SpringHill Suites Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront Names Samantha Pritchard Director of Sales

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SpringHill Suites Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront Names Samantha Pritchard Director of Sales

2024-08-12 20:55 Last Updated At：21:00

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 12, 2024--

Key International, a globally recognized real estate investment and development company, and Shaner Hotels, an award winning, international hotel owner, operator and developer, today announced that Samantha Pritchard has been named director of sales of the new 156-suite SpringHill Suites by Marriott Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront. Pritchard joins Michael Weihs, who recently joined Shaner as general manager last fall.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240812396017/en/

“Jacksonville Beach is booming, and the new SpringHill Suites Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront is well positioned to serve both the discerning business traveler and leisure guest,” Weihs said. “Samantha and I have a strong dynamic, and I look forward to collaborating with her to increase revenues while also providing extraordinary experiences to our guests. I am confident that her invaluable market knowledge will elevate our position in the competitive Jacksonville beach hotel market.”

Pritchard joined Shaner Hotels as the dual director of sales for the Courtyard by Marriott Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront and the Fairfield Inn Jacksonville Beach in Spring 2023 before assuming her promotion to area director of sales in January 2024. Her background is in hotel renovations and new construction—leading the efforts as director of sales of the Residence Inn Jacksonville, where she led the pre-opening sales efforts for the first extended-stay hotel in the Brooklyn Riverside market. Pritchard’s career began at Visit Jacksonville where she was tasked with bringing in convention groups to the city’s hotels and attractions. “That is where I got the hospitality bug, I knew that more people needed to experience Jacksonville and all we have to offer, and it was my job to show them the magic of our city.

“From access to prime beaches to the new, onsite, full-service Starbucks and an elevated dining and nightlife experience, guests don’t even have to leave the hotel to have a memorable, oceanfront vacation at SpringHill Suites,” Pritchard said. “Having worked in the Jacksonville hospitality industry for the past 10 years, I can appreciate what a unique gem this hotel is. As the newest Marriott product in the Jacksonville Beach area, we plan to breathe new life into an otherwise not often changing hotel marketplace.”

Situated oceanfront at 465 North First Street, the hotel is convenient to the area’s top attractions and businesses, including the Jacksonville Beach Pier, Sea Walk Pavilion, the PGA Tour at Sawgrass, Mayo Clinic, St. John’s Town Center, EverBank Stadium, University of North Florida and multiple area golf courses. The all-suite hotel offers complimentary daily breakfast to guests and invites them to dine at Sandbar Jax Bch, the property’s second story oceanfront restaurant & bar serving crafted cocktails and regionally inspired dishes, all while enjoying breathtaking views of the Jacksonville Beach Pier and Atlantic Ocean. In March, the hotel opened its storefront Starbucks at Jacksonville Beach Pier, offering a unique blend of Starbucks favorites with a relaxing walk-up beach vibe.

With more than 25 years of hospitality management experience, Weihs has held general manager positions in several markets in Florida, including Tampa, Orlando, Stuart/Hutchinson Island and St. Augustine.

About Key International

Key International is a global real estate development and investment firm with over $8 billion in projects and operations in Florida, Spain and Portugal. Since its inception in 1970, the firm has been a driving force in the growth of South Florida’s real estate market, as developers and owners of high-profile properties including the Eden Roc Resort Miami Beach, the Marriott Stanton Hotel South Beach and the 848 Brickell Avenue office building. Key International has also led the way as developers of marquee residential projects including 1010 Brickell, 400 Sunny Isles, Mint and Ivy on the Miami River, Parks at Delray and Waterways Luxury Apartments & Marina in St. Petersburg. Its hospitality division has nearly doubled over the last five years via strategic developments and acquisitions in top-rated leisure markets, exemplified by the award-winning Embassy Suites St. Augustine Beach Resort. Key's most recent acquisition, The Perry Hotel & Marina Key West, gives it a strategic footprint in the highest RevPAR market in the country. Please see keyint.com for more information on the company and its portfolio.

About Shaner Hotels

Headquartered in State College, Pa., Shaner Hotels is one of the foremost owner-operator companies in the hospitality industry with more than $1 billion invested in 60 hotel properties owned and managed across the U.S., Italy, Greece and the Bahamas. Over the past 40 years, the company has also been engaged in both new development and redevelopment of more than 80 hotel projects with leading brand affiliations such as Marriott International, InterContinental Hotels, Choice Hotels and Hilton. New properties are constantly evaluated as Shaner Hotels continues a conservative yet opportunistic approach to growth. For more information about the company and its divisions visit www.shanercorp.com.

Key International, a globally recognized real estate investment and development company, and Shaner Hotels, an award winning, international hotel owner, operator and developer, today announced that Samantha Pritchard (pictured) has been named director of sales of the new 156-suite SpringHill Suites by Marriott Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront. (Photo: Business Wire)

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Pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria were made by a company in Budapest, Gold Apollo says
2024-09-18 15:08 Last Updated At：15:20

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them.

Pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding more than 2,000. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

The AR-924 pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, according to a statement released Wednesday by Gold Apollo.

“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” the statement read.

Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang told journalists Wednesday that his company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years, but did not provide evidence of the contract.

At about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.

It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if non-Hezbollah members also carried any of the exploding pagers.

The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Experts believe explosive material was put into the pagers prior to their delivery and use in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration.

The AR-924 pager, advertised as being “rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to specifications once advertised on Gold Apollo’s website before it was apparently taken down Tuesday after the sabotage attack. It could receive texts of up to 100 characters.

It also claimed to have up to 85 days of battery life. That would be crucial in Lebanon, where electricity outages have been common after years of economic collapse. Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies — one of the reasons why many hospitals worldwide still rely on them.

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said from the beginning of 2022 until August 2024, Gold Apollo has exported 260,000 sets of pagers, including more than 40,000 sets between January and August of this year. The ministry said the pagers were exported mainly to European and American countries and that it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon.

For Hezbollah, the militants also looked at the pagers as a means to sidestep what’s believed to be intensive Israeli electronic surveillance on mobile phone networks in Lebanon.

“The phone that we have in our hands — I do not have a phone in my hand — is a listening device,” warned Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a February speech.

He later added: “I tell you that the phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, and in your children’s hands is the agent. It is a deadly agent, not a simple one. It is a deadly agent that provides specific and accurate information. Therefore, this requires great seriousness when confronting it.”

Associated Press journalist Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Civil Defense first-responders carry a man who was wounded after his handheld pager exploded, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.(AP Photo)

Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)

Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)

A police officer inspects a car in which a hand-held pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several men who were wounded by exploded handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bassam Masri)

Lebanese soldiers stand guard at a street that leads to the American University hospital where they bring wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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