This is a roundup of product news and announcements for people moves in tourism and hospitality for July 2015:
Wednesday 29 July 2015:
Sabre hires data VP
- Zul Sidi will become vice president of enterprise data and analyitcs, joining from Rogers Communications in Canada where he held a similar role. Sidi will be responsible for developing data-driven products and assets for use across the business, reporting into chief product and technology officer, Deborah Kerr.
Monday 27 July 2015:Net Trans loses its chief operating officer
- Kai Holmberg has quit as the company's COO to pursue other "business ventures and social responsibility engagements". His role in part will be taken over Ludovic Dupont who will oversee Holmberg's customer and partner-facing duties, alongside his existing GDS and hotel responsibilities. Ludovic joined in 2014 from Accor.
Thursday 23 July 2015:Amadeus unveils new president for Asia-Pacific
- Moving up through the ranks at Amadeus since 1998, Albert Pozo was previously vice president for global customer and IT services in Madrid. He takes over from Angel Gallego who is returning to Amadeus headquarters after two years in the role. Pozo has also served as head of the Amadeus travel services and leisure division and was managing director for the company in Germany between 2002 and 2005.
RoomsTonite nabs ex-
Airbnb India head
- Mohit Srivastava will join the last-minute hotel booking app provider as chief or revenue and partnerships. Before joining the Banaglore-based startup he was managing director for the Indian subcontinent and UAE for Airbnb and had previously held a number of senior roles at Indian online travel agency giant, MakeMyTrip.
Thursday 16 July 2015:Sojern appoints Down for hotels
- Performance marketing specialist Sojern has appointed Jeff Down as senior director of sales for its hotels vertical in Europe. Down joins from Nor1 where he was vice president of business development for EMEA.
Ola takes the initiative with Sahni appointment
- Taxi app Ola has hired Sundeep Sahni as vice president of New Initiatives. Sahni was previously co-founder and managing director of ecommerce giant Lazada Indonesia.
American Express GBT gets Geall
- Jason Geall is taking up the role of vice president and general manager for the UK for American Express Global Business Travel. Previously Geall has held roles as boss of the Student Room Group as well as managing director for EMEA for Sabre-owned GetThere.
Tuesday 14 July 2015:Farelogix gets ex-United Airlines exec on board
- Joining the board of directors is Bob Edwards, currently chief executive manager at airline tech and infrastructure firm Nybble and who was previously senior vice president and chief information officer at United. He also held senior positions at Continental and oversaw its IT integration during the merger with United.
Wednesday 7 July:New CEO for eLong
- Chinese OTA eLong has a new CEO, less than six weeks after Expedia sold its stake in the business to rival Ctrip and others for $671 million. The new boss is Hao Jiang. He replaces Guangfu Cui, who will continue to work for eLong on a consultancy basis.
Tuesday 6 July:Ola gets ex-Vodafone CEO on board
- India's biggest taxi app business Ola has named former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin as an independent director. Ola owns the eponymous Ola brand (formerly OlaCabs) as well as TaxiForSure which it acquired in a $200 million cash-and-share deal earlier this year. Perhaps unusually, Ola has posted a welcome note from Sarin onto its blog and YouTube channel:
Expedia goes in-house for new president
- Expedia Inc has promoted its lead engineer Aman Bhutani to the role of president for Brand Expedia Group, putting him in charge of the flagship Expedia.com brand as well as recent acquisitions such as Travelocity and Wotif. He has been with Expedia for five years.
Friday 3 July 2015:ClickTripz appoints European MD ClickTripz appoints European MD
- The travel advertising technology company, formed in 2010 in the US, has installed Damien Retureau to front the company's expansion strategy around Europe. Retureau, who has previously worked for Housetrip, Orbitz and Kelkoo, will be joined by Dean Hunt as vice president of sales and marketing. Hunt held a similar position at Webjet in the US.
Hotelzon launches in Italy with ex-Amadeus employee leading the team
- The Travelport-owned hotel distribution service will have its Italian headquarters in Milan, headed by Virna Moschini who joins from Amadeus. Also, Jack Ramsay moves from over Travelport to head of multinational accounts, corporate and third part sales, based in the UK.
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