Visit Anaheim, the official destination marketing organization for Anaheim, California, hired three new meeting sales managers, increasing the organization’s meeting sales team to five. The DMO said the new hires are part of a strategy to focus on securing meeting and event business to drive short-term recovery for local hotels and event venues.
Visit Anaheim said it saw a 198% increase in RFPs in 2021 compared to 2020, leading it to restructure its sales team and for the first time created a position dedicated to the Northwest market, a top feeder market for the destination.
Visit Anaheim provided the following description for its three new meeting sales managers:
- Isaac Gutierrez, Meeting Sales Manager, Northwest Region: Based in Northern California, Gutierrez has a long history of success with Marriott selling luxury brand and convention hotels. He also has experience selling smaller boutique hotels in Sonoma and Monterey, California. Gutierrez also spent four years at the Anaheim Marriott early in his career, making him knowledgeable about the destination.
- Quincy Smith, Meeting Sales Manager, Midwest Region: Smith has a long history of success with California’s San Mateo County/Silicon Valley CVB and has also sold convention and luxury hotels. Smith is based in Chicago and will help drive meetings business from the Midwest market to Anaheim and Orange County.
- Sue Stemley, Meeting Sales Manager, Eastern Region: Stemley joins Visit Anaheim with a wealth of experience selling San Diego Marriott hotels for the past 20 years. She is based in Washington, D.C., and is well connected customers throughout the region.
Visit Anaheim President & CEO Jay Burress said meeting planners' booking windows have shrunk considerably in the last year, which was another reason for hiring three new sales managers.
“Meetings tend to have a shorter booking window, which means that business is supporting our local economy in the short-term,” Burress said. “In 2021, we saw the average number of months between meeting planners booking and holding an event decrease by 28% compared to 2020, showing that planners are ready for a turnkey process to book and hold their event.”
