Select Registry Names Executive Director
Industry Leader Michael Palmer to Oversee Elite Collection of Distinguished Inns Across North Americ
MARSHALL, MI, September 1, 2009 - Michael Palmer has been appointed executive director of Select Registry(TM), an association of more than 400 fine inns, luxury B&Bs and boutique hotels in and around major destinations across North America.
Palmer brings to his new position more than a decade of experience in senior association management. He is founder and president of Treeline Associates,Inc., a Lake Orion, Michigan-based association management and business consulting firm.
Previously, Palmer served as chief staff officer of two international travel trade associations, The Travel and Tourism Research Association and The Student & Youth Travel Association (SYTA). Under his direction, SYTA has become one of the travel industry's fastest-growing associations.
In his new role at Select Registry, Palmer will oversee strategic planning and marketing initiatives that build upon the organization's 35-year history as North America's foremost association of critically acclaimed inns, B&Bs and boutique hotels. Founded in 1972 as the Independent Innkeepers' Association by author Norman Simpson, Select Registry is the successor of Simpson's pioneering book, Country Inns and Back Roads.
"I am proud to head this elite organization, which represents an unmatched dedication to quality and community enrichment," Palmer says. Of the 30,000 country inns and B&Bs in North America, only 400 have met the exceptional standards required for Select Registry membership. Select Registry conducts rigorous ongoing quality assurance inspections by anonymous inspectors to assure each member exemplifies the very best the industry has to offer.
Palmer has a long history of community leadership, having served on the board of his local education foundation and rotary club. He has been honored with the Outstanding Alumni Service Award from Michigan State University (MSU) as well as with a Distinguished Service Award from the Boy Scouts of America.
"We're delighted to have a person of Michael's stature at the helm of Select Registry," says Helen Young, the organization's president. "Michael's leadership skills - combined with his outstanding record of achievement and knowledge of the travel industry, marketing and association management - will be tremendous assets to the Select Registry membership of fine lodgings."
Palmer holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Resource Development from MSU and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of South Florida. He is a Certified Association Executive from the American Society of Association Executives and a member of the Association Management Company Institute. Mr. Palmer and his wife Kathleen are the parents of six children.
About Select Registry
Select Registry: Distinguished Inns of North America represents more than 400 of the finest country inns, luxury B&Bs, and boutique hotels from California to Nova Scotia. Of the 30,000 inns and B&Bs in North America, only 400 have met the exceptional standards required for Select Registry membership. For more than 35 years, the association has searched the continent for the best inns and B&Bs. Independent inspectors with years of experience in the hospitality industry arrive unidentified at each property, spend the night and conduct an evaluation based on a detailed point system, which translates into a pass/fail grade. Inns applying for membership are inspected, as are existing members on a periodic basis. No other organization of innkeepers has a comparable inspection program, establishing Select Registry as the benchmark for quality. Select Registry has a strong referral program. More than 400,000 copies of the organization's new guidebook are available now as gifts to guests at member inns, making the guidebook the largest publication of its kind in the travel industry. For more information, visit http://www.selectregistry.com.
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