Palma de Mallorca, Spain-based Sol Melia has hired John
Iannini as senior director of meetings in the Americas as part of a shift from
a brand- to a region-focused sales strategy.
With more than 300 hotels across 26 countries, Sol Melia had
divided its sales team by its brands, which include the luxury Gran Melia and
ME, as well as the upper upscale Melia and select-service and midprice brands.
Late last year, it began to shift to organize its sales teams based on regions,
Iannini said.
Iannini most recently served on Wyndham Hotel Group's sales
team, acting as subject matter expert for the incentive market since 2007. He
also operated New Jersey-based incentive planning company Incentive Travel
Services, which he launched in 1990.
Sol Melia plans to work more closely with group travel
buyers to help provide one-stop shopping. "We know they're stretched to
the absolute max, so we want to have partners in all these destinations where
we have hotels."
The company does not operate any U.S. properties, save one in
Puerto Rico, Iannini said. Sol Melia is eyeing expansion there too.
This story originally
appeared in the July 12, 2010, issue of Business Travel News.