Gemstone Hotels & Resorts, LLC, has appointed Kevin Dowdell as regional director of sales and marketing for its New England resorts. In this position, Dowdell is responsible for leading all sales, marketing and public relations efforts for Topnotch Resort and The Essex Resort & Spa.
Dowdell brings nearly three decades of marketing and sales expertise with a proven track record of driving group sales business and orchestrating successful multifaceted campaigns.
“Kevin’s distinguished career in the hospitality industry makes him uniquely qualified to help grow and strengthen awareness of and business for our Vermont properties,” said Bob Sassani, regional vice president, Gemstone Hotels & Resorts, LLC. “Kevin is passionate, creative and an inspiring leader…he is an ideal complement to our executive team.”
Most recently, Dowdell served as director of sales and marketing for Marriott Hotels & Resorts overseeing the complex that included Macon Marriott City Center, Macon Arena, Macon Convention Center, and Macon Auditorium in Georgia. Prior to that, he served as director of sales and marketing for Millennium Hotel in downtown St. Louis. During his tenure there, group rooms increased 17% year over year.
His previous work experience also includes director of sales and marketing roles at Madison Memphis Hotel in Tennessee, Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center in Callicoon, NY, and Embassy Suites in San Rafael, CA; general manager at the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel in Oregon; regional director of sales, marketing, and operations at Marcus Hotels and Resorts; and Human Resources Manager at Ozark Air Lines.
A lifetime philanthropist, Dowdell most recently spent a year as a Volunteer Director for UNICEF working in the refugee camps in the Bekka Valley along the Lebanonese-Syrian border. He currently resides in Essex Junction, VT and in his spare time, continues to pen narratives as a script writer for CBS Daytime Serials.
