Jan. 08–Florida’s largest hospitality trade group this week honored the president of the Biltmore Hotel and a longtime executive of Miami-Dade County-based Southern Wine & Spirits.
Gene Prescott, whose Seaway Group owns the Biltmore, was given the 2014 Hotelier Hall of Fame Award, and Herman Fernandez, vice president of national accounts for Southern Wine, was named the 2014 Supplier of the Year by the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.
The association, which represents more than 10,000 members of the state’s $72 billion hospitality industry, announced the awards at a gala Tuesday in Amelia Island.
Prescott was recognized for his decades of hotel success, including owning and operating the Biltmore since 1992 and overseeing its recently completed 10-year, $40 million renovation.
Fernandez, who has spent nearly 40 years with Southern, the country’s biggest wine and spirits distributor, “is a key player [who] has helped cultivate a relationship with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association,” according to a news release from the group.
