Meet the People Who Make the Resort Industry Great!

Steve Mannon, Facilities Manager for the Northstar Lodge by Welk Resorts

Steve Mannon is the Facilities Manager for the Northstar Lodge by Welk Resorts in Lake Tahoe, California, a 70-unit mountain resort that was previously an extremely high-end, branded fractional residence club. Steve worked at the then-Hyatt branded property under the previous owners prior to its purchase and redevelopment by Welk Resorts in 2013 and was the only employee retained after they purchased the resort.

When he started working with the original developer in 2009, Steve was an army of one, serving for two years before he was able to hire a team. About a year ago, he took over managing the Public Areas department in addition to Facilities, adding to his responsibilities and supervising a team of nine.

Steve is recognized resort-wide for his magical maintenance bag of tricks and his amazing skills at being able to single-handedly repair just about anything. As Welk Resorts began construction on the second building of 35 units and a 14,500 square foot preview center, Steve and the construction supervisor became the natural “Go-To” people for every contractor involved with the 18-month-long project. He is now working on expansion construction for the third and final building of 35 units, expected to open next winter.

A genuine hands-on type of manager, Steve constantly walks the resort and takes ownership of every nook and cranny on the 4-acre property, treating it as if he owns it himself. He is supremely cost-conscious and maintains monthly P& L statements for his department, managing the $400,000 annual maintenance budgets for three associations.

In the maintenance industry for 13 years, he started building homes at the age of 21 in Washington State and later landed a position at the Ritz Carlton in Rancho Mirage, in security and then in maintenance. He was sent to Las Vegas to help Ritz launch a new hotel, where he earned his HVAC certification. Later, a position at the Hyatt in Tahoe set the stage for his transition to Welk Resorts, a job he thoroughly enjoys.

“In my line of work,” he says, “there is always something different every day. This is what makes it challenging and fun.”

Recognizing that annual maintenance weeks are simply not enough time to keep each unit in top condition, Steve has created a detailed pre-arrival inspection program, reducing maintenance and resulting in “A” level customer satisfaction scores. His maintenance week schedule is amazingly mapped out two years in advance.

Michelle Morikawa, General Manager of Northstar Lodge, shared this story about Steve. “Imagine a cold and snowy day in February… a truck loses control in front of the resort, ricochets off another vehicle, and collides head-on with the building that houses the main gas lines. Early on the scene, Steve springs into action. Gas is spewing from damaged gas lines. Steve literally jumps and slides over the hood of the crashed vehicle to quickly shut down the gas lines and prevents imminent disaster. His quick thinking and immediate, non-hesitant action amazed everyone who witnessed this event and served as a great example of the kind of person Steve is. We are delighted to have him on our team.”

Faith Coulter, VP Operations InnSeason Resorts

“Faith began her career with InnSeason Resorts in 2004 as the Inventory/Owner Services Manager, helping to create a central reservations department and the company’s new InnSeason Vacation Club.

As a result of her tenacity and strengths, a Business Office Management department was soon formed with Faith at the helm, responsible for managing the business unit for the company. Her objectives were to ensure sales efficiency, customer service, team member supervision and support, asset management and documentation.

She was promoted to Director of Contract Operations in 2006, responsible for sales offices in several states and their required legal compliances as well as corporate affiliations with VRI, RCI, Disney Vacation Club ®, etc.

In March 2016, she was named Vice President of Operations guiding operations of the sales offices and the inventory control at their new RiverWalk Resort at Loon Mountain, in Lincoln, New Hampshire.

Originally from Easton, MA, Faith has lived all over the US and now calls Cape Cod her home. She earned her BS in Hotel Management from Southern New Hampshire University. Previously, she held various management positions with Hilton, Hyatt & DoubleTree Hotels – including Regional Revenue Manager for the Midwest & Northeast. While working at hotels like these, she found that by implementing something similar to hotel property management software, the idea of running various aspects of a hotel wouldn’t be as stressful and staff will have even more time to attend to their customers as well as overseeing everything else. Quite often, property management companies, be they in the realm of business, commercial or residential, will utilize the likes of IWMS software to streamline their operations and to keep track of and maintain their key assets.

Faith often acts as an ambassador for her organization and provides key insights to other companies to ensure that the focus and objectives of the InnSeason Resort Group and that organization are met. When the InnSeason Resort Group transitioned their Club to the RCI exchange network, Faith assumed a very “take charge” and hands-on approach in this process. She played a significant role in the operational obligations as well as the training and development of the teams for both companies. This required spending time in both call centers to ensure the teams were set up to be successful and credible in their new environments. Faith provided scripting, training and overall support in this process.

Joyce Vecchione, Director, Marketing and Communications, InnSeason Resorts added, “Faith is extremely detail-oriented as she guides us through the complexities of inventory management and the uniqueness of communicating the benefits of points-based vacationing to prospects and owners. As technology and our roles have expanded, it has been reassuring to work with someone who is able to so clearly see the whole picture from marketing to sales, and from use to ownership.”

“During my 12 years with InnSeason Resorts I have been able to work side by side within the organization as well as with our partners within the industry. Working with affiliated companies has given me the opportunity to broaden my career in the hospitality business – and even better understand the business from a legal and financial standpoint. We can always learn from each other personally and professionally.”

When not opening resorts, Faith loves to travel and enjoys the arts from concerts to Broadway as well as cheering for all New England sports teams. She recently volunteered with a service project in Appalachia, which she says was extremely rewarding.

InnSeason Resorts ®, creators of the Northeast Experience ®, is a leading provider of a resort vacation and ownership opportunities in the northeast U.S. and delivers “best-in-class” management, advisory, and marketing services to resorts and developers nationwide.

Jörg Heyer, General Manager Sheraton Vistana Villages

After more than three decades of service within the hospitality industry, Jörg Heyer has learned that the goal of creating happy vacation experiences for guests is the same no matter where you are … from a resort on the Red Sea in Egypt or a beach property in Dubai to a leading vacation ownership property in Orlando, Florida. Working in the hospitality industry can be quite challenging. But with the idea of companies choosing to try an online scheduling solution to help keep track of staff working hours, people may not have to work overtime if they hadn’t opted to do it. And for the people that did do overtime, the extra hours will be monitored. When it comes to working in an industry like this, being available and attentive is what will help both the staff and customers have a great experience.

Since 2011, Jörg has served as General Manager of the 1,156-villa Sheraton Vistana Villages on International Drive in the heart of Orlando. Opened in 2000, the 95-acre property will have over 2000 units at build out. As GM, he supports, leads, guides and motivates the 450-person resort operations team and works closely with four HOA boards of directors.

With the recent spin-off from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., Jörg was able to be part of the re-launch of Vistana Signature Experiences (Vistana), now an operating business of Interval Leisure Group. He is excited for the many opportunities this represents for Vistana owners and associates.

Now a U.S. citizen, Jörg’s hospitality career began in the northern German city of Kiel. His father was a member of a yacht club that also had a hotel and restaurant. “As a high school student,” he recalls, “I got hooked on the hospitality business by working there in the summer. Through this, I found that customers are always the main priority for any business. Within the hospitality industry, you’re always going to be faced with customers, so you will need to think of new ways of being able to grow your business, as well as connect with the people that play a massive role in the success or downfall of any business. There are many ways where running a hospitality-based business can be made easier, like looking into something like the maitred pos review, which could be a solution for you to help control key aspects of your business. Over years of trial and error, I can understand the feeling of success when you know you have a business that you are proud of. But nothing is perfect straight away, which is why solutions like these do not only help your business overall but you as a businesswoman or man.”
After he earned a degree in hotel management, Jörg joined ITT Sheraton in Munich at the front desk and progressed to higher management levels, ultimately moving to London as sales director for the Sheraton Park Tower. Later, he became GM of the Sheraton Miramar resort on the Red Sea in Egypt, one of many hotels from Europe to the Middle East and Africa that he managed before he was promoted to lead the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort in Dubai in 2001.

“With the start of Operation Iraki Freedom in 2003, I decided it was time to leave the Middle East and moved to the United States,” recalls Jörg. I worked with an international executive search firm as a hospitality recruiter in Orlando until 2007 when I rejoined Sheraton at the Starwood Vacation Ownership division as the Hotel Manager for their 1682-villa Sheraton Vistana Resort. I quickly learned about every aspect of the timeshare industry, giving me a solid foundation for my current position as GM of the Sheraton Vistana Villages.”

He earned a Certified Hotel Administrator degree from the American Hotel & Motel Association and is a Community Association Manager. A member of the inaugural ARDA LEAPS class, he is a certified Registered Resort Professional and a board member of the Central Florida Hotel Lodging Association. Fluent in German and English, he enjoys networking with the resort and vacation ownership industry worldwide.

“I was also fortunate to meet my wife Lina in Orlando. Ironically after 12 years in the Middle East, I had to relocate to Florida to meet a beautiful woman from Lebanon. Between us we have four grown children from previous marriages and enjoy spending time with our extended family.”

“With 66 million annual Orlando visitors, we enjoy very high occupancies year-round. While this is a blessing, the challenge is to execute maintenance and renovation projects to ensure that no guests are disturbed while they are staying on property. Depending on the season, we host between 2000 and 4000 guests. But we are in the business of creating vacations, and for me, there is no better job in the world,” he says.