Associated Luxury Hotels Names Knapp SVP
CHICAGO, IL, June 27, 2006. Laurie Knapp has been named senior vice president of Associated Luxury Hotels. In this newly created position, Knapp is responsible for overseeing sales efforts and the sales team in Associated Luxury Hotels' Mid-West Region and West Region, which includes 6 national sales offices, with locations in Chicago, Kansas City (MO), Dallas, Northern California, Southern California, and a new office in Denver. Associated Luxury Hotels serves the North American meetings industry with its National Sales Network and exclusive membership of more than 80 of North America's finest four-and five-diamond quality independent and emerging brand hotels and resorts. Knapp is based in Associated Luxury Hotels Mid-West Region's Chicago sales office.
"We've seen a tremendous growth in the demand for meeting, incentive and convention business from throughout America, and in particular from the Mid-West and West," said David Gabri, president and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels. "We've realigned our sales organization into an East Region and West Region, so that we can provide the best and most valuable service to the clients we serve. Laurie joins us with an impressive background and great national sales experience. She will be a wonderful asset to our national sales team, and will be very adept at leading the sales efforts in the West Regions for our member hotels and resorts."
Prior to her appointment, Knapp served for five years as regional director of national sales for the Central Regions of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. In that position, she was responsible for leading a team of 10 sales directors to an annual sales booking goal of more than $42 million in revenue for the brand, and was responsible for overseeing Wyndham's Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas and Houston sales offices. Prior to joining Wyndham in 2000, she served for 11 years as director of sales - worldwide accounts for Hilton Hotels Corporation in Chicago, where she represented its properties domestically and internationally to key corporate and association accounts in the Midwest territory. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Administration from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
Associated Luxury Hotels, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2006, features a diverse luxury portfolio of more than 68,000 rooms and suites and over 8.3 million square feet of meeting space. Member properties include extraordinary meeting resorts, incomparable city center hotels, exclusive smaller hotels, properties in international destinations, and hotels with gaming or entertainment. Planners can gain access to outstanding hotels ranging from 80 to 5,000 rooms by one call to Associated Luxury Hotels' professionally staffed National Sales Network.
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