about malen & mettler
 Kristin Yantis Mettler
Kristin Yantis Mettler founded Malen & Mettler following an extensive career working for luxury travel and tourism brands.
Mettler most recently was assistant vice president of corporate communications for Destination Hotels & Resort, the fifth largest independent hotel management company in the United State. In this role, Mettler built a network of public relations agencies that captured the entrepreneurial spirit of their individual properties while promoting their affiliation with the overall collection.
Mettler was the in-house opening director of public relations for The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch prior to joining DH&R. In order to communicate the property’s positioning as a luxury log cabin she developed a number of creative programs and services to tell the resort’s brand story. Her efforts resulted in extensive media placements in regional and national media outlets including being listed on the Conde Nast Traveler “Hot List” of new hotels and the resort landed on the “15 to Watch” list by the editors of Travel + Leisure.
Before transitioning into hospitality, Mettler worked for Vail Resorts, Inc. where she oversaw all aspects of the public relations effort for Vail Ski Area. As the spokesperson for the No. 1 ski resort in the United States, Mettler gained tremendous experience handling crisis and dealing with national and international media contacts. She conducted several international public relations missions throughout Germany, the United Kingdom and attended the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan on behalf of a company sponsorship. Her work with the ski area resulted in strong luxury and entertainment media contacts such as The Today Show, EXTRA, Dateline NBC, Robb Report, People, Departures and Town & Country TRAVEL.
Mettler’s background also includes work for agencies where she focused on public relations programs for non-profit organizations and issues management work.
Mettler has received a number of Gold and Silver Pick awards from the Public Relations Society of America for her public relations campaigns. She also received the “Rookie of the Year” award from PRSA in the early 1990s. The same award was given to Mettler by The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company for her efforts on behalf of Bachelor Gulch in 2003. She is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and the Public Relations Society of America. Mettler graduated from the University of Colorado-Boulder with a Bachelor of Science in journalism.
When she’s not working, Mettler enjoys telemark skiing, as well as hiking and exploring the mountains around Lake Tahoe with her two yellow Labrador Retrievers. |
“The Malen & Mettler approach discovered unique and marketable characteristics about our property, and creatively tied them into luxury travel’s top trends.”
Tara Smith
Marketing Director
Wailea Beach Villas |
