MICHAEL PLENINGER

Newport Hospitality Group represents the culmination of Mike Pleninger’s 50-plus years of success in all phases of hotel management. Mike founded NHG in 1990 along with Bill Carey, a long-time family friend, with the company quickly gaining a reputation for consistently producing operational and marketing turnarounds for both branded and independent hotel properties.

Mike’s experience is reflected in the breadth and comprehensiveness of NHG’s management package. His formula of holistic reviews, attention to basics, innovative marketing and insistence on quality has produced outstanding returns for NHG’s portfolio of clients in addition to recognition and numerous awards from franchisors.

Earning his stripes at Sonesta International, Mike worked in several key roles with the company over the course of a decade, including Washington Regional Manager for its motor hotel division. Next, he spent two years with Omni Hotels (then called Dunfey Hotels), followed by four years with Registry Hotels, and then two years with Holiday Inns where he supervised development and operational activities for 130 franchised properties.

Transitioning over to Victor Management Company of Newport News, Virginia, Mike served as part owner and senior vice president for ten years where he built the company’s portfolio to 23 hotels as well as directed all development, operations and finance activities.

A graduate of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University (now a part of the university’s SC Johnson College of Business), Mike was a 2002 inductee into the school’s wall of fame.