This is a roundup of product news and announcements for travel people moves in tourism and hospitality for February 2017.
Tuesday 28 February 2017:
CWT two digital hires
- Jared Anderson becomes the business travel management company's new vice president of customer experience and Sophie Hulgard will be its vice president of global programme management in EMEA. She takes on the role after a serving with the company since 2008 in a variety of sales positions. Anderson joins from Sears where he was VP of customer experience insight and engagement.
Hudson Crossing hires a non-exec chairman
- Philip Wolf takes up the position as the travel consultancy group celebrates its tenth anniversary. He is best known for founding the Phocuswright research and events brand in 1994, as well as sitting on the board of directors for a number of companies worldwide.
Monday 27 February 2017:Accor appoints CDO
- The chain's chief digital officer will be Maud Bailly, overseeing sales, distribution, sales and information systems. Joining from the French prime minister's office, where she was in the economic unit, Bailly also worked for SNCF between 2001 and 2015.
Locomote creates new role
- Travelport's Australia-based and internationally expanding corporate travel platform has appointed Blake Hedger to the newly created role as head of customer experience and portfolio delivery. His 15 years experience in travel includes stints at CWT and Singapore Airlines.
Dragon Trail expands
- Roy Graff will spearhead the opening of a new office in the UK for the digital marketing and technology company, with its focus on the emerging Chinese outbound market. Graff, who becomes managing director of the company in EMEA, was previously boss of ChinaContact.
Wednesday 22 February 2017:HEDNA has new president and board
- Sarah Fults of MGM Resorts will serve a two-year term at the top of the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association. Vice president will be Anne Cole of DHISCO, with Mike Carlo (Transpay), David Chestler (SiteMinder) and Jodie Gibson (DerbySoft) on the board of directors.
Tuesday 21 February 2017:Rainmaker has a new VP
- Ellis Connolly joins the travel technology company as its new vice president of hospitality sales, based in San Diego, US. He joins from TrustYou where he was chief revenue officer following positions at Cvent and Aramark.
Monday 20 February 2017:Traveldoo hires two chiefs
- Daniel Fitzgerald and Romain Ehrhard join the company chief product officer and chief technical officer respectively. A KDS veteran of ten years, Fitzgerald led the product management end of the business prior to joining Traveldoo. Ehrhard joined Traveldoo in September last year after stints with Booxup, PagesJaunes and TellMeWhere (as co-founder).
Friday 17 February 2017:Rezdy opens office in US
- Bob Gilbert becomes head of sales for the tours and activities distribution service in the US, its first direct move with a member of the management team into the country since its creation in Australia in 2011. Gilbert was CEO and founder of Captivation Marketing and had positions with Helms Briscoe, Intrasight and Travel Agent magazine.
Tripbam establishes Europe HQ
- The B2B hotel booking service will open an office in London as part of its expansion strategy into Europe. Tripbam claims to have more than 1,300 companies using its services.
Wednesday 15 February 2017:FlyBe gets an info boss
- Peter Hauptvogel becomes the European carrier's chief information officer, with a responsibility for overseeing a new IT platform and its digital strategy. He was director of IT at Thomas Cook Group Airlines from 2014 and has held senior tech roles at AirBerlin, Hahn Air Systems and Lufthansa.
Wednesday 8 February 2017:ATPCO promotes for two VPs
- Thomas Gregorson becomes vice president of products and solutions at the fare-filing service, joining John Murphy who was named vice president of technology. Gregorson was previously managing director for product strategy and development at the company, having joined in 2008 from Amadeus. Murphy is also another ATPCO stalwart, having moved to the business from LifeMinders in 2001.
Tuesday 7 February 2017:Travel Audience gets a DMO boss
- Marzena Pallazzo joins demand-side generation platform as senior sales manager for destination marketing organisations. She arrives at the company from AirBerlin, where she was marketing manager at the airline's New York office. Pallazzo has also worked for the German National Tourist Board and LTU Airways.
Kiwi.com hires ex-Expedia exec
- The flight search specialist has recruited Stephen Davis as its chief marketing officer. He was previously global brand marketing director for Navico, with other marketing roles at American Airlines and as well head of brand marketing for Expedia until 2011.
SmarterTravel hires for ad chief role
- The TripAdvisor-owned media group has made Eric Bosco its general manager for SmarterAds, an advertising network used across its brand (Jetsetter, Oyster et al). Bosco was CEO of ChoiceStream until October last year and has had held positions at ComScore, AOL and Oracle.
Monday 6 February 2017:CityJet VP takes off for Dubai
- Partick Lukan has left his role as VP for sales and distribution at CityJet and joined events business GES as its chief operator officer for the Middle East. Lukan started his career at American Airlines and has held senior roles at Sabre, Travelport and CWT where he was global operations director for meetings and events. He is based in Dubai.
Friday 3 February 2017:HotelQuando establishes office in the US
- The accommodation booking site will have its first North American branch in Miami, Florida, after gaining traction with its booking-by-hour model in Brazil. The company hopes to have 200 partners hotels from the US on the system within the first two-quarters of 2017.
Thursday 2 February 2017:Locomote sets up shop in UK
- The Travelport-backed corporate travel platform will have a base in the UK as it looks to expand into Europe and the US - its first international move outside Australia. Vicki Mills will drive the UK business as director of sales and support after moving from Comtec in July last year.
Wednesday 1 February 2017:GoEuro gets three new vice presidents
- The multi-modal search engine has created three new roles, hiring David Price as VP of product, Filippo Bonsanti as VP of marketing and Alexandra Oakley as VP of human resources. Price has come in from Spotify, Bonsanti from eBay and Oakley from Photobox.
Deem bolsters leadership team
- Tahnee Perry has left her role at Northstar Travel Group to become vice president of marketing at the travel tech provider. Other new senior roles include Todd Kaiser as VP and group leader of travel and expense, and Gadi Bashvitz as VP and group leader of car service.
NB: Travel people moves image via Shutterstock.