ORLANDO
John Luke has been appointed general manager at the 1,400-room Hilton Orlando connected to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, according to Ted Ratcliff, senior vice president operations eastern North America for Hilton Worldwide. Luke comes from Hilton Minneapolis and will take over operations for the AAA Four-Diamond Award-winning hotel, effective June 29, 2015.
Luke began his 33-year career with Hilton Worldwide in high school when a new hotel opened near his home in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. He worked there through college and after graduation was recruited by Hilton and hired into the Hilton Management Development Program.
He completed his Management Training at Hilton Chicago and Palmer House Hilton and went on to develop a vast understanding of hospitality with a focus on Front Office and Revenue Management. While rising through the ranks of Hilton, Luke has held positions across the United States including director of front office operations for Hiltons in New York, San Francisco, Georgia and Los Angeles. He was also assistant general manager at Waldorf Astoria in New York and New York Hilton Midtown. He then moved to Hilton World Headquarters in Beverly Hills, California becoming the company's first regional director of front office operations.
A few years later, he was promoted to vice president of front office operations and systems and led the conversion of Hilton's legacy reservation system to a new windows platform.
Luke has been very active in Minneapolis' Professional Associations. He has served as past President & Chairman of the Board for the Minnesota Hotel & Lodging Association, Vice-Chairman of the Board & Officer for Meet Minneapolis Convention and Visitors Bureau, past President for the Minneapolis Hotel Association and Board Member for the Chad Greenway Lead the Way Foundation. He has been a general manager for the past 15 years; 11 of which have been spent at Hilton Minneapolis where he was Hilton Worldwide General Manager of the Year in 2011 and General Manager of the Year for the Minnesota Lodging Association in 2014.
Luke holds a Business Administration degree with a dual major in Marketing & Management and an Associate degree in Hotel and Restaurant Administration from Northwood University in Midland, Michigan.
The Hilton Orlando offers more than 225,000 square feet of meeting and event space, including three grand ballrooms and nine board rooms.
