Questex Hospitality Promotes John McMahon

New York, NY — January 6, 2012. Questex Hospitality + Travel is pleased to announce the promotions of John McMahon to executive vice president, Questex Hospitality + Travel and Marilyn McHugh to vice president, global events for Questex Hospitality + Travel.

Effective immediately, McMahon assumes responsibility for the Questex portfolio of eMedia and eLearning products serving the hospitality and travel sector including HotelManagement.net, TravelAgentCentral.com, MeetingsReview.com, the International Meetings Review Network, Travel Agent University as well as the group’s Travel Agent, Luxury Travel Advisor and Hotel Management magazines.

McHugh’s responsibility includes the company’s worldwide portfolio of Hotel Investment, Hotel Management, Luxury Travel and Global Meeting & Incentive Travel events, including the IHIF series, Luxury Travel series, Incentive Travel Exchange series and HOTEC Americas series.

“John and Marilyn have an exceptionally strong level of experience in hospitality and travel industry marketing, media and events. We are proud to recognize their accomplishments with these well-deserved promotions,” stated Kerry Gumas, President and CEO of Questex Media Group LLC. “Each has had a distinguished career and we are pleased to be in the position to have two such accomplished executives leading this division.”

McMahon has more than 20 years of industry experience in management and sales. He has been the driving force for many successful products and event launches throughout his travel media career including Luxury Travel Advisor and Luxury Hotelier magazine as well as Luxury Travel Expo, HotelWorld Expo & Conference and Incentive Travel Exchange. He has also led the group’s eMedia development and sales initiatives developing the company’s eLearning and loyalty programs into a blockbuster business.

Prior to joining Questex, McMahon spent 10 years at Reed Travel Group and also served as publisher of the Official Hotel Guide and the OAG Business products.
McMahon is also a member of numerous hotel and travel advisory boards, foundations and serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater New York Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

McHugh brings more than a quarter century of hospitality experience to her position, having earlier served Wyndham Worldwide and its predecessors, Cendant Corporation and Hospitality Franchise Systems, for 18 years in key corporate and brand marketing roles.

As Wyndham Hotel Group’s vice president of B2B Marketing & Communications, she created a global business-to-business marketing plan and established long-term sales strategies for the company’s 12 lodging brands. She also managed global sales, operations, b2b marketing, trade shows and training and communications.
Among her accomplishments there, McHugh developed and launched an online directory for meeting planners, championed a social media marketing campaign for travel management companies, implemented an online specialist program for travel agents and led automation of the request-for-proposal process.

Prior to joining Questex, McHugh was brand director for UBM Live, where she led a business unit responsible for organizing several of the world’s largest cruise industry exhibitions and conferences, managing the marketing team, setting strategies and implementing social media initiatives to drive brand revenue.

McHugh is a magna cum laude graduate of Farleigh Dickinson University, Madison, N.J., where she received a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and currently serves as an adjunct professor of Hospitality. She earned the Certified Hotel Administration designation from the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute.

Questex Hospitality + Travel, the largest multimedia organization in the world dedicated to travel and lodging, drives revenue, productivity and value creation for these related industries through strategic investment and deal-making forums, powerful lead-generation tools, interactive online business solutions, world-class events and industry-leading publications.

Questex Hospitality + Travel operates throughout the United States and Americas regions, EMEA and Asia/Pacific through a variety of market-leading properties and services including International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) Berlin, North America Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference, International Hotel Investment Forum North Asia, Tourism Destination Investment Conference Asia, Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference, Central Asia & Turkey Hotel Investment Conference, HOTEC Design and HOTEC Operations & Technology; lead generation portal HotelManagement.net; industry news delivery services in print, online and mobile worldwide via IHIF: Hotel Investment News along with Hotel Management and HA+D magazines.

In addition, the group serves global travel marketers through TravelAgentCentral.com, LuxuryTravelAdvisor.com, TravelAgentUniversity Online; an award-winning series of events serving the luxury travel and MICE markets such as Luxury Travel Expo, Global Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchanges and CONFEC; and the leading luxury travel booking site, FiveStarAlliance.com; industry news delivery services in print and mobile worldwide via Travel Agent and Luxury Travel Advisor magazines.

Questex Hospitality + Travel also provides business development, marketing and training services to NTOs/DMAs, hotel, gaming, resort and cruise companies, OTAs and travel agents worldwide. Questex Hospitality + Travel is a division of Questex Media Group LLC, headquartered in Newton, Mass., with offices throughout the world

John McMahon
Executive Vice President
Questex Hospitality + Travel,
a division of Questex Media Group LLC
New York, N.Y.
jmcmahon@questex.com

Marilyn McHugh, CHA
Vice President Global Events
Questex Hospitality + Travel,
a division of Questex Media Group LLC
New York, N.Y.
mmchugh@questex.com