Martin Stitt has been appointed as General Manager of Delta Bow Valley in downtown Calgary. Previously, he led the team at Delta Calgary Airport. Martin is also the Regional Vice President for the Prairie Region for Delta Hotels and Resorts.
James Tingley has been appointed as General Manager of Delta Prince Edward®. James has extensive experience in managing both urban and resort properties having led teams at Delta Lodge at Kananaskis and most recently Delta Bow Valley®. James returns to Delta Prince Edward where he was previously the General Manager and brings with him knowledge of the Atlantic Canada marketplace and strong local community connections.
Amrit Sandhu has been appointed as Hotel Manager of Delta Burnaby®. Amrit was previously General Manager of Delta Edmonton South where he played a key role in the hotel's extensive renovations. Amrit is a 17-year veteran of Delta and was previously Hotel Manager at Delta Vancouver Airport and Director of Operations at Delta Grand Okanagan Resort and Conference Centre®.
Elaine Stover has been appointed as General Manager of the recently opened Delta Waterloo®. Elaine joined Delta in 1993 and held progressive positions at Delta Meadowvale Hotel and Conference Centre® in sales, revenue management, rooms and operations for four years. Before taking the helm at Delta Waterloo, Elaine was interim General Manager at Delta Toronto Airport West.
Bertil Fabre has been promoted as General Manager of Delta Montreal®. Bertil was previously the Hotel Manager of Delta Montreal for the last two years and previously Director of Rooms Division at Delta Centre Ville from 2005 to 2009. Bertil started his Canadian hospitality career at Delta Montreal in 1994.
Jeff Kennedy has been promoted as General Manager of Delta Whistler Village Suites. Jeff joined Delta Grand Okanagan® in March 2011 as Director of Operations and played a key role during the guest room renovations at the hotel. During Jeff's eight-year career with Delta, he held progressive leadership positions at Delta Whistler Village Suites and Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort and Spa®.
Colin Perry has been appointed as General Manager of Delta Edmonton South®. Colin effectively led the team at Delta Whistler Village Suites since September 2011. Under his leadership the property achieved Delta's Hotel of the Year Award in 2012. During Colin's career with Delta, he led teams at Delta London Armouries® and Delta Lodge at Kananaskis in varying roles.
Zubair Siddiqi has been appointed as General Manager of Delta Ottawa City Centre®. Zubair's career with Delta spans many years with his most recent tenure as General Manager at Delta Prince Edward®. During his time at Delta Prince Edward, Zubair led his team through the construction of a new convention centre and hotel renovations. Zubair is presently on the board of Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association.
Peter Gillis has been appointed as General Manager of the recently opened Delta Toronto®. Prior to his new role, Peter was the General Manager of Delta Ottawa City Centre®. During his tenure, Peter led a successful rebranding renovation of the property that led to an award winning lobby design. His Delta journey has taken him across the country to several properties in the Prairies, the Rockies and British Columbia.
Sean Palmer has been appointed to General Manager of Delta Edmonton Centre Suites® from his current role as the Acting General Manager. During Sean's career with Delta, he has been Hotel Manager at Delta Calgary Airport, Director of Operations at Delta Guelph Hotel and Conference Centre®, Acting General Manager at Delta Kitchener-Waterloo and has held several operations roles with increasing responsibility at Delta Toronto East®.
Martin Gilbert is appointed as General Manager of Delta Bessborough® effective December 31, 2014. Martin's career at Delta spans many years most recently as General Manager of Delta Trois Rivieres ® and Director Sales and Marketing at Delta Fredericton®. Prior to joining Delta, Martin held a variety of leadership roles in sales and operations with global hospitality companies.
Dan DeSantis is appointed as Managing Director of Delta Calgary Airport® and the recently announced new Delta Calgary International Airport® hotel effective January 1, 2015. Previously, Dan held General Manager positions at Delta Lodge at Kananaskis®, Delta Sun Peaks Resort and Delta Whistler Village Suites®. Dan is an active member of the Alberta Strategic Tourism Council and is current Chair of Tourism Canmore Kananaskis.
Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) today announced that an affiliate of Hyatt has sold the 644-room Hyatt Regency Vancouver to an affiliate of InnVest for approximately $123 million or $190,000 per key. The hotel will continue to operate as a Hyatt Regency hotel.
Officials of New Castle Hotels and Resorts, a leading hotel owner, operator and developer, today announced that Matthew Mackenzie, a veteran Canadian hotelier, has been named general manager of the Algonquin Resort in St. Andrews, N.B. Mackenzie previously was the general manager of the New Castle-operated Keltic Lodge Resort and Spa in Ingonish Beach, Nova Scotia, during the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
INTEREL, the world's fastest growing manufacturer of integrated room technologies in the luxury hospitality industry, has announced the appointment of Michael Cohen as the company's SVP Key Accounts responsible for leading INTEREL's market entry into the Americas and managing its sales and business development efforts for key global accounts.
Puzzle Partner continues to expand with the announcement that hospitality technology industry icon Jules Sieburgh, CHTP, has joined their team. Mr. Sieburgh will be advising promising future technologies on strategies, VC funding and advancing angel investments. The arrival of Mr. Sieburgh, in addition to the recent addition of Seth Christian, supports the vision of growing the firm's depth of services for technology startups.
CheckMate, the leading mobile guest engagement platform, has appointed industry veteran Patricia Brusha to drive their Canadian expansion as Director of Channel Sales. In her new position, Patricia will be responsible for education and implementation of CheckMate's revolutionary platform to all Canadian hotel partners including brands, independents, management companies, and franchise owners. She will also develop and oversee the company's reseller program worldwide.
The Canadian lodging market is on track for a recordbreaking year in 2014. Many markets across Canada will achieve their highest RevPAR ever this year. Challenging winter conditions in many parts of the country hindered the performance of the Canadian lodging market in the first quarter, which led to temporary market concern, but the second and third quarters of 2014 have seen a remarkable strengthening of market fundamentals. According to RBC, the growth in Canada's real gross domestic product (GDP) picked up to 3.1% in the second quarter of 2014 following weak growth of 0.9% in the first quarter, which parallelled the tepid growth in lodging demand in the same time period. The weaker loonie and the stronger US economy fuelled economic growth in Canada in the second and third quarters, and this increase in economic activity has translated into very solid demand gains in the Canadian lodging market. Consequently, the national occupancy is projected to reach 65% for 2014, which is fractionally higher than the previous record-breaking occupancy set in 2007.
Fairmont Tremblant welcomes Éric Beaupré as executive chef. Beaupré brings over 15 years of experience to this position, beginning his culinary career in 1997 as chef de partie, Hotel Vogue, Montreal. Since then, he has held chef de partie positions with Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, Casino Lac Leamy, Hull, Quebec, The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and The Fairmont Chateau Whistler. Most recently, Beaupré was the executive sous chef of Fairmont Tremblant.
PhoneSuite, a leading provider of telecom solutions designed exclusively for the hospitality industry, has signed an agreement to have its full line of Voiceware IP-PBX products distributed in Canada by Calgary-based Total Hospitality Solutions.