Katie Johnson Promoted to Area Director of Marketing Communications for The Inverness Hotel & Vail Cascade Resort & Spa

Online, January 24, 2011 (Newswire.com) - George Fischer, managing director of The Inverness Hotel, has promoted Katie Johnson to area director of marketing communications. As Director, Johnson will maintain her dual property role and manage a combined $2.5 million marketing and branding budget that includes marketing , advertising, public relations, e-commerce, social media and community relations. Specifically, she will set strategic direction, create marketing campaigns, oversee tactical execution and manage third party vendors to achieve hotel objectives. During a highly productive, seven-year tenure with Destination Hotels & Resorts, Johnson has been the epitome of hospitality marketing excellence earning a suite of awards and accolades, being assigned to a corporate marketing task force and becoming the only Director of Marketing with dual hotel responsibilities in the entire Destination Hotels & Resorts portfolio.

Johnson's immeasurable level of energy and creativity, combined with her expertise and work-hard ethic has paved the way for her to excel within the company. She has earned praise for executing marketing campaigns that drive brand visibility, marketplace differentiation, and revenue growth both locally and nationally. For example, she directed a multi-faceted marketing program to launch The Spa at The Inverness, generating $865k in spa revenue and $52k in room revenue in the first year. She also created and launched The Inverness Hotel's new loyalty club and bounce-back program, resulting in 4,000 new members, 4,505 room nights and $740k in new revenue in the first six months. Her programs also touched the greater Denver community. She launched "Trash to Trees," an eco-friendly holiday competition for elementary and middle school students, which was recognized as the most successful PR/marketing campaign in The Inverness Hotel's history.

"Katie is an immensely talented individual that has truly taken our hotel marketing efforts to new heights," said Fischer. "She is continuously thinking out-of-the-box to keep The Inverness and Vail Cascade top of mind among guests, partners and industry influencers. And in this market climate, that is truly a priceless effort."

During her seven-year tenure in marketing communications, Johnson has earned internal and industry praise for her efforts, including "Hotel & Lodging Standard of Excellence Award" from the Web Marketing Association, two "Spectrum Awards" from the American Marketing Association, a "Silver Award" from Davey International Academy of Visual Arts and various internal hotel awards such as "Best Integrated Marketing Campaign" and Employee of the Quarter, Peak Performer.

To learn more about The Inverness Hotel, please visit www.invernesshotel.com or call 877-857-5680.