A number of hotels—including two Hyatt-branded properties—have appointed new sales and marketing eladers in recent weeks. Here are some names to know.
Grace Bay Resorts
Grace Bay Resorts—the boutique owner, developer and operator of resorts and branded residences in Turks and Caicos—appointed Sara Archibald as northeast regional director of sales.
Archibald joins Grace Bay Resorts from Virtuoso, where she managed more than 500 hotel and resort accounts globally. As account manager, she was responsible for presenting, negotiating and selling marketing opportunities, as well as creating strategic marketing proposals aligned with clients' sales goals. Before her tenure at Virtuoso, Archibald was director of marketing and media at Bloom Metabolic Insights and as a marketing specialist at Alcalde & Fay.
Archibald holds a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Communications and Writing from Loyola University Maryland.
Hotel Granada
Aparium Hotel Group appointed Violaine Diogene director of sales and marketing of Hotel Granada in Midtown Atlanta.
Born in Jeremie, Haiti, and raised in Newton, Mass., Diogene earned her degree in marine biology but turned to hospitality when she began working in a hometown restaurant. Her career growth includes ventures in event planning, sales and catering, holding positions such as banquet manager for the Sheraton Colonial Hotel in Wakefield, Mass., director of sales and operations for An Exquisite Taste in Boston; director of catering sales at Hilton Marietta Conference Center in Marietta, Ga.; and associate director of sales at Hotel Yountville in Napa Valley, Calif. Most recently, she was the director of sales and marketing for the Hotel Colee in Atlanta. She is a member of the International Luxury Hotel Association and holds certifications through Meeting Professionals International and Wedding Industry Professionals.
Hotel Valencia Riverwalk
Hotel Valencia Riverwalk has hired Wendy Saurette and Erik Montemayor as senior sales managers.
Saurette most recently worked as marketing and leasing director at Tradition Senior Living in Houston. Before that, she was director of sales and marketing at Senior Lifestyle in Houston and senior sales manager at The Line Austin, Texas. Before these roles, she was senior sales manager for the Radisson Hotel & Suites Austin Downtown and in multiple sales management positions at several Omni Hotels & Resorts properties in Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas. She holds a bachelor's of business administration in marketing from the University of Houston – Downtown.
Montemayor most recently was sales manager at the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country Hotel. He also worked there as guest service manager. Before his positions there, he was sales manager for Tapatio Springs Hill Country Resort in Boerne, Texas; DoubleTree by Hilton in San Antonio; and the Staybridge Suites Downtown in the same city. He began his hospitality career as a sales assistant at the Hilton Palacio del Rio in San Antonio.
Hyatt Centric Downtown Denver
The Hyatt Centric Downtown Denver appointed Jessica Gonzales as the new senior catering and event sales manager.
A Colorado native, Gonzales earned a Bachelor of Science in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla. Her career began at the Marriott Denver Tech Center as an event operations manager. She then moved to Estes Park, Colo., to work as a wedding coordinator at The Stanley Hotel before serving as director of sales at The Estes Park Resort.
Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront
Hyatt Regency Jacksonville (Fla.) Riverfront appointed Janice Middlestadt senior sales manager.
Originally from Toronto, Middlestadt started her career with a tour operator company Canada 3000 Holidays as a customer relations manager. She attended the Toronto School of Business where she received her diploma in hospitality.
A few years after graduation, Middlestadt moved to Florida where she joined Sheraton Orlando North as a local business transient sales manager. She was promoted to senior sales manager and moved to Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista and then became director of national accounts for the Hiltons of Washington, D.C. After focusing on the D.C. market, Middlestadt held senior sales roles at the DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando Airport and an ADOS role at Courtyard by Marriott Orlando Lake Buena Vista at Vista Centre. Before joining the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, she worked as a regional sales manager at AD1 Global, a hospitality investment and development company.
Intercontinental Buckhead Atlanta
The Intercontinental Buckhead Atlanta appointed Kurt Schwan director of sales and marketing. Schwan has 20 years of experience within the Atlanta market working for luxury, convention and lifestyle brands like Hilton and various brands under the Marriott International umbrella. Schwan joined InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta in this leadership role April 29.
Schwan oversees and manages all aspects of group, catering and transient business segments for the hotel. He leads sales strategy and establishes market deployment for special corporate, leisure sales, association, citywide, social, sports and entertainment markets. He collaborates with revenue management to maximize room and banquet revenues and collaborates with CVB citywide sales teams to leverage relationships towards this business segment.
Before this position Schwan worked within The Ritz-Carlton brand within the greater Atlanta area for nearly 16 years in a variety of group sales roles. Before that he worked for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide for nearly five years under both The Westin and W brands, again in Atlanta. Schwan is a graduate of both SUNY Cobleskill with an associate degree in hotel management and Florida International University with a bachelor's degree in hospitality management.
James Madison Inn
The James Madison Inn, an MMI Hotel Group property in Madison, Ga., appointed Barbara Aycox as the new sales and operations specialist.
A Madison resident for more than a decade, Aycox most recently was sales manager at Marietta Times Journal, where she managed day-to-day operations and increased sales of local publications.
SpringHill Suites by Marriott Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront
Real estate investment and development company Key International and hotel owner, operator and developer Shaner Hotels have appointed Samantha Pritchard director of sales of the new 156-suite SpringHill Suites by Marriott Jacksonville (Fla.) Beach Oceanfront. Pritchard joins Michael Weihs, who recently joined Shaner as general manager last fall.
Pritchard joined Shaner Hotels as the dual director of sales for the Courtyard by Marriott Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront and the Fairfield Inn Jacksonville Beach in spring 2023 before a promotion to area director of sales in January. Her background is in hotel renovations and new construction, and she was director of sales of the Residence Inn Jacksonville, where she led the pre-opening sales efforts for the first extended-stay hotel in the Brooklyn Riverside market. Pritchard’s career began at Visit Jacksonville, where she brought in convention groups to the city’s hotels and attractions.