Brandon Wade, DoubleTree by Hilton Jamestown general manager/chief sales officer, was the club's guest speaker today. Brandon was introduced by Lee Harkness, who opened by telling the club members that Brandon's career has led him to live in many different and unique places.
Wade, who is a native of Texas, started his career in the hospitality industry after serving in the Navy. He was actually a teacher and a police officer before he started to work for a hotel in Las Vegas.
After coming to New York state to live closer to his mother, he was discovered by the Hamister Group, who asked him if he wanted to be the general manager of their new hotel they were going to be opening in Jamestown. He agreed, and the rest is history.
For today, Brandon mainly focused on the progress of the work on the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel here in Jamestown. The former Holiday Inn and Ramada Inn was purchased by the Hamister Group back in 2013. According to the Hamister Group website, plans for this project call for a fully renovated 147 room full-service hotel with restaurant, and 4,000 square feet of banquet and meeting space.
The Hamister Group owns several different brands, with DoubleTree being in the Top 10 of Hotel Brands worldwide.
Some of amenities the Jamestown location will offer will be a Sweet Dreams by DoubleTree sleep experience, a professional and devoted sales team and meeting planner, catering and audio/visual team, 24-hour fitness center, and (this writer's favorite part), an on-site Restaurant and Gastro inspired pub with 40 craft beers available. The name of the pub will be "Pearl City Hops" in honor of Jamestown.
The biggest question asked was when Wade felt the DoubleTree would be opened. The goal, according to Brandon, is to have the facility ready to go by July 2018, as August is typically a very busy month for tourism in Jamestown and the surrounding community. A job fair to fill positions at the hotel will also be held sometime in May or June of next year.
Many thanks to Brandon for an interesting presentation!