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This week in Opportunities:

Online Travel Comes of Age
Survey Rates Luxury Hotel Brands
Survey: Gays and Lesbians More Likely to Book Online
Executive Movers! See who's going where?
Travel Executive Employment Report

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OPPORTUNITIES NEWS & TRENDS

Online Travel Comes of Age

Compete, Inc. has released findings from a new travel study, "Online Travel Comes of Age." The study's findings reveal that consumer's travel planning preferences vary dramatically across generations, providing savvy marketers the opportunity to create distinct strategies for targeting specific generational segments. Compete's research revealed that Baby Boomers (aged 45 to 64) are a travel distributor's best bet to capture a booking. Over 10% of the 17 million Baby Boomers who research travel online each month will also book online, considerably more than Young Travelers who tend to window-shop, and Seniors who may be uncomfortable purchasing over the web. Compete analyzed travelers' behavior in seven different generational segments to understand generational differences in how travelers use online resources as they research and book travel online. Each generation was benchmarked in the number and type of travel sites used, agency versus supplier preferences, booking decisions, and brand preferences. The study examined traveler behavior across more than 1,000 online travel destinations. Young Travelers (18-24) are an online agency's best friend. They are influenced by the flashy marketing campaigns of online agencies and consequently spend more time on agency sites - especially price focused destinations like CheapTickets and Hotwire. Young Travelers will visit an average of 1.7 online agencies when looking for travel, the highest of any generational segment. Just 19% of these Generation "Y" travelers bypass agencies entirely, compared to 32% of Seniors. Seniors (65+) prefer booking directly with airlines and hotels. Seniors overwhelmingly favor booking flights and hotels directly with suppliers that offer low-rate guarantees and other perks. Nearly 80% of the flights booked online by Seniors are done at supplier sites, while the figure drops as low as 72% for 25-34 year olds. Similarly, 68% of hotel bookings made by Seniors are at supplier direct sites, compared to 58% for the 25-34 age group. Baby Boomers view an average of 36 pages of travel content when researching online. This is 15% more than Young Travelers and 25% more than Seniors. Of the travel content viewed by this group, over 70% takes place on agency, hotel supplier, and airline carrier websites. Full research findings will be presented during a web seminar "Consumer Insights for Today's Travel Marketers" on April 27 at 2pm ET. To sign up, go to www.compete.com/news_events/events.xtp.

Survey Rates Luxury Hotel Brands

Ritz-Carlton edged out Peninsula as the most prestigious luxury brand hotel in the 2006 Luxury Brand Status Index survey of Luxury Hotels conducted by the New York City-based Luxury Institute. Small Luxury Hotels of the World placed a strong third despite its low awareness, tied with Four Seasons. Wealthy customers rated 19 of the leading Luxury Hotels brands based on their perceptions of critical brand reputation metrics. These brands included (alphabetical order): Crillon, Fairmont, Four Seasons, Inter-Continental, Le Meridien, Leading Hotels of the World, Loews, Mandarin Oriental, Orient Express, Park Hyatt, Peninsula, Regent, Ritz-Carlton, RockResorts, Rosewood, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, St. Regis, W Hotels, and Waldorf Astoria Collection. This was the second consecutive year that Ritz-Carlton was rated best in its category by wealthy consumers. In this year's survey, Ritz was rated highest in superior quality and in making the customer feel special across the customer experience. The Luxury Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of more than 500 households with a minimum of $200,000 in gross annual income and a minimum net worth of $750,000 (including home equity). For more information, visit www.luxuryinstitute.com.

Survey: Gays and Lesbians More Likely to Book Online

A new survey reveals that gays and lesbians (79%) are more likely than heterosexuals (54%) to say they most often go online to book hotel accommodations for personal travel. Gays and lesbians (16%) are also more likely than non-gays (4%) to cite a hotel's fair treatment of guests like them as one of their three most important considerations when deciding at which hotel to stay for business purposes. Similarly, by nearly a three-to-one margin, 22 percent of gays and lesbians say "fair treatment of guests like me" is one of their top three considerations when traveling and staying in a hotel for pleasure, compared to only eight percent of heterosexuals. These are several highlights of a nationwide online survey of 2,581 U.S. adults (ages 18 and over) conducted online between March 7 and 13, 2006, by Harris Interactive, a worldwide market research and consulting firm, in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm with special expertise in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender market (GLBT). Harris Interactive conducted the study online within the United States between March 7 and 13, 2006, among 2,581 adults (ages 18 and over). For more information, visit www.witeckcombs.com/research_insights/harris_interactive.html.

OPPORTUNITIES EXECUTIVE MOVERS!

HOTELS & RESORTS: Great Wolf Resorts, Inc., the nation's largest developer of indoor waterpark resorts, has announced the promotion of Julie Stokes to vice president of sales & marketing. In her new position, Stokes oversees all aspects of marketing, including advertising, promotions, partnerships, e-commerce, creative services and direct sales for Great Wolf Lodge and Blue Harbor Resort brands of indoor waterpark resorts. Prior to her promotion Stokes was the national marketing director. She joined Great Wolf Lodge - Sandusky in 2000 and was part of the grand opening team as the director of sales & marketing for Ohio's first indoor waterpark resort. Stokes has more than two decades of hospitality and entertainment industry experience. Before joining Great Wolf Resorts, she was employed with Cedar Point (Sandusky) in food & beverage and banquets; Geauga Lake (Cleveland) as a group sales representative and the group sales manager, overseeing 15 sales team members; and Goodtimes (Cleveland) as the director of sales & marketing. Stokes earned a degree in leisure/hospitality administration and interpersonal communications from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio...In a separate announcement, Great Wolf Resorts also announced the promotion of Melissa Wheeler to vice president of brand. Wheeler will oversee brand standard implementation of the Great Wolf Lodge and Blue Harbor Resort & Conference Center regional family entertainment brands in order to increase long-term brand equity at existing and new properties, and at the corporate office and reservation center in Madison, Wis. Wheeler has nearly 20 years of experience in hospitality management, including extensive experience at Holiday Inn, Embassy Suites and Great Wolf Resorts properties. She began her tenure with the predecessor to Great Wolf Resorts in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. in 1997. Since then, Wheeler has served in multiple roles including director of brand operations, where she was instrumental in the opening of new resorts, and director of central reservations, which included the design, development and full operations of Great Wolf Resorts' central reservations office (Madison, Wis.) She developed the Great Wolf Resorts standard operating procedure manuals, implemented in all existing and future Great Wolf Resorts properties, and has held the positions of assistant general manager at Great Wolf Lodge properties in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. and Kansas City, Kan. Wheeler earned a degree in hospitality management and a minor in business administration from the University of Wisconsin - Stout...Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has announced the appointment of John R. Hill as director of sales and marketing for the Emory Conference Center Hotel and Emory Inn in Atlanta, GA. Hill joins the hotels from Marriott International where he last served as the director of sales and marketing for the JW Marriott New Orleans. During his seventeen year tenure with Marriott International, Hill held several management positions including area director of sales and marketing in Kansas City. Hill holds a B.S. in Communications and Marketing from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has also announced the appointment of Aaron Gillespie as director of sales & marketing for the Melrose Hotel, Washington, DC. He joins Crestline Hotels & Resorts from The Hilton Garden Inn Washington DC Downtown, where he held a similar position. Gillespie brings more than 10 years of hospitality industry sales and marketing experience to his new position. He has held several management positions with Washington, DC area hotels including: The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City; the Hotel Monaco; and the Jefferson Hotel. He began his career in the airline industry working with Korean Air and Alitalia Airlines. Gillespie is a graduate of the University of Kansas and also attended the Universita degli Studi di Milano, Italy...Coastal Hotel Group announced the appointment of Janelle Cornett to the position of Corporate Director of Revenue Management. Cornett, with ten years of revenue management experience at Hilton Hotels, will provide strategic direction, training, and oversight to all properties in the Coastal portfolio. Most recently, Cornett was Director of Catering and Group Revenue Management at the Waldorf-Astoria, the first position of its kind in the Hilton organization. As Director of Revenue Management at complexed hotels in Ohio and North Carolina, as well as properties in Florida and Missouri, Cornett has built a reputation based on growing RevPAR. A native of North Dakota, Cornett studied Communications at North Dakota State University. Cornett is also a graduate of Hilton's Revenue Management University.

TRAVEL AGENCIES: Expedia, Inc. has announced the appointment of Michael Adler as the company's CFO effective May 15, 2006. Mark Gunning is resigning his post as CFO of Expedia, Inc., effective on May 15, 2006, to continue his education in a non-travel-related field. Adler comes to Expedia from IAC/InterActiveCorp where he most recently served as a Senior Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis; he has served in other financial roles at IAC over the past five years. Previously, Adler was CFO and General Counsel for SchoolSports, Inc. and Vice President and General Counsel for Cheyenne Software. Prior to that, he practiced law with Feldman, Waldman & Kline in San Francisco. Adler received in Bachelor's of Science degree in Economics, magna cum laude, from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Looking for more?
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