-By Mike Beirne

Another Starwood executive has jumped ship to a rival hotel. Marriott International has hired Tina Edmundson, who was svp of brand operations for the Starwood Luxury Collection, as svp-lifestyle brands and Renaissance operations, a newly created post.

Edmundson will be in charge of marketing for the Renaissance and the Renaissance Club Sport brands, and she will provide direction for Edition, a lifestyle boutique hotel being developed in conjunction with hotelier Ian Schrager. The upscale Renaissance brand is in the midst of a $20 billion rebranding program for 140 properties. The first Edition hotel will open next year.

"Tina brings to our company proven success in building exciting relevant brands, and we are very pleased she believes the dynamic brands of the future are at Marriott International," said William "Bill" Shaw, president and COO of Marriott, Bethesda, Md.

While at Starwood, White Plains, N.Y., Edmundson executed strategies to establish the W Hotel as a lifestyle brand that guests can partake in beyond the walls of the property. Examples include invite-only access for W Card members to concerts and events staged by high-end restaurants and retailers. She also helped reposition the St. Regis brand.

Edmundson is the third executive to leave Starwood this summer. Ross Klein, former president of Starwood's Luxury Brand Group, departed in June, reportedly following battles with Frits van Paaschen who arrived from Coors Brewing as the company's president and COO in September 2007. Klein was later hired by Hilton to build its luxury and lifestyle presence in the category. Joining him was Amar Lalvani, formerly Starwood's svp-development of the luxury brand group; Lalvani is now Hilton's global head of luxury and lifestyle brand development.