brown oversaw the development of approximately $1 billion in real estate as EVP development for Turnberry Associates, a Florida-based company that develops, owns and operates hotels, malls/retail centers, office buildings and condominium projects. Before joining Turnberry, Brown managed resort projects globally as senior VP development for Kerzner International. Earlier in his career, Brown held roles with a multidisciplinary engineering company, a general contractor and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.
Remington Hotels
Remington Hotels appointed Keith Oltchick SVP of acquisitions & development. Oltchick will be responsible for the growth and expansion of Remington Hotel’s third-party platform and supporting clients in acquisitions, management transitions and new-build development efforts.
Oltchick has held a variety of senior leadership roles with industry brands such as Hersha Hospitality Trust and Marriott International. Most recently, Oltchick served as SVP of business development at Pyramid Hotel Group, a privately owned full-service hotel and resort company.
Charlestowne Hotels
Hospitality management company Charlestowne Hotels promoted Maxwell Spangler to the newly formed role of corporate technology & systems manager. Spangler now will lead data and information technology support for Charlestowne while expanding portfoliowide initiatives, including designing, developing and deploying new software and technology systems.
Spangler brings seven years of hospitality experience to this new technology-focused role, with the majority of his career spent working in front-of-house and corporate positions within the Charlestowne Hotels portfolio. His most recent position was as Charlestowne’s corporate operations manager.
Capella Hotel Group
Vishal Daga is the new VP of business development at Capella Hotel Group. Daga joins Capella from Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, where he was most recently the senior director of development for Asia Pacific, in charge of sourcing and acquisition of new projects within the region. Before this, he spent almost 10 years with Six Senses, joining as a development & corporate finance manager before being promoted to corporate director of development.
Preferred Hotels & Resorts
Caroline Klein was promoted to chief communications officer at Preferred Hotels & Resorts. In her new role, Klein will lead corporate positioning efforts, managing the company’s reputation through consistent messaging across all touchpoints; developing new and enhanced communications strategies; and overseeing all aspects of corporate communications. She will also serve as chief communications officer of Preferred’s sister division, PHG Consulting.
Klein has worked as part of the Preferred team since August 2012, first as senior manager of public relations for the Americas before being quickly promoted to take on global responsibilities, in addition to greater functions such as corporate communications, social media, crisis management and executive communications, most recently serving as EVP of corporate communications & public relations. Previously, Klein worked with public relations agencies in New York and Chicago, focusing exclusively on luxury travel and hospitality clients.
Island Hospitality Management
Island Hospitality Management, a third-party management company for select-service and upscale extended-stay hotels in the United States, appointed Samantha Fisher as chief investment officer. In this new role, Fisher will spearhead growth and development strategies for Island Hospitality’s portfolio, underwrite and source deals, and manage and establish key relationships with potential investors.
A 17-year veteran of the hospitality investment sales industry, Fisher joins Island after serving as SVP and managing director at Hodges Ward Elliott. Before that, she served in a similar position at Jones Lang LaSalle. Fisher also currently acts as principal for a private venture, Three Palm Capital, a privately held hotel investment and advisory company focused on acquiring, renovating, and asset managing hotels.
Aimbridge Hospitality
Global third-party hotel management company Aimbridge Hospitality promoted David Capps to EVP of development. Capps has been with Aimbridge Hospitality’s business development team for a decade, identifying management growth opportunities across all hotel verticals, fostering new joint venture opportunities, and working with capital partners, lenders, brokers and brands. Before Aimbridge Hospitality, he served as assistant VP of Merrill Lynch Capital and as assistant finance manager for Merrill Lynch Global Banking Group.
Aimbridge also promoted Simon Mendy and Ben Perelmuter to executive vice presidents of operations, where they will report directly to Global President Mike Deitemeyer. Mendy is an authority on the extended-stay sector and Perelmuter in the select-service category.
Mendy joined Aimbridge in 2018 as SVP of operations, bringing with him 20 years of hospitality management experience. Before Aimbridge, he was EVP of operations of Extended Stay America. During that time, he also served as SVP, VP of training, standards, guest relations, and regional positions in operations and revenue management. Additionally, Mendy was an adjunct professor at the Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Perelmuter’s Aimbridge career began as general manager of the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa (Fla.) Westshore in 2007. He then progressed to a corporate regional director of operations, VP of operations and SVP of operations leading Select Service hotels. Before Aimbridge, his hotel operations background included various food-and-beverage management positions at Grand Hyatt New York, Hyatt Regency New Orleans, and Marriott Suites Clearwater Beach. He also serves on the Aloft and Hyatt select-service brand franchise advisory boards.