Choice Hotels International has promoted Sara Searls to the newly created role of chief customer officer. She will lead the company’s marketing and customer acquisition, digital experiences, loyalty and customer care functions. Searls joined Choice in 2009 and eventually became vice president of digital commerce. She has also worked at America Online and Time Warner.


Short’s Travel Management has named Shauna Basile as CFO. She was previously controller for the company. Basile has more than 25 years of financial experience in several industries. Prior to joining Short’s, she consulted in change management.



Davidson Hotels & Resorts has appointed Pete Sams as COO. He has nearly 30 years of experience and was previously at Interstate Hotels & Resorts, where he was executive vice president of full-service operations. He has also worked at White Lodging and Omni Hotels.



Benchmark, a hospitality company, has named Stephen Cullen as regional vice president of operations. He was previously a general manager of several hotels in Boston. Earlier, Cullen worked for the Carlton on Madison and Fitzpatrick Hotels in New York.