Hotel and Resort News and Notes for December 2024

While most big hotel news is covered by TMR’s team and hosted on its Hotels and Resort homepage, some smaller news bits deserve attention. Below you can find rolling hotel news bites from the last four weeks that travel advisors, industry professionals, and frequent travelers should know about.

Auberge Resorts Hires New Leisure Sales Director
COMO Group Appoints New Sales Directors 
Four Seasons Launches Hotel Pajamas Collection 
Gansevoort Meatpacking’s New GM 
Holiday Programming at W South Beach   
Le Sereno – Saint Barthélemy’s New Hotel Manager 
Mandarin Oriental’s New Head of Development, the Americas 
Mariah Carey’s Black Irish Holiday Bar at Virgin Hotels New York City 
New Resort Manager at Conrad Maldives 
New Sales Director, GM at Kimpton Armory Hotel Bozeman 
New Sales & Marketing Director at The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa 
Paradise Retreats Hires a New GM 
The Ritz-Carlton Maldives’ New Sales Director and Manager 
Virgin Limited Edition to Offer LeBlanq’s Joyride Experiences 
World of Hyatt Partners with Headspace on Sleep Series 

Auberge Resorts Collection has appointed Jessica Kaftor as Area Associate Director of Leisure Sales for Latin America. She will support leisure sales efforts of Auberge’s resorts in Mexico and Costa Rica for the Northeast, Florida, and Eastern Canadian markets.

COMO Resorts & Hotels has appointed Birgit Albicker-Rimpel as Senior Global Director of Sales for the Americas and Cataline Richmond as Director of Global Sales for the West Coast. Albicker-Rimpel will manage sales strategies from New York, and Richmond from the West Coast. 

Available online at Shop.FourSeasons.com, Four Seasons Signature Sleep Experience is the newest, coziest pajama collection on the market. The Oxford Sateen pajama sets feature contrast piped trim and branded breast pocket embroidery. 

Gansevoort Meatpacking, the luxury hotel in New York City’s Meatpacking District, has named Sherrin Thomas as its new general manager. The hotel celebrated its 20^th anniversary this year and is on the heels of a $40 million renovation. 

Two festive cocktails, Christmas Coquito and Grove Rum Apple Cider, will be available all month long at W South Beach. The hotel will also offer holiday programming, including a “Tinsel & Tonics” mixology class, snow globe-making, a hot cocoa bar, and more. 

Le Sereno in Saint Barthélemy has appointed Tiphaine Lacombe as its new hotel manager. Lacombe has extensive hospitality experience and now brings her expertise to the luxury beachfront hotel. 

Mandarin Oriental has named Tiffany Cooper as head of development, Americas. She brings more than 30 years of experience and was previously chief development officer for the Americas and Caribbean at Aimbridge Hospitality. 

Mariah Carey’s Black Irish Holiday Bar is now open at Virgin Hotels NYC. The pop-up bar will serve up festival cocktails, such as a Black Irish Espresso Martini and spiked hot chocolate with Mariah Carey’s own Irish cream liqueur, through Dec. 29. 

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island has appointed Akshat Sinha as its new resort manager. He has 15 years of leadership experience in property management, including during large-scale renovations and pre-opening operations. In the new position, he will lead key projects such as the repositioning of dining venues and introduction of new experiences. 

Kimpton Armory Hotel Bozeman has hired Carol Peach as director of sales and marketing. She has held executive roles at Rosewood Hotels, Belmond, and Westin, most recently as area director of sales and marketing for Bardessono Hotel & Spa and Hotel Yountville Resort & Spa in California. The hotel also has a new general manager, Charles Daenen. 

Mary Beth Seamands is the new sales and marketing director at The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa. She brings more than three decades of industry experience at brands such as Hilton, Wyndham and Omni. 

Paradise Retreats, a Nocturne Luxury Villas company, has appointed Louise Astbury to general manager. She joins the Santa Barbara property from Inspirato, where she was the director of assets since 2022. 

The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands, has appointed Afaag Ibrahim as sales director and promoted Ahmed Sabah to sales manager. Afaag will handle sales and marking in the Middle East, Australia and Europe markets, while Sabah will cover India and local DMCs. 

The Virgin Limited Edition hotel brand has partnered with Le Blanq to offer a three-night cycling and culinary experience at Son Bunyola Hotel & Villas in Mallorca from March 27 to 30, 2025. After this inaugural Joyride Experience, there will be two additional ones held in 2026. 

World of Hyatt is collaborating with Headspace, the meditation app, to give its travelers a good night’s sleep during their stay. The new exclusive video series, Headspace’s Science Behind Sleep, presented by World of Hyatt, is now available at nearly 400 Hyatt hotels.