Mainsail Lodging & Development announced today the appointment of Andrew Houghton as Managing Partner for Mainsail Vacation Rentals, the company’s new vacation rental experience launched earlier this year. Houghton will oversee the acquisition, management, distribution, marketing and sales of Mainsail Vacation Rentals based in Sarasota, Florida. Mainsail is one of just six property management companies chosen for the launch of Homes & Villas by Marriott International, the global hospitality leader’s new home rental offering.

With more than 30 years of management experience at hotels and resorts around the world, Houghton comes to Mainsail from The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, where he served as General Manager for two years. Prior to The Ritz-Carlton, Houghton was with Marriott International as Area Vice President for the Carribean and Brazil, one of many positions he held throughout his long and distinguished career with Marriott, starting in 1986 as Director of Sales & Marketing at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square. In 1988, he moved to the Cairo Marriott, as Director of Marketing. From 1992 to 1998, Andrew worked for Hilton Hotels in London as General Manager Sales-Europe and as Resident Manager for the Conrad International Hotel & Casino in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition, Andrew worked at Marriott Headquarters in Washington, DC as Brand Executive Vice President for Full Service Brands from 2004 to 2007. While at Marriott’s corporate office, Andrew defined and managed brand positioning strategies for the Marriott, Renaissance and JW brands.

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