HMG Hospitality Executive Team

Executive Team


The HMG Hospitality executive team includes a diverse group of hotel professionals with in-depth domestic and international hospitality expertise. Many of our team members have formal training and education from renowned hospitality programs such as the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, Swiss Hotel School, Ecole Hotelière Lausanne, and University of Nevada Las Vegas. They have also served in executive positions with hotel associations, as well as, convention and visitors bureaus. HMG Hospitality prides itself on recruiting top tier of hotel professionals that have a passion for our industry and a track record of business success.



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James Oddo, President 


Jim is a Senior Hotel Executive with over 35 years of Hotel, Tourism and Marketing Management Leadership. He has opened new construction Hotels, managed major reimagining and repositioning of major hotel assets in both the Western United States and Los Cabos, Mexico. He has served as General Manager, Division Manager, and Executive Vice President/COO for regional hospitality companies. Jim is responsible for up to 1,100 associates and nearly $70,000,000 in annual revenues. He continues to be actively engaged in local and national tourism promotion serving on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Tourism Authority since 1992, Executive Committee member, Vice Chair of the Board, and Chairperson of the Board. Since 1993, has served as President of the Mission Valley Tourism Council, representing the second largest concentration of hotel rooms in San Diego. For 25 years, Jim has been actively engaged in local and national tourism promotion serving on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Tourism Authority and past Board member of the SDSU Athletic Association. 

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Michele Demayo, C.H.A., Executive Vice President


Having established herself early on in her career, Ms. DeMayo is a veteran hotel manager and administrator. Michele has authored white pages for operational standards that are still in use today in a major hotel chain. A highly respected, well-educated and multi-cultural executive, Michele received her Masters of Science at the College of Hotel Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after studies at the Swiss Hotel School, Ecole Hotelière Lausanne. Michele is responsible for operations including Human Resources, Accounting, Risk Management, Transition Management and Employee Training. Michele is also responsible for all local, state and national compliance standards for all HMG Hotels and assets.

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Javier Barajas, Director of Operations


Javier Barajas has been in the hospitality industry for over 27 years. He first started working for Managements Company which primarily focused on receivership properties in 1992 during a recession. As the economy improved he decided to focus on established branded hotels. He has experience managing branded hotels such as Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and others. He has worked for independent owners and other third-party management companies. Javier has been able to bring all the different brand knowledge to HMG to implement at our current hotels in our portfolio. During his career, he has worked with full-service hotels, limited service, and economy hotels.

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Brad Vogel, Director of Revenue Marketing 


Brad Vogel’s 15-year career in hospitality spans a vast variety of both operational and revenue generating roles. Brad graduated with a degree in business administration from Coastal Carolina University in 2003. He went on to intern with both Wyndham and Hilton Hotels in operational hotel management. Throughout his career, Brad has proven successful while working for both large brands and independent companies. His experience with corporations such as Atlas Hotels, Kimpton Hotels and Hotel Managers Group, combined with a solid background in residential real estate investment, has provided a track record of incrementally increasing profitability through rate, occupancy, and ancillary revenue streams.

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Mike Palmieri, Director of Compliance


Mike has over 40 years experience in the hotel industry working for Atlas Hotels. Atlas owns and operates hotels and restaurants in San Diego, Los Angeles, Washington, Arizona, and Hawaii. He served as General Manager for several of their hotels as well as Director of Hotel Operations for the 1,000-room Town and Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego. As a project manager, he coordinated and assisted with several guest room and public area renovations. At HMG, Mike oversees internal audits for payroll to ensure state labor laws are in compliance, conducts site inspections to meet HMG standards of operation, monitors the in-house safety awareness programs for full-service hotels, and works closely with the Health Departments to inspect kitchen operations.