NEW YORK—Kenan Simmons has joined the Small Luxury Hotels of the World as VP of business development, where his primary focus will be on bringing new hotels to the brand in the Americas market.
His previous position was executive director of sales & marketing at the Grand del Mar Resort in San Diego. He also spent 16 years as VP, Americas for Leading Hotels of The World where he directed their regional sales offices.
“I’ve long admired the SLH brand and am thrilled to be joining the team—they have a revered collection of hotels, and are especially strong in the European market,” Simmons said. “America accounts for 42% of our reservations and is therefore a critical market. Bringing in new hotels across the Americas will offer guests more choice when traveling domestically but also help raise brand awareness for outbound international travel.”
Simmons will be based in SLH’s newest West Coast office in the San Diego area designed to enable access to the Southern states as well as easy entry into Central and South America, all currently on SLH’s radar for expansion.