When Candace Banning was assigned to be a catering assistant for six weeks at The Phoenician in Scottsdale through a temp agency, she thought it would be just that, temporary. But there is nothing temporary about Banning’s tenure in hospitality. The hotel team asked her to join the sales department at the end of the term and she’s been in hotel sales and marketing ever since.
Seven years later, Banning joined Destination Hotels as an executive assistant and was later promoted to manager of sales and marketing information systems. She transitioned to director of field sales and marketing services when Destination became Two Roads Hospitality. She plays a similar role at CoralTree where she wears several hats but truly excels in business intelligence reporting, database management as well as training hotel group sales and catering teams on these important tools. She’s also responsible for event planning and is the creative mind behind the company’s annual sales and marketing leadership meeting.
Banning is most proud of her longevity in the hospitality industry - almost three decades - and the opportunity to grow and evolve with the CoralTree family. She has been supported by her colleagues throughout her career and she pays it forward by helping others advance in their careers, too.
The tradition of family vacations paved the way for her interest in travel. Many of the trips of her childhood were to the Grand Canyon. Each time they visited, they would stop for a photo opportunity at Hermit’s Rest, a stone structure built in 1914. Banning remembers the tree that she would always pose by, and if she returns, she wants to recreate that picture to place by her childhood photographs.
For Banning, travel allows her to explore, learn and grow. She admits she does the “touristy” activities on trips, such as a guided motorbike ride in San Francisco or boating the bay in San Diego. Seeing things from a different lens in new cities gives her the chance to live like a local and truly experience why Travel is Good for Your Soul.