This is a roundup of news and announcements for PEOPLE moves in travel, tourism and hospitality for February 2016:
Friday 26 February
Robb drives into Rentalcars
- Dan Robb is joining Rentalcars as chief marketing officer, leaving his role as digital marketing director for tour operator TUI's mainstream division. He ran Google UK's travel division before joining TUI 18 months ago.
Wednesday 24 February 2016:Melt Content makes lowcosttravelgroup’s Helene Hall its CCO
- The UK-based content marketing digital agency has brought Hall over from lowcosttravelgroup, where she had overseen marketing teams in nine key European markets and the US. As CCO, she'll keep an eye on marketing, search, outreach and business development teams that help distribute the shop's revenue-driving content.
Adara ups European team
- Sara Pastor joins as commercial director for Europe, having worked previously at Travelzoo, ASAP Worldwide, CISCO and LivingSocial. Steve Hawker becomes marketing director for EMEA and APAC, alongide Larissa Lampe and Maxime Terpman as commercial directors for DACH and France & Belgium respectively.
AirAsia-Expedia gets a new CEO
- The joint venture will now be under the tutelage of Jonathon Sinclair Neal, based in Singapore. Before taking over the top job at AAE Travel, Neal was chief financial officer at the company.
Tuesday 23 February 2016:HIS gets CIO 100 member on the board
- Hotel Internet Services has enlisted Carl Wilson to the board of directors. The IT veteran was executive vice president and global CIO of Marriott between 1997 and 2011 and was inducted to the CIO Hall of Fame in 2007.
OpenKey gets a marketing chief
- Blair Felter joins as director of marketing for the keyless mobile entry technology provider. She joins from DRN - Digital Recognition Network, where she marketing manager, with a previous stint at MultiView.
Wednesday 17 February 2016:MTT names David Moran as new CEO
Thursday 11 February 2016:OpenKey unlocks new management team
- Ryan Douglas and Brian Shedd have joined the key-less entry tech provider as vice president of operations and vice president of sales and marketing respectively. Douglas has previous stints with Expedia and Barton Creek & Spa, whilst Shedd has worked for Omnicom and Mandalay Resort Group.
Rainmaker Group promotes for new position
- The company's new executive vice president for demand generation will be Dom Beveridge. He is promoted from his previous role as general manager of the Rainmaker's multifamily data exchange. Prior to joining Rainmaker, Beveridge held positions with Capgemini, JDA Software and Manugistics.
Tuesday 9 February 2016:Clicktripz expands into LatAm
- Carlos Gomez will spearhead the launch of the travel tech supplier's move into Latin America, based in Mexico City. The new vice president was previously regional director for Preferred Hotels and Resorts and has also held roles at Expedia Affiliate Network, Egencies and Amadeus.
Wednesday 3 FebruarySabre will broaden its HQ
- Sabre's growing at Solana Business Park in Westlake, Texas. It will add commercial space to house an extra 400 employees. Blackstone Group is funding a $65 million redevelopment and capital investment.
Trivago's outgrowing its HQ in Germany
- The metasearch brand's mothership in Dusseldorf is getting cramped, given a doubling of staff over three years to 950 employees. It plans to open a new campus and move to it in 2018.
Booking.com to add space in Florida
- The accommodations giant will see its staffing grow by about a third after the move into an extra 17,000 sq.ft. space adjacent to its current 45,000 sq.ft. office in SouthPark Center, Orlando -- its largest office outside of its Amsterdam headquarters.
Teletext calls up Skype veteran
- Teletext Holidays has named Arpit Gupta as its customer and marketing director. He joins the online travel agency from Microsoft where he was in charge of global marketing for Skype and was involved in the launch of the first Windows phone.
Cooks books digital boss
- Thomas Cook has appointed Gilles Despas as chief digital officer. He joins from German travel portal HolidayCheck, where he was chief executive, and will get a seat on Thomas Cook's group executive committee.
Monday 1 February 2016:Regiondo has France in its sights
- The activities ticketing platform has appointed Cedric Lopez to spearhead its expansion into France. The German-based company brought in Lopez after he spent over two years at Russian T&A brand Excursiopedia where he was head of business development B2B and partnerships.
Cheapflights promotes to get marketing chief

Sam Otter moves up the managerial ladder to global marketing director after joining the company as global head of marketing in March 2015. Former-commercial director Kam Rai has also moved to a new role as head of business intelligence.
Adara appoints investor to BoD
- Leland Pillsbury takes the board seat with the travel data specialist as well as continuing his role as co-chairman and co-founder of the Thayer Lodging Group and founder of the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship at Cornell. He is also an advisor at Adara backer Thayer Ventures and chairman of Interstate Hotels.
WorldHotels appoints new CEO
- Dirk Fuehrer replaces Kristin Intress who is leaving to relocate to the US and pursue new opportunities. Fuehrer comes in from meetings platform Okanda, which he co-founded and ran, following stints at Steigenberger Hotel Group, Carlson Rezidor and Starwood.
Zozi draws marketing boss from LinkedIn
- Tours and activities specialists Zozi has appointed Scott Engelman as senior vice president of marketing. Engelman's remit is to focus on accelerating growth.
NB:Business people image via Shutterstock.