James Gibson has over twenty years experience in the Hospitality Industry. A British citizen, he was born in Zambia, Africa but was raised and received his schooling in the County of Surrey, England.
Most recently he served as Hotel Manager of the Ritz Carlton San Juan Hotel, Spa and Casino. In this capacity, he was responsible for the management of all hotel operations of the 416-room luxury flagship property in Puerto Rico. He oversaw culinary, food and beverage, engineering, event planning, recreation, rooms division and spa operations. Among his accomplishments there, he helped to increase hotel revenues by $14 million 2005 versus 2004, oversaw a guest room renovation of $9 million, and improved both customer service and employee satisfaction scores for the property.
Prior to Ritz Carlton, Gibson served as General Manager for five years at the 303-room Adam’s Mark Columbia in South Carolina. The hotel served the needs of all travel segments, but with 27,000 square feet of meeting space, had a substantial share of the business travel and group meetings market. His successes included improving the company’s standing in the local community through both professional and personal involvement and achieving the annual budget in the year following 9/11. In doing so, he exceeded revenues for the prior year and was the only property to successfully achieve budget in his company of 24 hotels. He left Adam’s Mark after successfully seeing the property through an ownership change and assisting in the planning of a re-design and flag change.
Prior to Adam’s Mark, Gibson spent eleven years with Hyatt Hotels Corporation at six different properties. He worked in all Rooms Division capacities including Reservations and Revenue Management, Front Office Management, and Housekeeping Management. Highlights of his career with Hyatt Hotels included being part of the opening team of the 875-room Grand Hyatt San Diego, Executive Assistant Manager at the 303-room Hyatt Regency Greenville, and his nearly three years of service at the flagship Grand Hyatt in Washington DC. He was instrumental in achieving the most improved Gallup customer satisfaction scores in the Hyatt chain in its inception year. He also received Manager of the Quarter Awards for four successive years at three properties.
His entry into the Hospitality Industry began as a young teenager when he worked in England for local restaurants and hotels. His earliest jobs were as a dishwasher, assistant cook, banquet server, bar tender and waiter. He continued his formal education in the business by graduating with a four year Hotel Management Degree from Portsmouth University in England.
His civic involvement includes serving on the Board of Directors of the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties, Board of Directors for the Columbia Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Board of Directors for the South Carolina Hospitality Association, the Board of Directors of the University of South Carolina School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism and Past President of the Greater Columbia Hotel and Motel Association.
James is married to Normanne Gibson, formally President of the South Carolina World Affairs Council, who now runs her own travel company called Palace Travel Professionals. He also has a twelve-year-old son.