Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT) , a hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on upscale extended-stay hotels and premium-branded select-service hotels, today announced that it has acquired the 120-room Hampton Inn & Suites® Houston - Medical Center in Houston, Texas for $16.5 million.
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) announced today that Gary Kelly, Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO at Southwest Airlines, will join three additional industry leaders on the first Travel’s Value Chain CEO Panel at the NBTA International Convention & Exposition, August 8-11 in Houston.
Joe Vanden Heuvel has joined the all-new Hyatt Regency Houston as Associate Director of Sales. Previously, Vanden Heuvel served as National Sales Manager for the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville. Vanden Heuvel began his career at the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion as a Meeting Connections & Transient Manager and was quickly promoted to Major Market Sales Manager.
Veteran hotelier John Oakley has joined the Four-Diamond InterContinental Houston Near The Galleria as Director of Sales and Marketing. Previously, Oakley served as the Director of Sales at the Westin Galleria and Westin Oaks Houston. With more than ten years of sales experience with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Oakley has held positions at the Sheraton New Orleans, Westin Tabor Center in Denver, and the Westin Riverwalk,San Antonio.
Renato De Pirro comes to Hotel Granduca with over 20 years of exemplary culinary experience, including ten years within the United States. He served most recently as executive chef for Osteria del Circo, the upscale Italian restaurant at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Prior to this Mr. De Pirro was executive chef and manager for Terra Rossa, the fine dining Italian restaurant situated within the Red Rock Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. While there, he simultaneously served as corporate executive chef for the Italian-branded restaurants of Station Casinos, the resort’s operator and the gaming company based in Las Vegas. In this role he developed new culinary and interior design concepts for seven of the company’s Italian restaurants.Previous to this, Mr. De Pirro was chef de cuisine and restaurant manager for The Grill at Valentino in Las Vegas, in charge of all aspects of the restaurant’s culinary operations and menu development. He originally joined the restaurant as line cook and was rapidly promoted to pastry chef. De Pirro progressed to sous chef, executive sous chef and chef de cuisine during his seven-year tenure with the restaurant.Chef De Pirro launched his culinary career in his native Italy, where he served as executive chef for La Locanda di Ansedonia, Grosseto, a fine dining restaurant located in Ansedonia, Italy. As an entrepreneur, he owned and was executive chef of Ristorante La Ribotta, a fine dining establishment located in Monte Argentario, Italy.Renato De Pirro graduated from the Culinary School IPSAAR Spoleto, Italy, with a Certified Chef De Cuisine Diploma. He has been a featured chef on numerous regionally and nationally televised cooking shows, including the Food Network, and was a Silver medalist in the World Cup of Culinary Arts. He was also winner of the Third Annual Bertolli Sous Chef Award, which honors the up-and-coming stars of the culinary world.
Ninety-one years after Conrad Hilton opened his first hotel in Texas the hotel at a Houston college bearing his name re-opens today following a $12.5 million renovation. Hilton University of Houston, the teaching hotel for the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, opens its doors as an upscale, contemporary hotel serving Houston's business and leisure travelers.
Ray Guyton was previously director of business travel & business development for Hotel ZaZa of Houston, where he was highly successful in developing new markets for the property. He began with Hotel ZaZa as business travel sales manager. Prior to these appointments, Mr. Guyton served as director of sales for New Orleans Boutique Hotels, where he oversaw the sales programming for three properties within the company's portfolio. He has also previously been employed as director of sales & marketing for American International Travel Group, Inc., and served as senior sales manager for American Airlines and SABRE. Ray Guyton attended The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated from Arkansas State University with a Bachelor of Science degree. He resides in Houston.
Cuéllar, a native of Colombia, has nearly 40 years of experience in the hotel and hospitality industry, winning accolades across the United States for sales and service. He has worked at numerous properties for Westin Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels, Omni Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels and Rosewood Hotels, and spent 11 years as general manager of the Renaissance Houston Greenway Plaza Hotel. Most recently, he was general manager of The Lancaster Hotel in downtown Houston. He is a Certified Hotel Administrator and is a graduate of Oklahoma State University’s Hotel and Restaurant Management program. In his long career, Cuéllar has worked in every facet of the hotel business, from food and beverage service to front desk and housekeeping. He’s done what it takes to meet the needs of his guests, from serving green apples to Sophia Loren and escorting Margaret Thatcher to her suite to consulting with Wolfgang Puck on menu choices. He’s learned all about the industry by working in a variety of roles, and now he’d like to give students at the University of Houston’s Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management similar opportunities while providing top-notch service to hotel guests.
Abstract: Expo Destinos Latinos - The Latin Destinations Show presents to the tourist markets of the United States, Canada and rest of the world a selected tourism offer of Latin America and the Caribbean to enrich the traveler experience in Houston, Texas, USA.
Some of the biggest names in the hospitality industry were among the 250 guests who gathered at the Conrad N. Hilton College as the Hospitality Industry Hall of Honor inducted four new members. Entering the Hall of Honor are the late M.K. Guertin, founder of Best Western, and Chris, Harris and the late Greg Pappas who turned a third-generation family business into one of the most successful dining enterprises in the country.
If you want a biography of hotelier Conrad Hilton, you can check out a library book or do a Google search and find an acceptable timeline of his life. But if you want to know about his accent, where his cowboy hat is or the advertising budgets for his hotels, then you go see Professor Mark Young.
Lamer arrives at The St. Regis Houston after helming the successful opening of The Resort at Singer Island, a Starwood Luxury Collection Resort in Florida. Prior to Singer Island, Lamers led teams with the Ritz-Carlton chain in Boston and Philadelphia. Lamers also served as General Manager of The Jefferson Hotel, a Mobil 5 Star, AAA 5 Diamond historic hotel in Virginia. With over 20 years of hotel management experience in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., Lamers brings an expert knowledge of the global traveler to one of the most international of cities, Houston. Lamers has been a resident of the United States since the late 1980’s and attended university in his native country, The Netherlands.
Juan Flores has joined Hotel Sorella as assistant general manager and is currently supporting pre-opening efforts for the luxury, 244-room property nearing its July 2009 debut in Houston. He brings nearly 15 years of hotel management and food & beverage experience to his post, where he has been reunited with general manager Ryan Gullion. Prior to Hotel Sorella, Flores was the director of operations for the Lancaster Hotel, a landmark luxury property located in downtown Houston. During this time, he served as an interim general manager for several months. Before that, he was employed in San Antonio as a general manager by Fired Up, Inc., which owns, operates and develops Johnny Carino's Italian restaurants. His accomplishments with the company were recognized with awards for General Manager of the Quarter and Restaurant of the Quarter.
Vermolen joins InterContinental Houston after serving as General Manger of the prestigious InterContinental Los Angeles Century City. While at this landmark property, he was successful in transitioning the hotel from a Park Hyatt brand. Originally from the Netherlands, Vermolen began his career with InterContinental Hotels Group in 1995 at the InterContinental Amstel in Amsterdam. With 21 years of experience and a strong background in Food & Beverage Operations, Vermolen has held positions in the finest hotels around the world including InterContinental Phoenicia Beirut; InterContinental Hotel Group Alexandria in Egypt; InterContinental Athenaeum in Greece; InterContinental Hotel Paris and the renowned InterContinental The Barclay in New York City. Fluent in French, German and Dutch, Vermolen holds a Masters in Business Administration from Henley Management College in London, a Bachelors degree in the Hospitality Industry from the Hotel Management School in the Netherlands, and a degree in Hotel Catering and Managerial Accounting. He is joined in Houston by his wife and two children.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) announces the opening of Element Houston Vintage Park, the first Element hotel to open in Texas. Inspired by Westin™ Hotels & Resorts, Element invites guests to check-in to a new travel experience with comfortable public spaces, modern style and eco-friendly design. Owned by Condor Hospitality, LLC and managed by InterMountain Management, LLC of Louisiana, the newly constructed, 123-room hotel is a key part of the new Vintage Park lifestyle center located in bustling northwest Houston. The General Contractor for the Element is Benchmark Development Corporation of Dallas. This is the first of two Element projects between the ownership group, development team, and InterMountain Management. The Element Hotel in Lone Tree, Colorado will open in the summer of 2009.