A number of hospitality businesses and management companies have promoted or appointed people to new leadership positions in recent weeks.
Marriott International
Marriott International appointed Saba Landmann SVP of global brand and portfolio PR. In this role, Landmann will be responsible for leading communications for the company’s brands.
Landmann joins Marriott from G-III Apparel Group, home to fashion brands including Donna Karan, Karl Lagerfeld, Vilebrequin and Sonia Rykiel, where she was VP of global communications. Landmann previously worked at Vince Holding Corp., Alice + Olivia and Halston. In addition, she spent five years as an account director at Factory PR.
Landmann is a graduate of New York University and will be based at Marriott International’s MILab offices in Manhattan.
Staypineapple Hotels
Pacific Northwest based third-party licensing and property management company Staypineapple Hotels added Ángel Redondo Tena to the organization’s business development team.
Redondo Tena brings more than 20 years of experience sourcing, underwriting, negotiating and creating hotel concepts globally, and has been involved in more than $3 billion worth of real estate transactions worldwide. Most recently, he held the position of VP of real estate for Jurny Hospitality, where he negotiated and closed more than 30 management agreements, tripling the Jurny Hospitality portfolio over his three-year tenure. Before his time with Jurny, Redondo Tena spent two years as the director of acquisitions and business development for Oakwood Worldwide, negotiating 15 new management agreements for the organization.
Staypineapple Hotels manages all 10 Staypineapple properties across the United States.
Kolter Hospitality
Kolter Hospitality appointed George Martinez the area director of revenue for a collection of three Florida-based Hyatt hotels. Martinez most recently was the director of revenue management of the Hyatt Centric Las Olas, supporting revenue efforts since he joined the pre-opening team in 2019.
In his new role, Martinez will continue to be responsible for leading the strategic positioning of both transient and group pricing as well as forecasting and budgeting top line revenues for the Hyatt Centric Las Olas in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and now also at Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Cruise Point and Hyatt Place Coconut Point in Estero, Fla.
Martinez started his hospitality career nearly 20 years ago at the front desk of the Sheraton Yankee Trader hotel in Fort Lauderdale Beach, where he eventually transitioned into the revenue management discipline. He has worked across Florida and the Caribbean, holding director positions at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Performance Hospitality and the W South Beach.
Twenty Four Seven Hotels
Twenty Four Seven Hotels, a third-party hospitality management company for hotels in the western U.S., promoted Amanda Hawkins-Vogel to the company’s newly created role of chief operating officer. Hawkins-Vogel will provide strategic guidance to all departments supporting the daily operations.
With three decades of international hospitality experience across Asia, Australia and the U.S., Hawkins-Vogel most recently was EVP of operations of Twenty Four Seven Hotels. Previously, she served as SVP of operations with Crescent Hotels & Resorts and VP of operations with Sage Hospitality. She held hotel-level leadership positions with Hilton, Shangri-La Hotels, Waldorf Astoria Naples and several luxury independent properties.
HEI Hotels & Resorts
Officials of hospitality investment and management company HEI Hotels & Resorts appointed Cindy Murphy regional VP of operations. Before joining HEI, Murphy was VP of operations and head of the Sonesta Select brand for Sonesta International Hotels Corp., where she was responsible for 224 company-managed hotels that generated $750 million annually. She also held similar roles with IHG as VP of franchise performance support and Trust Hospitality as VP of operations and technical services.
Murphy worked at Marriott International as senior director brand management for Marriott’s Autograph Collection and played a key role in the growth and long-term viability of Marriott’s luxury and upper upscale hotels. She held leadership roles with Choice Hotels and Hilton. Murphy received her Bachelor of Science in business administration with a concentration in hospitality management from DeVry University and her Master of Business Administration from Emory University Goizueta Business School.
Meyer Jabara Hotels
Management and ownership group Meyer Jabara Hotels appointed 30-year hotel finance veteran Jay Sarkar the company’s new chief financial officer.
In addition to managing the accounting processes for Meyer Jabara’s 31 individual hotels, Sarkar will plan the financial future of the management company. He will be working alongside the chief investment officer, VP of investments & asset management and the VP of development to get more hotels into the portfolio.
Most recently, Sarkar was CFO for StepStone Hospitality in Providence, R.I., and before that held a CFO post at Alena Hospitality in Orlando. He also held regional controller and numerous finance positions with Pyramid Hotel Group in Oak Brook, Ill.; Adams Mark Hotels in Indianapolis and Northbrook, Ill.; and numerous Starwood Hotels & Resorts in New York. Sarkar received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix and Bachelor in accounting degree from Mercy College in White Plains, N.Y.
KSL Resorts
Management company KSL Resorts promoted Ian Pullan to SVP of asset performance West. In his new role, Pullan will continue to concentrate on operations in KSL Resorts’ growing West Coast portfolio, collaborating with onsite hotel teams to ensure a strong and productive company culture. Previously the company’s VP of asset performance west, he also worked as VP/general manager of Monarch Beach Resort during his eight-year tenure with KSL Resorts.
With more than three decades of international hospitality industry experience, Pullan worked for more than 13 years with Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, holding various high-level positions. He got his start in the industry as a bellman in his native Ireland and has worked his way up the ranks since then.