When Theresa Gonzales took charge of sales and marketing for four New York boutique hotels in 2003, she had to do more than fill rooms at one property. Each hotel needed its own customers, relationships and reason for travelers to choose it. That assignment helped shape the work she later carried into Conzerge, the hospitality business she co-founded.
Gonzales has spent more than 38 years in the hotel industry, working across branded, boutique and lifestyle properties. Her experience includes roles with Marriott International, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Concord Hospitality and the Blakely New York Hotel. The job titles have changed over the years, but much of the work has come down to the same task: understanding what a property can offer and finding the people who need it.
At Tishman Hotel Corp., she was named area director of sales and marketing for four boutique properties in New York. Managing several hotels at once meant thinking beyond a single set of rooms or a single type of guest. She later held a senior sales and marketing role at the Blakely, where she worked with corporate and travel-industry clients.
Gonzales brought that experience to Conzerge, founded in 2013. The company works in hotel representation, travel sourcing and account management. As co-founder, she has described building relationships in markets that include corporate travel, entertainment and group bookings. Rather than selling a room in isolation, the business connects a hotel’s offerings with the needs of the people and organizations arranging travel.
Conzerge is a New York City-certified minority- and women-owned business enterprise. For Gonzales, that distinction places her among entrepreneurs working to build businesses in industries where contacts and opportunities matter. The city’s certification program is intended to make eligible businesses more visible to buyers and help them compete for contracts.
Her career also extends beyond hotel sales. Gonzales has served as an adviser in the boutique hospitality community and volunteered with New York Common Pantry. She studied hospitality administration at SUNY Westchester Community College and psychology at CUNY Bronx Community College — fields that speak to both sides of her work: how a business operates and how people connect with it.
In 2021, The Outstanding Filipino Awards honored Gonzales in its Women Empowerment category at Carnegie Hall for her work with Converge. The recognition came years after she had begun building a place for herself in New York hospitality, first within established hotel companies and then through a business of her own.
