BY THE NUMBERS
The Courtyard by Marriott opened in March 2009 on Riverfront Plaza with views of the Great Miami River
The six-floor hotel has 120 rooms, 7,000-square-feet of flexible banquet and meeting space, and one restaurant, the Plaza One Grille
Members of the Hamilton community and a bevy of business leaders joined efforts seven years ago to redevelop the site of the former Hamiltonian hotel and transform it into today’s Courtyard by Marriott. Shawn Stidham has been a large part of that growth and now he will lead the way into the future for the hotel as its general manager.
Concord Hospitality Enterprises Co. purchased and renovated the former Hamiltonian property at a total cost of approximately $12 million with help from the Hamilton Community Foundation.
Stidham was named interim general manager in July and was formally named general manager this week.
“I opened the hotel as the director of sales, joining Concord in October 2008 prior to the March 2009 opening,” Stidham said. “I replaced Carman Johnson, who had been the GM since 2010 and has taken a job out of the industry.”
Getting short term goals up on the drawing board and executed immediately is going to be a top priority as general manager, Stidham said.
“We are in the business of taking care of people, and as GM that starts with taking care of my staff so they can take care of our guests. I am blessed with an extremely talented and hardworking team of hospitality professionals and I will make sure they have what they need to get their jobs done,” he said. “Also, we are in the very early stages of planning for some upgrades in 2017 which is very exciting along with the new fall menu from our Plaza One Grille restaurant.”
Betsy Hope of the Hamilton Community Foundation said Stidham has been an asset to the hotel and the city.
“We’ve worked with Shawn on many projects and events he has always come through for the foundation,” she said.
With new hotel options popping up in Butler County, plus Hamilton experiencing a period of business growth, Stidham said he anticipates there will eventually be more hotels in the city.
“My job is to make sure that no matter what comes our way, we are delivering the experiences that will make us the hotel of choice for anyone coming to the area,” he said.
He added that he’s humbled by the opportunity to be the new GM and feels blessed “to have the chance to represent this hotel in this city with this company (Concord Hospitality).”
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