Meet the Prinicpals

Mark's experience stretches over 30 years in the hospitality business, with senior positions in marketing, development and strategic planning. He has held senior positions with Guest Quarters/Doubletree, Pratt Hotel Corporation, Harrah's, Holiday Inns Inc. and Resorts International. During his career he has been responsible for creating some of the most successful casino, hotel and resort marketing campaigns in the United States and the Caribbean. Mark holds a B.A. in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management from Michigan State University, and has been an adjunct professor at the University of Denver and Boston University. Mark is the co-founder of Hartland Hotel Group, along with his brother, Jack. Mark and Jack are two of the three sponsors in the Hotel Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles. In addition, Mark is a founding partner of Gcommerce Solutions, LLC, an internet marketing company specializing in hotels, resorts and resort real estate. Gcommerce serves over 1,000 hotels and in 2014 won the Platinum Adrian Award for the best social media campaign for a hotel company in the world. GCommerce continues to be an Adrian Awards winner every year including 2019. Mark is also the managing principal in Hospitality Results, LLC, a high-end hospitality consulting firm. Past clients of note include the Potawatomi Hotel and Casino Resort, the Hard Rock Hotel, San Diego, the Sands Hotel and Casino Resort, Bethlehem, PA, The Innovation Group of Companies and the City of Black Hawk, CO. Mark was the co- founder and co-managing partner of Gemstone Resorts International a leading management and asset management company whose primary focus is on boutique luxury hotels and resorts. During Mark’s tenure, Gemstone oversaw a number of renowned independent hotels and resorts including the Hotel ZaZa in Dallas and Houston, the Mosaic in Beverly Hills, the Hotel Sax, Chicago and the Carlton Hotel, New York City. As Asset Managers, Gemstone represented ownership in some of the leading luxury brands in the US, including Ritz Carlton, Auberge Resorts and Rock Resorts. In 2005, Gemstone Resorts International was ranked the 20th largest management company in the United States based upon gross annual revenues and 4th in the U.S. in RevPAR, according to Hotel Business Magazine. Mark served at Doubletree Hotels Corporation / Guest Quarters Suite Hotels from 1989 until 1994 as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, with responsibility for 115 hotels and resorts. Prior to his position at Doubletree Hotels Mark was the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Pratt Hotel Corporation that owned and operated the Sands Hotel and Casino Resorts in Atlantic City and San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as the Fiesta Americana resort chain in Mexico. Mark successfully repositioned the Sands Atlantic City with a resulting $20 million plus annual improvement in earnings. From 1984 to 1987, Mark was Senior Vice President of Casino Marketing for Resorts International's operations in Atlantic City and Paradise Island, Bahamas. Resorts International's Atlantic City resort grew from number four in market share to number one in Atlantic City and remained number one during his tenure. From 1976 to 1984, Mark held various executive positions with Holiday Inns, Inc., including Vice President of Business Development for Harrah’s two Atlantic City Casino Hotels and Director of Corporate Development - Holiday Inns Hotel Group. During his first year at Harrah’s Atlantic City, he helped reverse a $1 million per week operating loss, transforming Harrah's into the most profitable casino in the U.S. Mark served on the Board of Directors of Encore Productions, Colorado Gaming and Entertainment Company, TBA Entertainment Inc., and various tourism and planning boards. Mark studied toward his Masters in Business at the University of Chicago and holds a B.A. in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management from Michigan State University. He has served as adjunct professor at Boston University and the University of Denver. He is the co-author of a text book on Hotel Administration as well as a frequent speaker at industry conferences.

In 2013, Jack co-founded Hartland Hotel Group with his brother Mark. This company is actively involved in the development and operation of the hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles, a 268 room lifestyle hotel. The company is also involved in a number of other US based hotel projects. During Jack vanHartesvelt’s 30-year career, he joined several small companies and helped them grow into significant hotel brands, including; Residence Inn where as its Senior Development Officer the company grew from 4 to 65 hotels with 180 franchises sold prior to being sold to Holiday Inn (this brand is now with Marriott); Hawthorn Suites where as its founding President the company was created and expanded prior to being sold to the Pritzker family, Wyndham Hotel Company where as it Senior Development Officer the company grew from 17 to 90 hotels and was taken public and Westin Hotel Company where as its Senior Development Officer for North and South America the company grew by 35% and was sold to Starwood Lodging. Mr. vanHartesvelt was a Private Equity Fund manager where he bought, built, renovated and asset managed over $1.0 billion in hotel related assets. He was also one of that firm’s Managing Partners (Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel). During his tenure at Kennedy, the firm increased its assets under management (all real estate types) by 800% and was subsequently sold to Bentall. Jack has had direct ownership in numerous hotels, bars and restaurants over the past 30 years, including most recently the Hotel Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles. In many cases, the lodging concepts that were created under his direction were not initially affiliated with an established hotel brand, necessitating that the hotel had to be a brand in and of itself. This would include: the Liberty Hotel in Boston; The Madison Hotel in Washington DC and the Hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles. Several hotels were a product of adaptive reuse, such as: the W Union Square in New York City (office building); Loews New Orleans (office building); Liberty Hotel in Boston (historic jail) and the W San Diego (steam plant). The Lifestyle hotels required that high volume food and beverage operations be created that appealed to local customers, such as Olives at the W Union Square (Best New Restaurant in Manhattan), Scampo at the Liberty (Best Chef in Boston) and the Hotel Figueroa (The Best Hotel Pool in LA). Mr. vanHartesvelt earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University’s School of Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management, from which he was designated its outstanding alumni in 1984. He is on the Board of Directors of Seattle Pacific University’s School of Business and Economics, the Center for Integrity in Business, WR Golf and is Chairman of the Board of Bakke Graduate University.