HOW DOES THE ST. REGIS ACCOMMODATE THE NEEDS OF LUXURY BUSINESS AND LEISURE TRAVELERS?

Our guests at St. Regis Hotels and Resorts and The Luxury Collection are entrepreneurs, business leaders and sometimes political leaders. Their trips are a blur as they work to live and live to work; often they are combining their business and leisure trips.

The butler service is a primary driver of our customer loyalty. Our butlers help take away the stress of travel, seeing to every business need as well as personal needs — including tea and coffee service, pressing and nearly anything you wish. Guests can check in to the hotel at the airport, so they can avoid lines and head straight to their room upon arrival.

Our Atlanta property, a 5-diamond property in the city, has become a destination, in keeping with John Jacob Astor’s desire in 1904 for a hotel to entertain the best in society — that was The St. Regis New York. The brand has a 60 percent return rate, which is the highest in the industry.

STARWOOD RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THE 100TH HOTEL UNDER THE ST. REGIS AND LUXURY COLLECTION BRANDS. WHAT CHANGES CAN OUR READERS EXPECT?

Our guests will continue to see more of the same true luxury from the brands. We just hosted the fourth St. Regis International Polo Cup this past May. We took the polo match to Singapore and plan to add Hong Kong and Thailand.

HOW HAS THE ST. REGIS BEEN AFFECTED BY THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN? WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING?

We have two distinct markets: the traditional business and luxury market and the high-end family market. We are seeing a constant improvement on the business side, which began coming back in the fall of 2009. Although the recovery has been a little slower than we’d like, it is showing great improvement. The family market has been very strong, led by the ski and beach destinations. Resorts saw their best year ever in 2010, which should give a strong indication to the future. The Luxury Collection had the best share of the Starwood brands, and St. Regis properties led revenue per available room in their category.

TELL OUR READERS ABOUT YOUR CAREER IN HOSPITALITY.

I attended hotel management school at Bournemouth University and thought I would be a chef, but I found my talents better suited for sales. I was running the regional sales team when Starwood purchased Ciga Hotels, which became the core of The Luxury Collection, and I became involved in Starwood’s luxury brands. I was director of sales and marketing for northwest Europe, worked in the design center for the brands and now lead brand marketing for The St. Regis and The Luxury Collection.