December 3, 2020
Aimbridge Hospitality and Evolution Hospitality Announce John Caparella as President of Evolution Hospitality, Lifestyle Division
Aimbridge Hospitality, the leading global, third-party hotel management company, and its wholly-owned subsidiary Evolution Hospitality, announce the appointment of John Caparella to President of Evolution Hospitality.
In his new role, Caparalla is responsible for managing all facets of the Evolution Hospitality division, which includes a portfolio of lifestyle, luxury and independent hotels. With a robust development pipeline of soft brand and independent lifestyle properties, it is an opportune time to add Caparella’s leadership to Aimbridge’s lifestyle operating division.
“John’s notable background, experience and inspirational leadership will be extremely valuable in spearheading our operations and results in the lifestyle vertical, capitalizing on tremendous growth opportunities in this space,” said Mike Deitemeyer, president and CEO-elect of Aimbridge Hospitality. “As we continue to leverage the scale of Aimbridge Hospitality to uniquely add value for owners, we remain focused on enhancing our expertise across all hospitality verticals as a key differentiator.”
With over 35 years of experience in the hotel and entertainment industries, Caparella has led operations, inspired teams and delighted guests at iconic, experiential resort and entertainment venues. His most recent roles include as CEO of VSS Southern Theaters, the nation’s 7th largest theater chain, and as principal at Redmont Hospitality, focused on asset management, due diligence, distressed property analysis and management. Prior to that, Caparella was EVP of Venue Management for the Madison Square Garden Company responsible for all operations for MSG's portfolio of iconic venues including MSG, Radio City Music Hall, The Beacon Theater, Chicago Theater and The Forum.
He previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer for The Venetian, The Palazzo and Sands Expo complex responsible for the 7,094 room, integrated resort to include 2.25 million sq. ft. of exhibition and meeting space overseeing hotel, casino, food and beverage, entertainment, retail, human resources, finance, marketing, sales and convention facilities. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Gaylord Hotels where he was responsible for operations, human resources, training, sales and marketing efforts for four of the largest, most operationally complex hotels in the country.
Caparella’s early career included time as a senior executive with Planet Hollywood where he served as Executive Vice President of Planning, Development, and Administration. He also spent 17 years with ITT Sheraton where he served in a variety of General Manager and Food and Beverage roles at a variety of hotel locations along the East coast.
Caparella holds an Honorary Degree of Doctorate of Humane Letters and an honors undergraduate degree in Hotel Management from State University of New York Delhi and an MBA from Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College. He has lectured extensively and is published on developing service culture in organizations and recently partnered with acclaimed leadership author Ken Blanchard, developing a video series with him on leadership. Previously, Caparella served on the board of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
