Meet Our Speakers
Thursday, November 15
9:50 – 11:10 AM: Expedia Group and OPMA: An Overview of our Partnership
Melissa Navarro
Area Manager Mid-Atlantic Central
Expedia
Expedia Group’s mission is to bring the world within reach. Join us for this special Expedia Group session where you’ll learn exciting updates, gain valuable industry knowledge and key takeaways. This session will include an overview of the Expedia Group and OPMA partnership, cutting-edge alternative lodging trends and how you can adjust your strategy to accommodate the alternative lodging customer.
About Melissa Navarro
Melissa Navarro is a passionate and driven hospitality professional. Currently, Melissa is an Expedia Group Area Manager for properties in Virginia and North Carolina, based in Washington DC, where she oversees a team and implements internal business initiatives, improves process efficiencies in addition to developing and sustaining strong partner relationships. Melissa is also involved in the Vacation Rental sector of Expedia Group. Throughout her tenure, she has managed major markets such as Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley, Oakland and several others for Expedia Group.
In 2017, Melissa was awarded the prestigious “Emerging Professional” recognition by Penn State Hotel Restaurant Society. Also in 2017, she was a contributing author for the educational textbook ‘Strategies for the Hospitality Industry e.3’. In 2015, Melissa was awarded ‘Market Manager of the Year, North America’ for her work overseeing Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.
Melissa also holds a Baccalaureate Degree with Distinction from The School of Hospitality Management at The Pennsylvania State University. Melissa spends her free time staying active in hospitality-related organizations, such as HSMAI and Penn State Hotel Restaurant Society.
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM: An OPMA “All Hands on Deck” Workshop…Creating the Framework for the OPMA Condo Hotel Academy
Donald Farr Randall Hanna
Director, Dedman School Dean, FSU – Panama City Campus
of Hospitality, FSU
Rome wasn’t built in a day. This open forum workshop represents another stepping stone by OPMA managers and suppliers and the Dedman School of Hospitality. The objectives are to identify, develop, and subsequently introduce a curriculum exclusively for the condo hotel lodging sector. The end result…the best educated employees in the vacation rental industry.
About Donald Farr
Dr. Farr serves as the Director of the Dedman School of Hospitality. He came to Florida State University in 2007 to direct the college’s PGA Golf Management program. In 2013, he became the assistant Director of the Dedman School of Hospitality. Prior to coming to FSU, he managed a private equity golf club and two golf resorts in the Pinehurst area of North Carolina.
1:30– 2:45 PM: Owner Success Stories…Innovative Management Approaches Producing Winning Owners’ Reviews
Moderator: Robin Graf
VP Operations
Castle Resorts & Hotels
Panelists:
Matthew Brittain Robert Kallmeyer
CEO Vice President Resort Operations
Brittain Resorts Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort
Pat Noia Burk Seymore
Director of Rental Mgmt. Director of Vacation Rentals
Spectrum Resorts Reunion Resort/Salamander Resorts
At the May Summit a panel of owners shared their concerns and praises regarding their onsite rental management programs. Department heads, responsible for owner relations, will present their innovative practices that have generated success stories resulting in enhanced relationships with their owners.
3:00 – 4:15 PM: Buckle Up for a Wild Technology Ride into the Future…So, You Think You Have Seen It All?
Moderator: Ryan Bailey
CEO
TRACK & Resortsandlodges.com
Panelists:
Susan Blizzard Stuart Butler
President COO
Blizzard Internet Marketing Fuel Travel
Edward St. Onge
President
Flip.to
Are we paying attention to the technology innovations of other industries? Are we analyzing their capabilities to see how we may incorporate them in the condo hotel sector? Well it’s time to buckle up for a wild technological 80-minute ride.
Four OPMA members who are always on the hunt to combine technology with the human touch to provide better guest experiences provide the ride. The Future is now, and it is all around us.
Friday, November 16
8:40 – 9:40 AM: Performance Data for Resort Lodging
Jason Sprenkle
CEO
KeyData Dashboard
Jane Babilon
Business Intelligence Account Manager
Inntopia
About Jason Sprenkle
Jason is the CEO of Key Data, the leading analytics and benchmarking company for vacation rental management and resort space. He also co-owns 360 Blue, a vacation rental company managing over 560 luxury homes in the local area. He was the founder and CEO of the mobile guest platform Glad to Have You, which was acquired by HomeAway and which is now used by VRBO and HomeAway guests worldwide. And before that, he was a real estate developer and a software attorney.
About Jane Babilon
Jane is an Account Manager for the Business Intelligence arm of Inntopia. She works with our clients in the Southeast to ensure that their DestiMetrics report programs get off to a good start and then continue to be used, understood, and expanded at the destination and property levels. Jane has worked for DestiMetrics since 2009 and joined Inntopia as part of the 2016 acquisition. A native of Virginia, Jane graduated from James Madison University with a BBA in Marketing and has worked as a Market Research Analyst and as Director of Member Services for a nonprofit. She moved to Castle Rock, CO in 2006 with her husband and daughters.
9:45 – 10:45 AM: The Vacation Rental Legal Open Forum…GDPR, Trademark Infringement, False Advertising, Your Current Issues, and More!
Daniel Benavides Daniel Barsky
Partner Partner
Shutts & Bowen Shutts & Bowen
Our attorneys at OPMA are back again and prepared to help guide you through the myriad of today’s complex legal issues. This high-level legal session provides viable courses of action and strategies that OPMA and its members can pursue, both individually and collectively, to proactively address the most critically important legal matters confronting our industry.
About Daniel F. Benavides
Daniel F. Benavides is a partner in the Miami office of Shutts & Bowen LLP, where he is a member of the Hospitality and Real Estate Practice Groups.
Daniel’s practice is focused primarily on Florida’s hospitality industry. He advises hotels and restaurants seeking to enter or expand their presence in the Florida market, assisting with purchase contracts, leasing, due diligence, permitting, compliance and other pre-opening legal advice.
Daniel also assists many local hospitality establishments with their day to day, operational legal matters, advising on a wide array of issues such as vendor contracts, sales & marketing agreements, guest relations issues, employment, cybersecurity, ADA and PCI compliance, alcohol & beverage, intellectual property, force majeure issues and litigation.
Among his many hotel-related matters, Daniel served as lead counsel in a landmark arbitration case, following a “midnight raid” termination of a local hotel operator by the owner. The case was widely regarded as one of the most important hospitality-related cases of 2014 and has been discussed at many hospitality industry conferences. As a result of his successful representation of the hotel operator in that case, he was recognized as a finalist for the Daily Business Review’s prestigious “Most Effective Lawyers: Arbitration” award.
About Daniel J. Barsky
Daniel Barsky is a partner in the Miami office of Shutts & Bowen LLP where he is a member of the Intellectual Property Practice Group. He regularly represents clients in intellectual property and commercial litigation matters. Daniel has worked on matters that range from data breach and trade secret theft, to pharmaceutical price fixing, pharmaceutical development, technology patents, and novel issues regarding the short-term rental marketplace. He represents startup and new business ventures and has helped multiple startups develop, protect, grow, and enforce their intellectual property and other business assets. In addition to his litigation and counseling work, Daniel is a registered patent attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and regularly prosecutes patents, trademarks, and copyrights for clients. He is also admitted to practice in Florida and Minnesota.
Daniel has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by Florida Super Lawyers in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. He was also one of the recipients of the Daily Business Review’s “On the Rise” award for Professional Excellence in 2017.
Daniel is also an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law where he teaches patent litigation and is the University’s faculty supervisor for the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Law School Clinic Program.