THE AMERICAS

After forty years as a distinguished hotelier, Stan Bromley has shelved his prank book and is retiring as Regional Vice President and General Manager of the Four Seasons San Francisco. Bromley, 61, attended the Ecole Hotelière in Lausanne with his first job at the Hilton Hotel in Paris. He was then recruited by James Nassikas to San Francisco's Stanford Court in 1970 as Food and Beverage Manager. Bromley was Hyatt's Vice President of Food and Beverage, prior to joining Four Seasons as the General Manager of the Clift. He ran the Four Seasons Washington DC prior to returning to San Francisco to launch its new Four Seasons. Not one to stay idle too long, Bromley will be advising Meadowood owner William Harlan on an expansion of the resort.

Bob Boulogne has been promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. He had joined Rosewood in 2001 as Vice President Marketing. Boulogne was a co-founder of the Sterling Group with two other Four Seasons alumni. His career with Four Seasons included a stint as Director of Marketing at the Pierre.

Arich Berghammer has joined SBE Restaurants as Chief Operating Officer. Berghammer had been with House of Blues Entertainment since 1996, most recently as Chief of Staff and National Senior Director of Operations. He also ran the House of Blues in West Hollywood as General Manager. In addition, Berghammer was with the University Restaurant Group/King Seafood for twelve years.

Cornellian Peter Karpinski has been appointed Senior VP Restaurants for Sage Hospitality Resources in Denver. Karpinski was most recently Corporate Director of Operations at Starr Restaurant Organization and previously Director of Restaurants at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

At MGM Mirage, Bart Mahoney has moved from Vice President Food and Beverage at the Mirage to the same position at Bellagio, replacing Win Person. At the Mirage, Christina Clifton moves up from Director of Food and Beverage to Vice President of Food and Beverage.

Mark Birtha has been named Vice President of Development for the W Las Vegas Hotel, Casino and Residences. Birtha, a Cornell graduate, began his Las Vegas career at the Mirage in their management development program. He was part of the pre-opening team of the Bellagio rising to Assistant Director of Beverage. Birtha joined the Venetian as a Conference Services Manager in 2000 eventually rising to Executive Director of Casino Marketing Administration for the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

The Gencom Group has appointed Herbert Spiegel, currently a Vice President of RockResorts and Managing Director of the Lodge at Rancho Mirage, to Vice President and Managing Director of GENLB-Rancho LLC that acquired the Palm Springs hotel in August. Spiegel is a former Vice President of the Coastal Hotel Group, for whom he ran the Cheeca Lodge & Spa, now a Rockresort.

Andrew Pascal has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of Wynn Las Vegas succeeding Marc Schorr, who will continue to serve as Chief Operating Officer of Wynn Resorts, Limited. Pascal, who was Executive Vice President and COO of Wynn Las Vegas, has been with Wynn Resorts since 2003 and previously with the Golden Nugget and the Mirage.

Darren Law has been named Managing Director of the Oceanside Holding Company on Turks and Caicos, the operators of the Palms and the Sands. Law was previously with Conrad Hotels & Resorts, most recently as General Manager of the Conrad Cairo. He replaces William Anderson, who launched the Palms as one of the Caribbean's finest destinations.

Jean-Pierre Alotte has been appointed General Manager at the Lodge at Tiburon. Alotte was most recently the General Manager at Kimpton's Villa Florence. He also served as General Manager at the Hotel Madison in Memphis, Pala Mesa Resort in Temecula and Miramonte Resort in Palm Springs.

Ulrich Samietz is transferring to the Hyatt Sacramento as General Manager. Samietz previously worked in a similar capacity at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza, the Park Hyatt Los Angeles and the Park Hyatt Highlands Inn in Carmel.

Hans Van Der Reijden has been appointed General Manager of Hotel 71 in Chicago and will remain during the rebranding to Solis Chicago, Hotel & Spa. Solis is operated under the umbrella of the West Paces Hotel Group, founded by Horst Schulze in 2002. Van der Reijden joined the West Paces Hotel Group in 2003 and previously spent eleven years with Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis, Tyson's Corner, New York, San Francisco, Buckhead and Bali. Hotel 71 was originally due to be converted into a Viceroy by the Kor Group. The link to West Paces came following a change of ownership.

Todd Iacono is the Operations Manager at Chicago's Hotel 71. He comes from the Hilton Pasadena where he has been the General Manager for the past year. He had previously been the General Manager at the James in Scottsdale and the Maritime in New York.

Tim Kirwan has been appointed General Manager at the soon-to-open Hotel InterContinental Boston. Kirwan served most recently in the same capacity at the Boston Commonwealth Hotel, a property he launched. Well known in the Boston area, Kirwan ran the Bostonian there.

The Deerhurst Resort has named Joseph Klein General Manager. He came from the Fairmont Algonquin Hotel in New Brunswick, where he has held the position of General Manager since February 2003. He was previously Director of Operations at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta and Regional Director of Training for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

Saundra Goldman is the new General Manager for the Doubletree Hotel Downtown Houston. She served most recently as General Manager of the Doubletree New Orleans Lakeside.

Frederick Sawyers has been promoted to General Manager of the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. He most recently served as Hotel Manager of both the Hilton New Orleans Riverside and the Hilton New Orleans Airport.

Craig Mouney has been promoted to General Manager of the Hilton New Orleans Airport from the position of Executive Manager at the same property.

George Corchis has joined the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino as the resort's new President. Corchis' appointment marks his return to MGM Mirage where he previously served in a financial capacity with the Mirage Resort & Casino in the early 1990s. Most recently, Corchis served in a dual role for Harrah's as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Horseshoe Casino & Hotel and the Sheraton Casino & Hotel, both in Tunica.

The James Hotel Scottsdale has promoted Karen Sullivan to General Manager. Sullivan was promoted from Director of Sales and Marketing at the hotel.

Franck Arnold has joined the Jefferson in Washington, DC as General Manager. A graduate of IHMI Cornell-Essec, he was most recently the Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Chicago. He previously was with InterContinental for over thirteen years.

Geoffrey Mills has been appointed Managing Director at the Crowne Plaza at the United Nations (formerly the Tudor). He was previously the Managing Director of the Melrose (the former Barbizon) that has been closed in preparation for conversion into private residences.

Carlton Hudson has joined the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Studios in Orlando as General Manager. Hudson was most recently in the same position at the House of Blues in Chicago, also a Loews Hotel. He was previously General Manager at the Standard Downtown LA, the W Chicago Lakeshore and the W in New Orleans.

George Aquino has been named General Manager of the new JW Marriott Hotel Grand Rapids. He had been the Director of Operations and Marketing at the Amway Grand Plaza since 2000.

Georges Lavigne has been named General Manager of the 400-room Clarion Hotel DFW South. He previously ran the Clarion Amarillo for the same owners.

Marco Perry has been promoted to General Manager of the Heritage House Inn in Mendocino with GHM Hotels. He transfers from the Setai where he had been the Food and Beverage Manager since last May. Prior to joining GHM, Perry was the Director of Food and Beverage at Soho House in New York and also worked in a similar capacity at the Mark.

Jim Oliver is the new Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach taking over from Liam Doyle, who is returning to Ireland. Oliver comes from the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans where he was in the same position. He originally joined the company in 1984 at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead as Beverage Manager.

Andrew Gajary was promoted to Hotel Manager at the InterContinental Hotel Cleveland. He most recently served as Manager for InterContinental's other properties on the Cleveland Clinic campus, the InterContinental Suite Hotel and the Cleveland Clinic Guesthouse. Gajary has been with InterContinental for eight years following twelve years with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts.

Richard McLennan has been named Hotel Manager of the Island Hotel (formerly the Four Seasons Newport Beach). McLennan, a former General Manager of the St. Regis Aspen, most recently led Starwood Vacation Ownership at the St. Regis Residence Club Aspen.

Christopher Eastmond has been promoted to the position of Resort Manager at Carlisle Bay in Antigua. He had been the Director of Rooms at the hotel since November 2003. Prior to that, he worked as a Front Office Manager at Sandy Lane in Barbados.

Antonio Alvarez, former General Manager of the Gran Hotel La Florida in Barcelona, is now the Director of Operations at the Palacio Duhau-Park Hyatt Buenos Aires. Alvarez is a former Ritz-Carlton man who toiled at the Hotel Arts in Barcelona, Ritz-Carlton Buckhead and the Ritz-Carlton New York Battery Park.

Tomas Zeisel has joined the Bonaventure Resort and Golden Door Spa in South Florida as Director of Operations. Zeisel has previously been the General Manager of the King Charles Inn and the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera.

Bruce Koch is the Chief Financial Officer at Philadelphia's Starr Restaurant Organization. He had been involved with the company for years as the company's outside accountant. This was incorrectly stated in our previous newsletter.

Thushara Periera has accepted the position of Assistant Director of Finance at the new Four Seasons Palo Alto. Periera was at the Four Seasons Newport Beach for 12 years, starting his career as a Driver. Also from the Four Seasons Newport Beach finance department, Martha Kazmierski has transferred to Four Seasons Washington DC. Kazmierski has also worked for Four Seasons Los Angeles in multiple positions.

Thomas Harlander has transferred to the Park Hyatt Los Angeles as Director of Food and Beverage. Harlander was most recently the Food and Beverage Director at the Park Hyatt Washington DC and was previously Assistant Food and Beverage Director at the Hyatt Regency Cologne.

Patrick Davila has joined Meadowood as Food and Beverage Director replacing Jens Kliemann who has left the company. Davila was most recently at the Alden (formerly the Sam Houston Hotel). He also served the Patina Group in Los Angeles as Director of Restaurants.

Pablo Cogolludo has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at the Grand Melia Cancun. He was most recently the Regional Food and Beverage Director at Playa del Sol Resorts.

The Orlando World Center Marriott Resort and Convention Center has promoted Dennis Kolodziejski from Executive Chef to Director of Food and Beverage.

Jason Pallen has joined the Millenium Broadway in New York as Director of Food and Beverage. He joins from the Waldorf=Astoria where he spent seven years in various food and beverage management positions.

Emmanuel Pérignon has joined Cuisinart in Anguilla as Director of Food and Beverage, following a six-month stint in the same position at the Château de Bagnols. Pérignon previously worked at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos, Le Méridien Bora Bora and Le Gavroche in London.

Tom Santora has been named Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Kor Group. Santora joined the group in 2002 following sixteen years with Marriott.

Barcelo Hotels & Resorts announced the appointment of Rick McCauley as Director of Sales & Marketing for Canada. He was most recently with First Choice Canada where he was the head of the Product Department and a specialist in Latin America.

Ed Schwitzky is Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing for the Coastal Hotel Group, following twenty one years with Westin as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Arizona Biltmore and the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa.

Barceló Hotels & Resorts has appointed Linda Finley to Director of Group Sales, Incentives & Meetings to be based in Orlando. She joins from Occidental Hotels & Resorts where she was Director of Group Sales.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has named Cory Hagopian Director Global Sales, Retail Travel. Hagopian joined Fairmont in 1995 and held various sales positions at the Fairmont Royal York, Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, the Plaza and, most recently, the Fairmont Copley Plaza.

Azadeh Nashat is the new Brand Manager for the Kor Group. Nashat joined Kor three years ago as the Catering Events Producer at the Viceroy Santa Monica prior to a promotion to General Manager at Maison 140 and, more recently, to General Manager of the Chamberlain. Prior to joining Kor, Azadeh worked for other brand identity companies including ReVerb and Spiral West.

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has appointed Mary McCarthy as Director of Sales for the Eastern United States and Canada based in New York replacing Carolyn Blackburn. McCarthy was most recently Director of New Business Development at the Leading Hotels of the World and also previously directed sales efforts at Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's New York office as National Director of Travel Industry Sales and Regional Director of Sales.

Clark Davis is the new Director of Sales and Marketing for the Millennium Harvest House in Boulder. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, he was the Director of Sales and Marketing for the Renaissance Pere Marquette and Renaissance Arts Hotels in New Orleans.

Brian Rowley has been named Regional Director of Sales and Marketing based at the Boulders and will oversee all Western US properties of Blackstone's LxR Resorts. Rowley was most recently the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Ritz-Carlton Naples. He also served as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe.

Also at Blackstone's LxR Resorts, Ty Brassie has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. Brassie was most recently in the same position at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach and was previously the Director of Sales (under Brian Rowley) at the Ritz-Carlton Naples and the Doral Resort and Country Club.

Bruce Seigel has transferred to the Ritz-Carlton Naples as Director of Sales and Marketing taking over for Brian Rowley. Seigel was most recently an Area Director of Marketing for Ritz-Carlton, overseeing three hotels based in Atlanta. He has been working for Ritz-Carlton as Director of Spa Marketing and Director of Sales and Marketing at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando.

Laurie Baker has joined the Hotel Oceana in Santa Barbara as Director of Sales and Marketing replacing a retiring Barbara Tuck. Baker was most recently in the same position at the Hotel Andalucia, also in Santa Barbara.

Richard Cimilluca has been named Director of Sales and Marketing for the Heldrich in New Brunswick scheduled to open in 2007. He was previously the Director of Sales and Marketing for the North Maple Inn in New Jersey, a position he assumed in 1999.

Marilyn McCray is the new Director of Sales and Marketing at the Lake Austin Spa Resort. She was previously a Marketing Manager at the Hotel Hershey and a Manager of Marketing Communications at La Posada de Santa Fe.

Martha Draddy joins the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica based out of New York City as Group Sales Manager. She was formerly Director of Catering and Sales Manager at the former Four Seasons Newport Beach.

John Svensson has been appointed Director of Catering and Convention Services at Cornell University's Statler Hotel & J. Willard Marriott Executive Education Center. Svensson career includes twenty seven years with Hyatt Hotels, where he oversaw catering operations in Chicago, Dallas, Monterey and Washington. Most recently, he served as Director of Catering and Convention Services for Starwood in Chicago.

Brenda Tscharner has been named Senior Vice President of Human Resources for the Kor Group. Tscharner joined Kor in early 2001 after spending fourteen years in various human resources management positions with Four Seasons, most recently as the Director of Human Resources at the Four Seasons Austin. She also toiled at the Four Seasons Houston, the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas, and the Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara.

Sandra Tagliavia has joined the Boca Raton Resort and Club as Director of Human Resources taking over for Teri Borowski who relocated to the West Coast. Tagliavia comes from Interstate Hotels and Resorts where she was a Corporate Human Resources Liaison.

Monty Burdette is at Loews Hotels at Universal Studios in Orlando as Director of Technology and Systems replacing Darrin Pinkham who left to join Ginn Hotels and Resorts in the same capacity. Burdette was most recently at the Gaylord Texas Resort and Convention Center as Director of Information Technology. He also served as Director of Six Sigma at Walt Disney World's Swan and Dolphin hotels for Starwood.

There will be a new Corporate Executive Chef, Marco Alban, for Orient-Express operations in Peru. Those include the award-winning Hotel Monasterio in Cusco, the Sanctuary Lodge in Machu Pichu, the Hiram Bingham Luxury Train connecting Cusco and Machu-Pichu and the Hotel Miraflores Park in Lima. Alban was previously at Quinta do Lago in Portugal, a former Orient-Express property. In Cusco, Alban will be replacing Michael Raas.

Michael Otsuka is the new Executive Chef at Lark Creek Inn. He was most recently in the same position at the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa and was previously Co-Chef/Proprietor at Verbena in New York, with wife Diane Forley.

Oliver Beckert has transferred to the Four Seasons Lanai as Executive Chef. Beckert comes from the Four Seasons Miami where he was the Executive Sous Chef.

Daniel Nuss has moved over to the Luxor as Executive Chef. Nuss spent the last four years at the MGM Grand as Assistant Executive Chef and was previously an Executive Chef in Abu Dhabi and Indonesia.

Jonathan Wright has joined the soon-to-open Hotel Conrad Indianapolis as Executive Chef. Wright was most recently in the same position at the Windsor Court and previously owned La Gousse d'Ail in Oxford. He previously spent many years at Raymond Blanc's famed Manoir aux Quat' Saisons.

Holger Frohlich has left the Mirage Las Vegas where he was an Assistant Executive Chef and joined Celebrity Cruises as Corporate Executive Chef in Miami.

Arnaud Berthelier has been named Chef de Cuisine at the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead replacing Bruno Ménard who is now at L'Osier in Tokyo. Berthelier had been in the kitchen at the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas and most recently at the Ritz-Carlton Sharm el Sheik where he was the Executive Chef.

Thomas Bellec has transferred from the Four Seasons Toronto where he was Executive Sous Chef as the same position to the Four Seasons Lanai. Bellec has also spent time in the kitchens at the Four Seasons Carmelo and Little Dix Bay.

After two years, Mario Nocifera, the Manager and Maitre d'Hôtel of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco, has left to become the General Manager of the newly opened 96-seat Scott Howard restaurant in San Francisco. Prior to joining the Ritz-Carlton, Nocifera was the General Manager of San Francisco's Charles Nob Hill and also worked as an Assistant Manager at Spago in Palo Alto.

Gilberto Garcia-Tunon has joined the Shore Club in Miami as Director of Front Office Operations. Garcia-Tunon was most recently in a similar position with the Le Méridien Sunny Isles and was previously with the Mandarin Oriental Miami for five years in various front office positions.

Karen Shawn is the new Director of Spa Operations at Miraval in Arizona. She is replacing Jim Root who went to Sea Island. Shawn was previously the opening Corporate Spa Director at the Palms and the Sands in Turks and Caicos. She also worked in a similar capacity at Little Dix Bay and the Four Seasons Sharm El Sheik.

Vivianne Blanco is the Spa Director at ESPA at Acqualina in Sunny Isles Beach. Blanco was most recently a Spa Consultant at the Setai and also worked as an Assistant Spa Director at the Mandarin Oriental Miami where she was a member of the opening team. She also worked in the same capacity at Delano.

Daisy Tepper is the new Spa Director at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. She was previously at the Four Seasons Sydney and opened the Spa at the Four Seasons at Beverly Hills.


EUROPE

ACCOR announced that Bouygues Telecom chief Gilles Pélisson would take over as Chief Executive, replacing Jean-Marc Espalioux. Pélisson, a nephew of ACCOR co-founder Gérard Pélisson (who resigned as co-chairman of the board of directors) is an astute hotelier who played a major role at Disneyland Paris for a number of years.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has appointed Tony Dangerfield as Regional President for Europe. Dangerfield's last appointment was with Marriott Hotels in England where he held the position of Commercial Director. Prior to this he was with Thistle Hotels and with Hilton International from 1985 until 1998.

Liam Doyle has joined the Shelbourne in Dublin as General Manager. Doyle was most recently at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach as Hotel Manager and was previously the Food and Beverage Director at the Ritz-Carlton Atlanta. The Shelbourne is currently undergoing a major renovation and is due to reopen in September 2006 as the Renaissance Shelbourne.

At Rocco Forte Hotels, Martin Elsner has been promoted to Pre-opening General Manager, Germany, responsible for launching all three German properties currently under development. The first, Villa Kennedy, will open in Frankfurt in January 2006, followed by Berlin's Hotel de Rome in July 2006 and Munich's Hotel Ludwig in Spring 2007. Elsner has been the General Manager of Hotel de Russie in Rome since 2003.

Elena Bruno will be taking over the General Manager role at Sir Rocco Forte's Hotel de Russie in Rome from Martin Elsner, who was recently appointed to the position of pre-opening General Manager Germany for Rocco Forte Hotels. Bruno was formerly the Area Director of Sales & Marketing and began her career at the Grand Hotel Palazzo della Fonte and Rome's Hotel Eden. She was most recently the Area Director of Sales & Marketing for the Hotel de Russie, the Hotel Savoy, the Château de Bagnols and Le Richemond in Geneva.

InterContinental Hotels Group has appointed Peter Gowers to the newly created role of Chief Marketing Officer. Gowers was most recently Executive Vice President for Global Brand Services for the group.

InterContinental Hotels Group has appointed Tracy Robbins to the position of Executive Vice President, Human Resources. Robbins joins from Compass Group PLC where she held the position of Group Human Resources Leadership & Development Director. Previous to that, Tracy was Group HR Director for Forte Hotels Group, and has held a number of senior HR roles at Tesco Stores Ltd and British Home Stores.

Caroline Piel is the new General Manager at L'Hôtel in Paris. She was previously the Director of Operations for the group Hotels de Paris.

Austrian Reinhard Wall has been appointed General Manager of the Hotel Hesperia Tower, due to open in Barcelona in January 2006. Wall joined the Spanish Hesperia Group in 2002 as General Manager of the Hotel Hesperia Madrid. Prior to that, Wall worked in several countries including Germany, France, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras and Spain.

John Wood will be opening Le Méridien Split in Croatia. He transfers from Le Méridien Moscow Country Club. He will be replaced by Geoff Johnstone, who will transfer from Le Méridien at Rialto in Melbourne.

Arnaud Duhem is the new Food and Beverage Manager at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme. He replaces Fabrice Blondeau who is being transferred to the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has announced the appointment of Catherine Martel as Director of Communications for Europe. Martel was most recently working at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, as Director of Public Relations and Assistant Director of Catering Sales and Events.

Evelina Conti replaces Elena Bruno as Director of Sales & Marketing at the Hotel de Russie in Rome. Prior to joining the company in 2000, she gained extensive food and beverage experience at the Hyde Park Hotel in London.

The Domina Hotel Group has appointed Gayle Martin as Director of Sales Meetings & Incentives to be based in Milan. Martin has been for three years Regional Conference & Incentive Sales Manager for Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts and during the last two years she has had a senior sales role for Jury's Doyle Hotels.

Renaud Biard has joined the Hotel Napoléon Paris as Director of Sales and Marketing. Biard comes from Le Méridien Hotels and Resorts where he was the International Sales Manager Americas and Middle East Markets for Le Méridien Etoile, Le Méridien Montparnasse and Le Méridien Brussels.

Ralph Mehrabani has joined the SAS Royal Radisson in Brussels as Director of Sales and Marketing. He was most recently the Director of Sales at the Ritz-Carlton Penha Longa Hotel Spa and Golf Resort. Mehrabani was previously the Director of International Sales at the Carlton InterContinental in Cannes.

Marie Laure Akdag is the new Director of Sales and Marketing at the Grand Amsterdam Sofitel Demeure Hotel. Akdag was previously a Director of Sales and Marketing at the Hôtel de Crillon and Director of Sales at the InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam.

Benoit Kuborn has been appointed Director of Sales at the Royal Media Ljubljana Hotel & Casino in Slovenia. Kuborn has previously worked with InterContinental Hotels Group and Hilton International. In his last role Kuborn was Director of Sales and Marketing for Elmouradi Hotels based at Hotel Africa in Tunis.

Annabelle Bouvier has been named Corporate Sales Manager of the Hôtel Napoléon Paris. She was most recently the Sales Executive for French, Belgian, Swiss and Spanish markets at the Hyatt Regency Paris Madeleine.

Franck Putelat will be leaving the restaurant La Barbacane at the Hôtel de La Cité in Carcassonne next January. He will be opening his own restaurant called Restaurant Franck Putelat - Le Parc in Carcassonne next spring. Jérôme Ryon, who had been working as his Sous Chef at La Barbacane, will be his successor.

Natascha Jerzabek has been named Executive Housekeeper of the Hôtel Napoléon Paris. She previously spent three years as the Executive Housekeeper of the Hyatt Regency Paris Madeleine.


ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Lausanne graduate Patrick Ghielmetti has been promoted to Regional Vice President in charge of Four Seasons Bangkok, Four Seasons Chiang Mai and the soon-to-open Tented Camp in the Golden Triangle and will continue to oversee Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok as General Manager. His prior assignment was at the helm of the Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai.

Richard Kaldor will be Regional General Manager – Sofitel Hotels Australia and Vice President, Sofitel Brand Asia Pacific based in the Accor Sydney office. Kaldor joined Accor in 1992 as pre-opening Manager of the Sofitel Hyland Shanghai, then was General Manager in several key Accor hotels in Thailand and Vietnam. He then relocated again to China when he was promoted to Vice President – China and has been in this role since 2001.

Rudolf Van Dijk has been appointed Hotel Manager of the Four Seasons Bangkok. He transfers from sister property the Four Seasons Shanghai, where he held the same rank for more than two years. Van Dijk originally joined the company as Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons New York.

Dean Nakasone has been named General Manager of the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel. Nakasone joined Outrigger in 1997 as General Manager of the 625-room Outrigger Prince Kuhio and was soon promoted to the position of Director of Revenue Management for the Ohana brand in 1999. He was subsequently promoted to Director of Sales & Marketing for Ohana Hotels, a position he has held for the past two years.

Tom Roelens is transferring back to Asia with Four Seasons to be the Resort Manager at the Four Seasons Maldives. Roelens spent the last two years as Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Newport Beach and was previously an Executive Assistant Manager at the Regent Jakarta.

Daniel Bucher is the new General Manager at Melbourne's Rialto Hotel on Collins. Bucher was most recently at the Holiday Inn Port Moresby.

Two of Accor's General Managers will swap roles as Walter Immoos, General Manager of the Menzies Hotel and Michael Smith, General Manager of the Novotel Northbeach in Wollongong take over each other's jobs. Immoos has worked at the Menzies Hotel for more than a decade. Smith worked at Novotel Northbeach for three and a half years after a two-year stint at the Grand Mercure Bowral Heritage Park and a period at the Novotel Langley in Perth.

Aditya Mata has joined the Angsana Oasis Spa & Resort in Bangalore as General Manager. Mata was previously the Resident Manager at the InterContinental The Grand in Mumbai.

Winston Reinboth will take over as the General Manager of Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu. He has held various management positions with Hilton in Australia, Sheraton and joined Le Méridien in 2001 where he was most recently Director, Sales Operations for Asia Pacific.

Jonathan Crook, currently the Director of Food and Beverage at the Peninsula Chicago, is transferring to be the Resident Manager at the Peninsula Beijing. His successor in Chicago will be Oliver Dudler who until now was the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the Peninsula Chicago after serving as Executive Chef at the Peninsula New York.

Tom Cross has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at the Turtle Bay Resort in Hawaii. He was previously the Director of Food and Beverage at Kona Village. He had also been the Director of Food and Beverage at the former Hawaiian Regent.

Philipp Spriestersbach is the new Director of Sales and Marketing at the Commune By the Great Wall in Bejing. Spriestersback was most recently Assistant Director of Sales at the Kempinski Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich.

Tom Wakita has been named Director of Sales and Marketing for Ohana Hotels. He was most recently Ohana's Director of Sales-Hawaii. Prior to that, he was Corporate Director of Sales for Outrigger Hotels & Resorts.

Christopher Lee has been appointed Director of Technical Services for the Middle East and Africa region with InterContinental. Lee's previous experience includes various positions with Conrad Hotels, Savoy and Novotel.

Tolga Lacin has been appointed Food & Beverage Director of the Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong. Lacin was previously the Food and Beverage Director and the pre opening member at the W Seoul - Walkerhill.

Stéphane Robert has joined the Radisson Plaza Tahiti as Food and Beverage Manager. He was most recently at the Sheraton Resort and Towers Hotel in Algeria on the food and beverage team. He previously worked at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Kuwait and the Radisson SAS Hotel in Nice.

Narinder Kumar has joined the Conrad Tokyo as pre-opening Food and Beverage Service Manager. Kumar was most recently Food and Beverage Service Manager at the Hilton Otaru following a ten-year tenure at the Hilton Nagoya.

Rick Bartram has joined the Caravelle Hotel Saigon, as Executive Chef. Bartram has most recently been at the Mandarin Oriental Elbow Beach in Bermuda.

Andrew Skinner, former Executive Chef at the Oberoi Mauritius, will be the opening Executive Chef at the Bulgari Resort on Bali, and not at the W Resort Bali, as we mistakenly reported last month.


MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

Renzo Cavagliotti, General Manager of the Regency InterContinental Bahrain since 2003, has transferred to take up the position of General Manager at the InterContinental Muscat. Prior to Bahrain, he was the General Manager of Le Vendôme InterContinental Beirut.

Jean-Baptiste Pigeon has transferred from the Crowne Plaza Beirut to take up the position of General Manager of the Regency InterContinental Bahrain. He had joined the group in 1983 at the Grand Hôtel InterContinental Paris and has held various positions at the InterContinental Carlton in Cannes, the InterContinental Paris, InterContinental Abidjan, the Ritz InterContinental Lisbon, the InterContinental Athenaeum Athens followed by General Manager posts in Brussels, Tunisia and Beirut.

Clive Smith has been appointed as General Manager of the InterContinental Lusaka. He was previously the Resident Manager of the InterContinental Jeddah. Smith originally joined the company in 2000, when he was the Resident Manager of the Holiday Inn Mayfair in London.

Helmut Meckelburg will be transferring as the General Manager of the Taj Palace Hotel in Dubai. For the past five years, he has been the Area Director for Taj Hotels in Goa and General Manager of the Taj Exotica.

Charles de Foucault has been named Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel & Spa. De Foucault has been with the company for seventeen years spanning four continents and twelve cities including the former General Manager of the hotels and resorts in Seoul, South Korea and Marina Del Rey.

Fawaz Sham has been promoted from Executive Assistant Manager to Resident Manager at the One & Only Le Touessrok Hotel Spa and Golf in Mauritius.

Jean-Luc Vila is leaving Sandy Lane in Barbados and moving to Dubai to join Bateel International L.L.C as Product Development & Research Manager.

Patrick Bischoff is joining the Hilton Mauritius as Executive Chef. Bischoff was most recently in the same position at the Oasis Beach Hotel in Dubai and has previously been the Executive Chef at the Forte Grand Hotel in Dubai, the Hotel Royal Mansour in Casablanca and the Dubai International Marina Club.


Edited by Benoit Gateau-Cumin & Lisa Leroy

Born and raised in France, Benoit managed to scoop up a French law degree prior to studying Hotel Administration at Cornell University. Upon graduation in 1975, he engaged in an eleven-year hotel management career which took him to Chicago, New York, Washington DC, San Diego, Istanbul, Jamaica and Hawaii. He held positions with Omni, Hyatt, Hilton International, ITT Sheraton and Méridien, as well as Honululu's unique Halekulani, consistently rated as one of the world's best. Benoit was bit by the "headhunting" bug in 1986, and has not relented yet. He founded "The Boutique Search firm" in February 1992. His motto: small is beautiful. Benoit loves to mountain bike, cook and write short (and long) stories.

Benoit Gateau-Cumin
The Boutique Search Firm