ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Destination Hotels has appointed Julie Purnell as senior vice president, business development and acquisitions. In this position, Purnell’s primary role will be to help lead the company’s growth efforts throughout the West region. Based in San Francisco, she will focus on securing new hospitality management contracts and will play a direct role in identifying and leading hotel and resort acquisitions.
Before joining Destination Hotels, for the past two years Purnell was the senior vice president of acquisitions and development at Denihan Hospitality. In this role, she was responsible for expanding the James brand and Affinia Collection through securing third-party management contracts and recommending company investment contributions. Prior to this, Purnell was vice president of Hotel Development for Marriott International’s Western Region. At Marriott, she was responsible for driving shareholder value and earnings through the growth of Marriott’s full-service hotels in the Western US. Purnell has also held leadership positions at other notable hospitality companies, such as Loews Hotels, House of Blues Hospitality and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants.
“Julie is a widely recognized, experienced business development leader with multi-dimensional hotel company experience from leading independent, boutique and branded hotel companies,” said Russ Urban, Destination Hotel’s business development and acquisition Leader. “Julie is a great addition to our team of business development executives.”
