Patrick J. Kennedy, Chairman of Watermark Hotel Company, Inc.

The vision of Patrick J. Kennedy gave rise to the development of two of San Antonio’s most celebrated hotels: the historic La Mansión del Rio Hotel, a 337-room luxury hotel nestled along the city’s world-famous River Walk, and the Watermark® Hotel & Spa, a 99-room, Mobil Four Star-rated luxury hotel and spa across the Paseo del Rio from La Mansión del Rio. After much success with hotel development, Kennedy brings his creativity and victorious business sense by introducing a new dining concept to San Antonio with Brasserie Pavil.™

Kennedy sold both hotels in March 2006 to Omni Hotels but retained ownership of all trademark rights to the Watermark name and to Pesca on the River®, its premier seafood restaurant. Subsequent to the sale, he founded the Watermark Hotel Company, a privately held hotel management company, with the purpose of furthering his passion for luxury accommodations and high-profile real estate development.

The first announced project for the new company came shortly thereafter as the city of Irving, Texas turned to the hotel entrepreneur to develop a second Watermark Hotel & Spa on a 40-acre tract adjacent to Las Colinas, a master-planned community inside the Irving city limits.

Kennedy’s reputation for high-quality hotel development was burnished with the opening of the first Watermark Hotel & Spa in 2003. The property quickly achieved both critical and financial.

success. At the time of its sale, the hotel had the highest rate of revenues per room in San Antonio, and it had gained worldwide popularity. Readers of Condé Nast Traveler chose the Watermark Hotel & Spa as the number two hotel in the United States and the number 23 hotel in the world for the magazine's Readers Choice Awards issue, second only to Chicago's The Peninsula.

Kennedy’s wealth of experiences also include serving as Chairman of the Board of Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, an international association of more than 100 independent luxury hotels, including many of the world’s premier hotels, in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Active in community and civic activities, Kennedy currently chairs the City of San Antonio’s Main Plaza Advisory Board, serves on the Board of Trustees of the San Antonio Museum of Art, is a former director of The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, served on the advisory boards of St. Mary’s University School of Law and St. Mary’s University School of Business, and was on the development board of the University of Texas Heath Science Center.