Names and Notes: September 2006
Published: August 29, 2006
Names
Don Macumber was promoted to executive vice president of Associated Luxury Hotels International.
Kathleen Taylor was appointed president and chief operating officer of Four Seasons Hotels Inc., effective Jan. 1, 2007.
Paige Heisinger was named destination services coordinator of the Pointe South Mountain Resort in Phoenix.
Daytona Beach’s Central Florida Cultural Endeavors Inc. received “Best of Show” and “Special Event” Henry Flagler awards from the 2006 Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism for its musical events, including the every-other-year Florida International Festival.
Pamela O’Showy was named sales assistant at the Bahama House in Daytona Beach, Fla.
William “Billy” Singleton Jr., CPCE, was named “National Caterer of the Year” by the National Association of Catering Executives for his work as director of food and beverage at Orlando’s The Villas of Grand Cypress.
Jamie Barbera and Stacy Creter were named conference sales managers of Orlando’s Rosen Shingle Creek.
Tad Naglestad was named national sales manager, Southeast region, for the TradeWinds Island Resorts on St. Petersberg Beach, Fla.
Lynn Scarpelli was named national sales manager for the Northeast region of the U.S.; Heather Tyler was named national sales manager for all international markets and U.S. territories west of the Mississippi.
Hollie Browning was named special events coordinator of East Andrews restaurant in Atlanta.
Michele Lend was promoted to senior vice president and chief operating officer of Atlanta Arrangements Inc. Holly Adams was promoted to senior vice president of operations, Melanie Fletcher was promoted to director of sales and Pamela Katz was promoted to director of program development.
Lynne Dominguez was named senior sales manager of New Orleans Fine Hotels, a collection of nine locally owned hotels.
Andy Zinni was promoted to director of operations of The Chattanoogan, Tennessee’s Urban Resort; Kris Reagan was promoted to director of sales.
Scott White, former executive vice president of the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau, was named director of the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Notes
Caribbean
Carnival Cruise Lines is renovating the 2,052-passenger Carnival Fascination. The multi-million dollar renovation will add a nine-hole miniature golf course, a patisserie and coffee shop, and a 1,600-sq. ft. children’s play area. Other improvements include new spa treatment rooms, a new art gallery, a new Internet café and updated exercise equipment. All guest rooms will be receiving flat-screen televisions and new décor.
On Dec. 8, easyCruiseOne is scheduled to begin itineraries including stops in St. Maarten, St. Barts, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis and Antigua.
National
Many new air routes are being introduced this fall. Spirit Airlines is expected to begin offering nonstop flights from Boston to Myrtle Beach this month. JetBlue Airways is scheduled to begin nonstop service between Dulles International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport on Oct. 3. Westjet is scheduled to begin service between Toronto and Palm Beach on Oct. 30. On Nov. 16, Delta Airlines is scheduled to begin nonstop service between Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and the Florida Keys Marathon Airport, with additional weekend flights to be added to and from the Middle Keys and Atlanta on Nov. 17. Throughout November and December, AirTran is scheduled to add new winter service to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers and Tampa from cities in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. United Airlines is adding two daily nonstop flights on low-cost carrier TED between Dulles and Palm Beach on Dec. 14.
Web-based StarCite Inc. and OnVantage Inc. are merging their online meetings management tools under the StarCite name. The merger is expected to close by the end of this year, with users able to access either system online through 2007, after which OnVantage’s Web-based products will become the dominant operating system.
Los Angeles-based Classic Party Rentals acquired Atlanta Party Plus and Carolina Party Plus in Charlotte, N.C., bringing its total locations up to 18.
Alabama
The Four-Star Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa in Point Clear is expected to reopen its meeting rooms and Grand Dining Room in November after completing a $50 million renovation. Its 200 guest rooms, pool, beach, full-service spa, two Robert Trent Jones championship golf courses and marina reopened in April.
Arizona
In Phoenix, the 164-acre, Four-Diamond AAA Pointe South Mountain Resort, now managed by Classic Hotels and Resorts, is undergoing a $50 million renovation. Improvements include refurbishment of guest suites, a new entryway, expanded water park and an additional restaurant.
McTours LLC is scheduled to begin Segway tours of downtown Scottsdale in October. Attractions will include Scottsdale’s Old Town, Main Street arts district, Marshall Way and Scottsdale Fashion Square, the Southwest’s largest indoor shopping center.
A Le Meridien hotel is planned for the Hayden Ferry Lakeside mixed-use development in Tempe. The 183-room, 14-story hotel, expected to open by Thanksgiving 2008, will have 44 residential units and overlook the 220-acre Tempe Town Lake and Hayden’s Butte, 10 minutes from Sky Harbor International Airport.
Florida
In Miami, a 16-story, 342-unit Mondrian Hotel is in development in South Beach. The luxury property will have a pool, full-service spa and meeting space in addition to residential units and private boat slips. No opening date has been announced.
The 230-acre Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando is expected to open Sept. 9. Amenities include 1,500 guest rooms, 445,000 square feet of meeting and conference space, a full-service spa, and nature-focused activities such as hiking, fishing and canoeing. Its two-year-old David Harman-designed Shingle Creek Golf Course was named “One of the Top 40 Best New Courses” by Golfweek magazine and “One of the Top 25 Most Challenging Courses in Central Florida” by the Orlando Business Journal. Corporate golf clinics are available at its Brad Brewer Golf Academy.
Hard Rock Hotel at Orlando Universal began a renovation of its 650 guest rooms. The renovation, scheduled for completion in November, will upgrade bedding and add 32-inch flat panel televisions and MPS landing stations with connectivity to in-room stereos to each room.
The Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando opened with almost 80,000 square feet of indoor meeting space and 25,000 square feet of outdoor event space. Other amenities include a 41,503-sq. ft. ballroom, 10 breakout rooms, a boardroom and three meeting planner offices.
The Florida Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando is undergoing a $23 million renovation, scheduled for completion in October, to reposition itself as a first-class meeting destination. Improvements include an additional 20,000 square feet of meeting space.
The Hilton in Walt Disney World Resort completed a $25 million renovation, adding an 18,000-sq. ft. ballroom and an Italian bistro, and enhancing all guest rooms with new bed, bath and tech amenities.
Construction is expected to begin on the Hilton Orlando Convention Center at the end of this year, and scheduled for completion in 2009. The 18-story, 1,400-room hotel will have 130,000 square feet of meeting space, a spa, a fitness center and restaurants, and will connect to the Orange County Convention Center through a pedestrian sky bridge.
A 1,260-room InterContinental hotel, the Palazzo del Lago, is scheduled to break ground this fall with an opening on Orlando’s Lake Bryan in early 2009. The hotel’s conference center will have 114,000 square feet of convention, meeting and banquet space.
New attractions in Orlando include the Ron Jon Surfpark, scheduled to open spring 2007 with wave pools built specifically for surfing and body boarding and catering facilities for up to 1,000 people.
The Rapallo Resort at Buena Vista, a 727-unit condo-hotel, is expected to open in mid-2008 with restaurants, 20,000 square feet of meeting space, and a full-service salon and spa.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on the Space Coast is undergoing a $160 million, 10-year plan to develop a space shuttle simulator, scheduled to open in early 2007. The simulator will use a custom-designed motion platform, multiple video screens, advanced audio effects and special effect seats to recreate the sensation of blasting into space.
The State of Florida and Lee County is set to purchase nearly 74,000 acres of Babcock Ranch to preserve ecologically sensitive land. Babcock Wilderness Adventures swamp tours will continue operations within the ranch.
In Fort Myers Beach, an archeology exhibit of artifacts excavated from a local Calusa shell mound is expected to open by fall 2008. Visitors will be able to watch excavations daily Tuesdays through Saturdays, and eventually will be able to descend to an underground observation room.
In Palm Beach, a Starwood resort is expected to open on Singer Island in December 2006 with 239 one- and two-bedroom suites, a full-service spa, meeting space, private cabanas, fine dining, a fitness center and multiple pools.
Georgia
The 28-story, 467-room Sheraton Midtown Atlanta Hotel at Colony Square is expected to reopen as the W Atlanta-Midtown in late 2007 after completing a $50 million renovation/conversion. Amenities of the W hotel will include a Bliss Spa, 36,000 square feet of meeting, banquet and pre-function space (including the largest ballroom in Midtown), and 24-hour concierge and business services.
The Sheraton Atlanta Hotel completed a $1 million enhancement of its original 50,000 square feet of meeting space, which added new carpet, paint and furniture, enhanced lighting and wall coverings, and upgraded hardware.
The Atlanta Marriott Marquis, which recently completed a $38 million renovation of its guest rooms and suites, has begun a phase two renovation to enhance all public areas and meeting space. Improvements include a new entrance and lobby, a hip cocktail lounge and high-tech sports bar, an additional 40,000 square feet of meeting space, and a new 25,000-sq. ft. ballroom, bringing the hotel’s meeting space to 160,000 square feet.
Scheduled to open in mid-November is Fuego Spanish Grill, a two-story, 10,000-sq. ft. restaurant with corporate meeting facilities and a state-of-the-art audio/visual system.
Next month, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art is scheduled to launch a three-year partnership with Paris’ Musée du Louvre that will bring hundreds of works of art never seen in America from Paris to Atlanta. The first series, “Kings as Collectors,” focuses on paintings from royal collections.
Atlanta’s City Pass-One is now available for adults and children. The pass gets visitors into six major city attractions, including the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola and the CNN Center, for a fraction of the individual ticket prices. Passes are available at individual attractions and online at citypass.com.
Mississippi
The 500-room Grand Casino Biloxi Hotel and Spa reopened inland last month with a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, 500 hotel rooms, three restaurants, a full-service spa, 800 slot machines and 29 table games.
The $1.3 billion Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, which has 50,000 square feet of meeting space, reopened in Biloxi, as did the Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis. The Hollywood Casino’s Bridges Golf Club is expected to reopen in mid-October after completing a multimillion dollar renovation overseen by Arnold Palmer and the Arnold Palmer Design Group.
The Island View Casino is scheduled to open this month in Biloxi wth 600 guest rooms, a marina, restaurants and lounges. The Silver Slipper Casino is expected to open in mid-October.
Nevada
The Platinum Hotel and Spa in Las Vegas is scheduled to open this month near the Strip with a private dining facility, full-service spa, and indoor and outdoor meeting space for groups of five to 250. The residential style resort offers one- and two-bedroom suite accommodations in a non-gaming atmosphere.
New Mexico
Albuquerque’s New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science is scheduled to open a permanent exhibit about microcomputers in mid-November. “STARTUP: Albuquerque and the Personal Computer Revolution” focuses on the world of computing and its origins in the American Southwest.
In Santa Fe, “Collecting Modernism: European Modernism from the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Museum” is expected to open at the Museum of Fine Arts, running from Sept. 29 through Jan. 7, 2007, featuring 26 works by Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Georges Roualt, and others. A companion exhibit exploring connections between the works in the museum’s permanent collection and the paintings in the special exhibit will be on display.
North Carolina
The World Trade Center North Carolina, a branch of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, will begin a three-year, $2.25 million project to promote global trade and foreign investment in the 13-county Triangle region of Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh, N.C.
Tennessee
The $150 million Number One Beale project in Memphis is in development. The project is expected to add two towers along the city’s riverfront, featuring a luxury hotel, condos and office space.
Texas
Renovations to the Renaissance Austin Hotel are scheduled for completion this month. Improvements include enhanced bedding in the property’s 492 guest rooms, a new Internet café, a fitness center expansion, and a renovation of the 30,000-sq. ft. exhibit hall.
Dallas’ Victory Park development is scheduled for completion early next year. The W Dallas Victory Hotel opened in June; other parts of the 75-acre entertainment, shopping, dining, hotel and residential complex include the American Airlines Center, Bliss Spa and greenspace. The House of Blues is expected to open in early 2007 along with other specialty restaurants, boutiques and retailers. Other attractions include the Victory Media Network, an outdoor digital arts gallery in the park’s central plaza.
The 518-room Renaissance Dallas Hotel was sold to Thomas Point Ventures; Marriott International will continue to operate the hotel as a Renaissance under a long-term contract. The property is scheduled to undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation in early 2007 to enhance guest rooms and add meeting space (it currently has 19,000 square feet).
The Stoneleigh Hotel in Uptown Dallas is scheduled to begin a $25 million renovation this summer to add a full-service spa, and refurbish guest rooms, the restaurant and bar, the lobby and public areas. The grand reopening of the historic property is scheduled for summer 2007.
Double Diamond Companies plans to open the Rock Creek Resort on Lake Texoma in spring 2007. Amenities will include a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, a yacht club and marina, onsite dining, a full-service spa and fitness center, a business center and health trails.
The Plaza Theatre Annex in El Paso is expected to open two new venues this month: a 200-seat theater and a rooftop venue, the Alcantar Sky Garden, accommodating up to 200 guests for receptions and other events.
Virginia
A 100-room Candlewood Suites hotel is expected to open in Manassas by the end of 2007. Amenities will include high-speed Internet access, free local phone calls and a 24-hour fitness center.
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