This is a roundup of news and announcements for PEOPLE moves in travel, tourism and hospitality for April 2016:
Monday 25 April 2016:
HotelsPro opens offices in UK and China
- The travel wholesaler and reservation system will have facilities in both London and Shanghai from May this year. The platform allows third parties to search and book more than 200,000 hotels in over 190 countries (15,000 destinations).
Friday 22 April 2016:American Express Global Business Travel changes leadership
- Bill Glenn, president and CEO, is leaving his current role, and will be temporarily replaced by Greg O’Hara, chairman of the board during an executive search. Glenn has joined the board of directors.
Thursday 21 April 2016:eNett opens new Melbourne office
- The Travelport majority-owned payment service has moved into new facilities in the central business district in the Australian city. The seven-year-old company has offices in Australia, Singapore and London.
Wednesday 20 April 2016:Peakwork hires for its new Head of Asia position
- Tony Marshall joins the software specialist as head of Asia, coming over from Orbitz Partner Network, where he was head of Asia Pacific. Peakwork's distribution and sales platform links airline and hotel supply with demand from tour operators, OTAs, and meta search sites, via a marketplace for individual and dynamically bundled products.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel gets new CEO
- Kurt Ekert takes over as president and chief executive of CWT replacing Douglas Anderson. Ekert was formerly executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Travelport and left the company in December.
Rainmaker Group appoints demand generator
- Vikram Singh joins the profit optimisation platform as vice president of hotel demand generation, joining from his own Envision Worldwide consultancy business. Singh has previously worked in the US for Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts and the Taj Group of Hotels, Resorts and Palaces in India.
Monday 18 April 2016:Egencia opens Singapore office
- The Expedia Inc-owned corporate travel agency will establish its fourth operational hub in Asia-Pacific in the city-state, with a full team of account managers, sales reps and travel consultants. The office opens with 30 clients, including pharmaceutical brand Takeda.
Thursday 14 April 2016:DreamLines appoints new CEO
- Arndt Roller has been promoted to the top job at the online platform for cruise trips, with co-founder and incumbent Felix Schneider stepping down a role on the senior management team. Roller was previously CEO and founder dating site Prime and occupier of a variety of senior roles at Bol.
Monday 11 April 2016:AccorHotels has created a new position: Chief Disruption & Growth Officer
- Viort Thibault was appointed to the role, where he will pinpoint growth opportunities, oversee investments or acquisitions, and strengthen ties with startups. A serial entrepreneur, Thibault helped to create Wipolo, among other companies.
Travelport appoints head for East Africa
- Nita Magi will become regional manager for East Africa, based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. She joins from Kenya Airlines where she was area manager for Europe and Americas for four years, with stints elsewhere at the airline and in sales at Emirates from 1995 to 2007.
Wednesday 5 April 2016:Celebrity Cruises hires former Airbnb marketing chief
- Peter Giorgi becomes chief marketing officer for the cruise company and will look after all aspects of marketing including social media and digital and the company's "Modern Luxury Lives Here" brand campaign. He was previously head of global advertising for Airbnb.
HRS boosts team
- Online hotel specialist HRS has appointed Eduardo Murad as director of sales for Brazil. He joins from Alagey. The Latin-American Association of Events and Corporate Travel Managers. The company has also promoted Flavio Ghiringhelli to the position of vice president of corporate solutions, South-west and Eastern Europe. Dirk Schmidt, who joined in October 2015, becomes managing director for corporate solutions for North-Central Europe. Further moves include Oliver May who joins HRS as global lead MICE/strategy and Jeff Hillenmayer becomes head of corporate sourcing Americas.
Friday 1 April 2016:Cornerstone gets strategic
- Mari Hendricks will become director of strategic partnerships at the technology provider. She was previously head of global strategic partnerships at AirPlus, with earlier stints at Lufthansa and the RBL Group.
NB:Business people moving up ladder image via Shutterstock.