Who’s Where in Travel: New at Travel Leaders, Playa

It’s been a busy week for new appointments in the hotel space, along with a new executive at Travel Leaders Group

Travel Leaders Group named Elizabeth Gaerlan its vice president, public relations and communications. With more than 20 years of experience in the combined areas of marketing, public relations, corporate communications and event management, she has served as senior vice president at Weber Shandwick and M. Silver Associates. She most recently led her own PR firm, providing services for a wide variety of travel and destination marketing organizations. 

Playa Hotels & Resorts named Eeva Lindroos vice president of revenue management. Reporting to Kevin Froemming, the company’s EVP and chief commercial officer, Lindroos will be based out of the company’s Fort Lauderdale office and will be responsible for maximizing RevPAR and revenue potential. She has previously served with Hilton, Fairmont, Atlantis and One&Only Resorts

Hyatt, meanwhile, named Susan Santiago senior vice president, Miravel Resorts. At the helm of the wellness brand, Santiago will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of Miraval including structure, development, strategy and operations. The hospitality industry veteran will also be responsible for Miraval’s expansion, beginning with Miraval Berkshires opening in May 2020. She has 30 years of hospitality experience, including 27 years with Hyatt. 

Genting named Bob DeSalvio president of Genting New York State, where he will oversee all operations at Resorts World Catskills and Resorts World Casino New York City. DeSalvio has a 41-year career in hospitality, most recently serving as president of Encore Boston Harbor, where he led the design, development, staffing and opening of the largest development project in Massachusetts history with a total project cost of $2.6 billion. The Wynn-licensed development celebrated its grand opening last June.

A number of properties and resorts also made new leadership appointments this week: 

  • Fairmont Mayakoba promoted General Manager Robert-Jan Woltering to area general manager of Accor – Luxe Mexico. In addition, Marco Paramo has been appointed as area director, sales and marketing. 
  • Randi Milewski was named general manager of the new Hammetts Hotel in Newport, RI, which is scheduled to open in spring 2020. 
  • Hotel Drover appointed Kristin Assad as its vice president and general manager. 

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