Brett Orlando Promoted to Regional VP, Brad Cirino Named Area DOSM, and Diane Bango Appointed Area Director of Revenue and Reservations
SAN FRANCISCO (August 31, 2015) – Commune Hotels & Resorts, the international lifestyle hotel group comprising the Joie de Vivre Hotels, Thompson Hotels, tommie and Alila boutique hotel brands, announces the promotion of Brett Orlando to Regional Vice President, and the appointment of Brad Cirino to Area Director of Sales and Marketing, and Diane Bango to Area Director of Revenue and Reservations. The executives are based in Miami, Fla., and have focused efforts on Thompson Miami Beach, which opened in November 2014 on 40th and Collins Ave in the highly desired mid-beach neighborhood. These executives bring more than 50 years of combined leadership experience to the hotel management group.
Brett Orlando, Regional Vice President
Transitioning from his former role as Area Managing Director for Thompson Miami Beach, Brett Orlando now oversees Commune’s full east coast portfolio; in addition to Thompson Miami Beach, this includes The Hall, a Joie de Vivre hotel opening this fall on 15th and Collins Ave. in the heart of South Beach, Thompson Chicago, Hotel Lincoln, the new Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, Thompson Toronto, the luxury lifestyle brand’s two New York City-based hotels, Smyth and Gild Hall, as well as Belgraves in London. In his new position, Orlando develops and trains leadership teams, manages overall hotel operations, and ensures the financial performance of each property in the region.
Industry veteran Orlando has brought more than 20 years of forward-thinking leadership in the luxury hospitality field to Commune Hotels & Resorts since joining the company in March 2014 to prepare for the opening of Thompson Miami Beach. Orlando’s enthusiastic leadership and innovative management skills led more than 400 team members in the successful opening of the 380-room flagship hotel. Under Orlando’s leadership and within three months of opening, Thompson Miami Beach was named to the Travel + Leisure It List 2015 of best new hotels around the globe and hosted numerous highly-publicized special events, including Pitbull’s New Year’s Revolution, which was attended by more than 700 and viewed live on FOX by more than two million viewers.
Prior to joining Commune Hotels & Resorts and launching Thompson Miami Beach, Orlando served as General Manager at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants’ EPIC Hotel in downtown Miami and Regional Director of Operations for the group’s southeast region. In this role, he managed more than 500 employees across four hotels and led all operations, strategic marketing and revenue efforts. Orlando served as managing director at Gansevoort Hotel Miami, where he worked to transition the property out of a foreclosure status while also increasing growth, ultimately positioning the hotel above its market competitors. As Vice President of Operations during the re-launch of Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Orlando steered the 1,504-room hotel into nearly $200 million in revenue and more than $26 million in profit within his first year. Orlando also counts tenures as general manager at Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C., Royalton Hotel, The Maritime Hotel, and the SoHo and TriBeCa Grand Hotels in New York City, among his other industry experiences.
Orlando graduated with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Johnson and Wales University in Providence, R.I. He currently sits on the Board of Governors for the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce and a board member for Greater Miami & Beaches Hotel Association.
Brad Cirino, Area Director of Sales and Marketing
A results-driven professional with 15 years of experience, Brad Cirino joins Commune Hotels & Resorts as Area Director of Sales and Marketing. In this role, he will use his tactical sales experience and extensive luxury market expertise to lead all sales and marketing initiatives for Thompson Miami Beach and Joie de Vivre’s The Hall.
Cirino joins Commune Hotels & Resorts from Miami Beach luxury hotel The Royal Palm South Beach (formerly The James Royal Palm), where he served as Director of Sales and Marketing for the past year. Hired by the hotel’s ownership group, KSL Capital , to lead the complete restructuring and turnaround of the sales and marketing departments, Cirino developed and implemented all sales strategies and grew room revenue significantly during his tenure. Previously, Cirino was Director of Sales at Loews Miami Beach Hotel, where his savvy management led the sales team to significant growth in room revenue, consistently exceeding production goals.
Through his career, Cirino has held several sales positions at various Ritz-Carlton properties in the Caribbean, Mexico and South Florida. He began his career in the hospitality industry at the Sheraton Biscayne Bay and the Wyndham Miami Beach Resort.
When he’s not leading a successful hospitality sales team, Cirino can be found on the links playing golf.
Diane Bango, Area Director of Revenue and Reservations
With more than 15 years of experience in revenue management, Diane Bango joins the Commune Hotels & Resorts team to drive overall financial hotel performance. She will focus on specific revenue-generating strategies and tactics with a targeted effort around the communication of revenue management best practices.
As a Certified Revenue Management Executive, Bango will develop strategic solutions that support revenue growth, innovation and efficiency through analysis, price value assessments, and partner agreements and relations.
Like Cirino, she also joins Commune Hotels & Resorts from The Royal Palm South Beach, where she served as senior director of Revenue Management, responsible for driving financial performance and improving the business practices of revenue management on behalf of KSL Capital. Previously, Bango held the regional director of revenue management position for Melia Hotels International, where she was responsible for over 8,800 daily room nights and five hotel brands in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America. She has also held various property and regional positions with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Loews Miami Beach.
Bango is a resident of Pembroke Pines where she resides with her husband and two children.
