Radisson Hotels & Resorts today announced the establishment of a pre-opening sales office for the new 404-room Radisson Plaza Hotel Myrtle Beach under construction in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and the appointment of Michael Gerringer as the hotel`s Director of Sales and Marketing. Developed by the City of Myrtle Beach and managed by Radisson, the 14-story hotel, which adjoins the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, is expected to open by February 2003.
Gerringer will work closely with Myrtle Beach Convention Center Director of Sales and Marketing Bill Sigmon, Jr. and General Manager Paul Edwards and the Convention Center`s sales team to pre-sell the hotel. The hotel occupies a premier site in the region for meetings and conventions, at the heart of the Grand Strand`s growing entertainment district and near the city`s famous beaches.

“Myrtle Beach is an exceptional group meeting destination, and this hotel will fill the need for regional and national convention and trade show planners who want a dedicated, first-class, group convention hotel facility,” said Lowell Lankford, Executive Vice President of Operations for Radisson Managed Hotels & Resorts. “This will be a landmark property for our company.”

“Michael Gerringer will be a tremendous asset to the new hotel,” Lankford added. “He has extensive experience in hotel sales and marketing in the Southeast and knows how to leverage all of Radisson`s and Carlson`s business generating systems. The hotel is off to a great start and showing great demand, as the Convention Center sales team has already booked over one million dollars in advance sales.”

“We`re looking forward to working with Michael and Radisson to generate additional advance bookings for the hotel and our Convention Center facility which will greatly benefit from the company`s pre-opening sales and marketing activities, as well as the connections to Radisson`s global reservations systems,” said Bill Sigmon, Jr.

Gerringer most recently served as the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Radisson Plaza Hotel Baltimore-Inner Harbor, a new company-managed property, where he helped launch all of Radisson`s key programs and was instrumental in building group sales.

Prior to joining Radisson, he served in senior sales and marketing positions throughout the Southeastern United States with Ocean Resorts in Daytona Beach, Fla.; the Crowne Plaza Resort in Hilton Head and Beck Summit Hotels in Charleston, S.C.; and with the Durham Hotel Corporation at an Omni Hotel in Durham. He also served as a Regional Director of Sales and Marketing in Charlotte, N.C. for Krisch (AMI) for their nine Sheraton and Holidays Inn hotels.

He attended Rockingham College in Wentworth, N.C., and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. He has also shared his extensive industry knowledge teaching hospitality courses at Piedmont Community College in Charlotte.

The Myrtle Beach area is one of the strongest year-round resort markets in the United States, with beautiful beaches, excellent dining and shopping, nationally acclaimed attractions, live entertainment venues, and more than 110 golf courses. Construction of this headquarters hotel is part of the City of Myrtle Beach`s ongoing investment in the convention center`s multi-phase master plan.

The Radisson Plaza Myrtle Beach Hotel will feature luxurious guest rooms and suites (many with dramatic ocean views), a full-service restaurant, a lounge, a health club, an indoor pool and a gift shop. It is near the vast, 350-acre, Broadway at the Beach entertainment complex and the new Coastal Federal Field baseball stadium.

The hotel`s lobby and second floor lounge area will open directly to pre-function spaces for the 249,000-square-foot convention center. The center includes 17 meeting rooms with 14,400 square feet of meeting space, 16,000 square feet of pre-function area and a 17,000 square-foot Grand Ballroom, as well as a 100,000 square-foot, column-free exhibition hall.

Designed by Pegram and Associates, an award-winning local firm, the hotel`s exterior will reflect the architectural themes and features of the convention center itself, complete with glass towers and an expansive, dramatic porte cochere. Also being added to the complex is a 30,000-square-foot outdoor special events plaza, for themed outdoor parties and receptions.

For further information about the Myrtle Beach Convention Center and the new Radisson Plaza Myrtle Beach Hotel, please visit the convention center`s web site at www.myrtlebeachconventioncenter.com (or www.mb-cc.com) or contact Michael Gerringer at the Radisson Plaza Myrtle Beach Hotel Pre-opening Sales Office at 843-918-4997 or [email protected]

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