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PM Hotel Group announces senior leadership promotions

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PM Hotel Group today announced three senior leadership promotions. The company’s executive team is expanding with the promotions of Seon Heo and Fran Owen as Vice Presidents of Sales & Marketing and Chris Macary to the role of Vice President of Hotel Operations.

“The strong portfolio growth we experienced in 2018, opening 3 new properties and taking over management of 3 existing hotels, has continued into Q1 of 2019. These promotions reflect the demonstrated strength of our management team and our well-deserved reputation for creating a culture that develops and promotes professional growth,” said PM Hotel Group President, Joseph Bojanowski. “Seon and Fran have both displayed extraordinary value in their regional sales and marketing roles and will now assume additional portfolio-wide strategic responsibilities. Over the past five years Chris has illustrated operational excellence. We are thrilled to see each of them transition into these newly created positions. Seon, Fran, and Chris tangibly contributed to the record RevPAR growth PM Hotel Group experienced in 2018.”

Together with delivering on the robust 2019-2020 pipeline of projects, ensuring operational excellence continues to be a priority for PM Hotel Group. In Q2 the management company will welcome to its portfolio, the new Home2 Suites by Hilton Silver Spring, the first LEED Platinum hotel in the state of Maryland.

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Centara Privilege Club: Centara launches all-new exclusive lifestyle benefits program

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Centara Hotels & Resorts, Thailand’s leading hotel operator and one of the region’s most innovative hospitality brands, is launching “Centara Privilege Club”, a brand new benefits program that offers exclusive privileges, discounts and experiences to Centara customers.

Members joining Centara Privilege Club receive exciting lifestyle benefits focused on food and drink, accommodation, spa and more, including attractive guaranteed savings, an available complimentary night’s stay, cash certificates and many other member-only advantages.

“Centara Privilege Club was created to strengthen the loyalty of Centara’s biggest fans and frequent visitors,” said Tom Thrussell, Centara Vice President – Brand, Marketing & Digital. “The program features an array of privileges well suited to our guests’ lifestyles and provides unbeatable dining, drinking, hotel room, spa and other benefits that keep our guests returning again and again”.

Centara Privilege Club is a paid membership program with privileges available at all Centara Hotels and Resorts properties throughout Thailand. Members are guaranteed experiences, savings and recognition, and can use their benefits to host parties of family, friends and colleagues at great value.

Centara launches Centara Privilege Club via a collaboration with Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC), the world’s leading provider of paid membership loyalty programs, to create an engaging loyalty program to meet the needs of its operating 33 hotels in Thailand and exceed the expectations of Centara’s prestigious clients.

“Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC) is committed to ensuring the new programs’ success while creating an innovative program which complements the ever-growing digital mobile world,” said Mokhtar Ramadan, CEO, Hospitality Marketing Concepts. “Together with Centara Hotels and Resorts, HMC will deliver on our mission to provide world-class loyalty programs to luxury hotel brands around the world. Together with HMC’s new mobile app, members can enjoy the benefits of membership at their fingertips.”

The Centara Privilege Club is technology-driven and features an industry-leading mobile app that lets members redeem digital e-certificates and eliminate outdated paper-based voucher booklets and plastic membership cards. The app also delivers targeted mobile push notifications about hotel promotions based on geo-location, preferences and purchasing behavior. This technology focus is in keeping with both Centara’s focus to meeting the needs of today’s smartphone generation, and its commitment to sustainability and the reduction of paper and plastic usage.

The program is distinct from and complementary to Centara’s CentaraThe1 loyalty program which is free to join and sees members earning points for stays and on-property spend, which can then be redeemed for future stays and a variety of other benefits. The CentaraThe1 program currently has over 3 million members and members can actually use their earned points to purchase a Centara Privilege Club membership.

Learn more about Centara Privilege Club membership benefits and become a member only by visiting https://centaraprivilege.com.

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Castle Resorts & Hotels names John Rasmussen new VP of Marketing

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Castle Resorts & Hotels has named Jon Rasmussen as vice president of marketing, where he will be responsible for spearheading the development and implementation of all marketing initiatives for one of Hawaii’s largest hotel and resort management companies.

Rasmussen brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing, advertising, promotions, public relations and account management to his position at Castle. He most recently served as director of marketing and advertising at Becker Communications, where he provided strategic marketing planning, budgeting and implementation; brand development; creative services; and media planning for a range of clients. He also spent 14 years as general manager and creative director for the in-house marketing and advertising division of Cutter Management Co., garnering numerous awards for advertising excellence for the automotive retailer during that time. He previously held positions with MM&M Advertising, Chaminade University and Ogilvy & Mather Hawaii, where he was part of the award-winning creative team servicing the Hawaiian Airlines, Polynesian Cultural Center and HVCB accounts

Rasmussen graduated from the University of Washington with bachelor’s degrees in English and communications/advertising. He has been actively involved with Special Olympics Hawaii since 1993, and is a past longtime board member of the Hawaii Advertising Federation.

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Tourism Linkages Speed Networking event yields over $630 million in contracts for local entrepreneurs

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Jamaica Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett yesterday revealed that his Ministry’s Tourism Linkages Speed Networking event has resulted in local Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) negotiating contracts valued at over $630 million, over the past three years.

Speaking at this year’s staging of the Speed Networking event in Montego Bay, the Minister said, “I am pleased to share that Speed Networking 2016 resulted in contracts valued at some $181 million; while the 2017 event saw suppliers benefitting from over $200 million in contracts; and in 2018, the value of these contracts grew to over $250 million. That is over $630 million in contacts for local SMTEs from just three one-day linkages events.”

He also noted that among the top beneficiaries of the event, were Boss Furniture and Tortuga Rum Cakes.

Boss Furniture won a contract valued at $30 million to provide bedding and furnishings to Montego Bay’s new S Hotel while another $10 million in contracts with that property is in the pipeline.

In addition, Boss Furniture CEO Omar Azan is also in negotiation with the Sandals and Hendrickson Groups to supply their properties with locally made bedding and furniture. Tortuga Rum Cakes also negotiated a $500,000 contract with Half Moon Hotel, from their participation in the event.

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, (right) converses with (from left) Princess Hotels and Resorts’ Rafael Millán, President of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (JMEA), Metry Seaga, and Director of the Tourism Linkages Network, Carolyn McDonald-Riley at the fifth staging of the Tourism Linkages Speed Networking event.
Princess Hotels and Resorts, ranked eighth in the Spanish market has 19 hotels. They will construct 2000 new rooms in Hanover, to the tune of some USD500Million. The business-to-business initiative took place on March 20, 2019 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

“This event is a tremendous help to local manufacturers, farmers and service providers. In creating these linkages, it helps us to grow our business, provide jobs for our people, provide revenue for the government, and in the end grow our economies. Two years ago, I attended the event and got a big order from a hotelier and it can be like that for any supplier,” said Mr Azan.

The Minister noted that the event is a key initiative designed to offer support to SMTEs and helps to strengthen the linkages between tourism and other sectors of the economy, and in so doing, increases the economic impact of the sector.

“The strategy must be to increase the capacity to supply the demands that tourism consumption patterns require and find creative ways of building entrepreneurship among our local stakeholders to fill these requirements. In this way, we will retain more of the revenue generated by tourism in the local economy and stop leakages,” he said.

The Tourism Linkages Speed Networking event took place on March 20 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. It is a core initiative of the Tourism Linkages Network in close collaboration with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Jamaica Manufacturers’ Exporters’ Association (JMEA), Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC).

The event format features fifteen minute pre-scheduled meeting appointments between Managing Directors, General Managers or CEOs of local supplier companies of products and services with Owners or Managers of properties, restaurants, attractions and other tourism entities throughout the course of one day.

Additional representatives from core areas within the hotel’s operation such as Purchasing, Food and Beverage and Maintenance who are in a position to make purchasing decisions also attend.

For this year’s staging organizers targeted suppliers from areas such as: Digital marketing, Content capture services, Maintenance providers and Entertainment. Other suppliers included areas such as furniture, fresh produce, craft, chemicals and cleaning products, cosmetics and spa products, training, electrical services and construction.

“Last year we had 56 supplier companies and 33 tourism entities in attendance. This year we have 110 supplier companies and 57 tourism entities, proof that this event is gaining traction because participants are seeing results,” said the Minister.

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St. Maarten Heineken Regatta raises over $40,000 for local foundations

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Organizers of the St Maarten Heineken Regatta are pleased to announce that a total of $41,900 was raised during the event for local foundations. The raffle was used to drive the event’s “Green” initiatives benefiting sustainability efforts for the island and various projects from local foundations.

The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta and Heineken worked in collaboration with the Rotary Club of St Maarten, Rotary St Maarten-Mid Isle, and Motorworld, by selling raffle tickets to raise funds for a Beach Cleaning vehicle, an initiative launched last year by the Rotary.

Motorworld joined as a new presenting sponsor for the 39thSt Maarten Heineken Regatta, making a fully-loaded Hyundai Creta available to be raffled. During the week of the Regatta this car, in addition to a selection of other popular brands, were on display in the Regatta Village showcasing the wide variety of cars available for sale on the island. The display was encouraging people to purchase raffle tickets and have a chance to win the new Hyundai Creta, in support of the island’s various environmental projects.

“We are proud to be partners in this great joint-initiative by the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, St Maarten Heineken Regatta and Heineken corporate. Working together, we have successfully organized another memorable and enjoyable St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. We congratulate The Rotary clubs and everyone for their involvement and of course the winner, Mr. Soons. With the current promotions on the New 2019 Hyundai Creta, everyone can be a winner. Visit our showroom and our dedicated Sales Team can work out a great deal for you!” mentioned Tariq Amjad, Managing Director, Motorworld Group of Companies.

“The car raffle was a tremendous addition to the Regatta and this is a wonderful prize to take home. It will be a pleasure to drive the Hyundai Creta.” says winner Mr. Soons.

Rotary Club of St. Maarten’s President John Caputo says: “The Island is now one step closer to having a proper beach cleaning machine and this car raffle fundraiser almost gets us there. The Rotary Clubs of St. Maarten are working diligently to help make St. Maarten a better place to live or visit and we certainly thank all those who purchased a ticket in support of this endeavor. Even if you didn’t win the car, you have helped ensure that our beaches will remain pristine for decades to come,” said John Caputo, the President of the Rotary Club of Sint Maarten.”
President of the Rotary Club St. Maarten-Mid Isle, Denise Antrobus adds: “On behalf of the Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle, I would like to congratulate Mr. Soons on winning the car raffle. A big thank you goes to Motorworld who sponsored the Hyundai Creta for this raffle. It was wonderful to work with this partnership of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta and the Rotary Club of St. Maarten, I look forward to seeing the beach cleaner in use on St. Maarten.”

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