Doubletree Hotel Names New General Manager

Ventura’s Doubletree Hotel has named Jay Rosenthal, a 20-year veteran of the hotel industry, as its new general manager.

Rosenthal took over the position to fill the spot vacated by John Walters, who left the hotel to take the top position at the Sheraton-Doubletree in Austin, Texas. Rosenthal comes to Ventura from the Horton Plaza Doubletree Hotel in San Diego, where he was resident manager for a year and a half.

As new head of the Ventura Doubletree, Rosenthal said one of his primary goals will be to establish the 285-room beachside lodge as a community gathering place, catering to Ventura County residents and businesses as much as out-of-town travelers.

“I’ll be meeting with a lot of people in the community,” he said. “I want to join the Lions Club, the Rotary, whatever I can. I want to become involved with the Chamber of Commerce. I want to be very involved with the business community. We have a significant amount of meeting space at the hotel and that certainly helps us in the local catering market.”

Before joining the Doubletree Corp. chain five years ago, Rosenthal was with the Hyatt Hotels Corp. for five years and Hilton Hotels for 10 years. He has managed hotels in 12 cities over a 20-year span.

Rosenthal’s arrival in Ventura comes as the Doubletree chain awaits shareholder approval of its $1.2-billion acquisition of the Red Lion Hotels chain, including the Red Lion Resort Hotel in Santa Barbara.

“That will help us a lot,” Rosenthal said. “If Santa Barbara sells out, the overflow business would come to Ventura, which would be the next closest [in the chain]. We hope, as a company, to have the deal completely done by the end of the year. The name recognition is going to be phenomenal for Doubletree.”