Travelport air appointment, Sabre Hospitality new boss, Travelzoo changes and more...

This is a roundup of announcements related to people moves and business expansions in July 2017.

Wednesday 26 July 2017:

Travelport taps Sabre air vet

• Mike Douglass will become its vice president of air commerce and is tasked with overseeing its relationships with airlines in North, South and Central America.He joins from inflight entertainment and connectivity business Global Eagle Entertainment. Before that he spent 18 years with Sabre Airline Solutions.

• Sabre has promoted Clint Anderson to head up its Hospitality Solutions business unit. He joined Sabre in 2014 and steps up from his current role as senior vice president for strategy. He replaces Alex Alt who has "accepted an executive position at another company".

• The Nasdaq-listed deals publisher has confirmed that Richard Singer, president of its European operations, has resigned and will leave the business at the end of September. Singer joined Travelzoo in 2013 as commercial director for Europe, becoming president in January 2016. Elsewhere it has named Jacqui Timmins as its general manager for Australia. Timmins joins from Egencia.

ReviewPro grows in North America

• The guest intelligence solutions business has added to its North American team with the appointment of Dean Schmit as sales director. He joins from Derbysoft and has also worked for TrustYou, Review Analyst and Pegasus Solutions. Earlier this year Chinese hotel IT giant Shiji took an 80% stake in ReviewPro.

• Jens Bischoff, CEO of SunExpress, has joined the advisory of travel software specialist Peakwork. Sun Express is a JV between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa Group. Bischoff  has held a number of senior roles at Lufthansa, most recently as executive VP in charge of global sales across the group's airlines.

• The London-listed central and east European focused airline has promoted Heiko Holm to the newly created role of chief technical officer, in charge of airworthiness and maintenance across the airline's fleet. It has also brought in Stephen Jones as its executive VP and deputy CEO. Jones will oversee its commercial, marketing and information technology teams. He joins from Air New Zealand.

GTA sales recruits

• Alistair Roger has joined as senior vice president global sales and marketing. He was previously chief commercial and operating officer at LateRooms.com. The company has also recruited Hui Wan Chua to take up the role of vice president Asia sales and marketing. Chua joins on 1 August and was formerly chief executive of Zuji.com.

SITA recruits for Europe

• The airport and airline tech specialist has appointed Sergio Colella as president, Europe. He joins from HP Enterprise Services EMEA and will be part of the executive team

• The leisure tech specialist has opened an office in Majorca to focus on partnership development. The destination was chosen for its proximity to accommodation suppliers.

Cleartrip names hotels VP and CFO

• The Indian OTA has named Ankit Rastogi as its vice president of hotels. He has more than a decade's experience in India's hotel sector. He has worked for goibibo and joins from Stayzilla where he ran its alternative accommodation business. Elsewhere, Cleartrip has appointed Indroneel Dutt as its new CFO.

Hilton adds GDS veteran

Keith Harrison was named director of global travel industry relations at Hilton Hotels & Resorts. He was executive director of Antenna International, a provider of audio and multimedia visitor experiences, and previously was global head of hospitality at Travelport.

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Tuesday 4 July 2017:

Uber's new message

• Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post and a well-known author and business expert, is widely reported to be in charge of revamping Uber's image by taking control of its PR strategy. She became a member of the Uber board just over a year ago, and is seen by some as a possible replacement for former CEO Travis Kalanick who resigned recently.

• Joe DiFonzo will join the distribution giant as chief information officer on 10 July. Di Fonzo is responsible for the company's enterprise and corporate information technology and will help shape how Sabre invests in its systems going forward. He most recently held a similar role at Syniverse.

• Thomas Cook has named Chris Chalmers as its UK marketing and e-commerce director. He joins from supermarket chain Asda where he was digital marketing director. His CV includes digital and ecommerce stints at Jet2 and Tesco. As a result, Jamie Queen moves from his UK marketing director role to run digital and marketing at the group level across Thomas Cook’s 16 source markets.

HotelsPro turns to Turner

• The reservations technology specialist has appointed Robert Turner as managing director. Turner, who has previously held roles at Travco and onhotels.com, will be responsible for sales, customer support and contracting in Europe for HotelsPro.