May 2022, Nantucket, MA – Little Gem Resorts, a family-owned collection of boutique island resorts with award-winning properties on Martha’s Vineyard, MA; Nantucket, MA; and St. John, USVI, is pleased to announce that, Urmas Karner, has been named the collection’s newest general manager at The Nantucket Hotel.
Karner’s initial hotel posting was at the 1,700 room New York’s Hotel Pennsylvania. Now closed, it was the world’s largest hotel when it opened in 1919. From there Urmas gravitated to intimate, luxury properties in the Caribbean, including stints in Dominica, St. Lucia and The Turks & Caicos Islands. In the latter destination, Urmas was General Manager at the 5 Star, Somerset on Grace Bay Resort. While there, he was voted Turks & Caicos’ 2016 Hotelier of the Year as well as being concurrently designated by Peppers & Rogers One To One Media as Customer Service Champion.
Karner said, “Now another island beckons. I am honored and delighted to join Little Gem Resorts as General Manager of the acclaimed Nantucket Hotel + Resort and I look forward to applying my experience and enthusiasm for the benefit of our guests and island visitors as well as the local community and my co-worker ‘family’.”
In addition to his professional experience, Karner brings a love of playing the guitar, golf, chess and fishing. He has experience as an entertainer, MC and bandleader at international events. He is fluent in Estonian.
“It was important for us to find a new general manager with a proven industry track record,” said Mark Snider, Owner of Little Gem Resorts. “Our previous General Manager, Jamie Holmes, who retired this year after 11 years at the helm, and who was a wonderful leader, introduced us to Urmas. Urmas brings character, warmth and a commitment to excellent hospitality. We believe with Urmas at the helm, he will continue to inspire our team to offer the exceptional guest experience for which we are known.”
Urmas’s wife, Karin Annus Karner, is a multi-Emmy Award winning television business news veteran, who recently ventured into the crypto currency world. She is also a cookbook author. Their daughter Aleksa is an analyst for a California based executive search firm specializing in the pharmaceutical industry. Their Dachshund Keebler is an avid fan of the Tennis Channel.
