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The Travel Career Connexxions Opportunities Newsletter
10/12/04 The only weekly newsletter detailing essential trends, news and top executive moves in travel. Opportunities is a free newsletter that provides you with the vision to "see" travel industry opportunities in the making. Whether you are in sales, business development, guiding your company's growth or managing your career, reading opportunities will give you the advantage to succeed. Opportunities is another innovative tool brought to you by Travel Career Connexxions. For more information, visit http://www.TravelExecutive.com This week in Opportunities:
American Gets High Marks for Corporate Equality To ensure that you always receive this newsletter and other communications from Travel Career Connexxions, please add our address to your Address Book (newsletter@travelexecutive.com). This will keep most email filters from misinterpreting and discarding these emails. Did you know? As of 10/12/04 there are 111 executive-level travel jobs published in the Travel Career Connexxions employment report. Positions include Vice President of Operations (10/11), VP of Acquisitions and Development (10/11), VP Design & Construction (10/11), Director of Travel Agency Marketing (10/08), VP Hotel Operations (9/30), CEO, Chief Marketing Officer and more. It only takes one person to fill the job of a lifetime - and that someone could be you! http://www.TravelExecutive.com
OPPORTUNITIES NEWS & TRENDS American Airlines Gets High Marks for Corporate Equality Major U.S. airlines may be going through some troubled times right now, but that doesn't mean they don't aspire to be good workplaces. American Airlines was just honored again by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) with the highest ranking possible in its 2004 Corporate Equality Index. For the third year in a row, American has received a top score of 100 percent, the only carrier in the U.S. to achieve this distinction. American was the first major airline to implement same-sex domestic partner benefits, first to implement both sexual orientation and gender identity in its workplace nondiscrimination policies, and first to have a recognized GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) employee resource group--GLEAM. In addition, through the work of American's marketing unit, the Rainbow TeAAm, the airline has long served as official carrier for HRC and other nonprofit leaders that champion lesbian and gay civil rights. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the AMR Diversity Advisory Council, which represents an expansive variety of employees at American Airlines and American Eagle. GLEAM was among the early-forming affinity groups crucial to the Council's development. Today, there are 14 Employee Resource Groups advising American Airlines and American Eagle on ensuring American is a great place to work for all employees, as well as a good corporate citizen in all the communities it serves. The Employee Resource Groups represent many ethnicities, religious beliefs, age groups, lifestyles, and people with disabilities, giving the AMR Diversity Advisory Council one of the broadest representations of any workplace diversity council in America. The Human Rights Campaign is dedicated to promoting and ensuring public understanding of gay and lesbian issues through innovative education and communication strategies. A complete list of Corporate Equality Index rankings is available at www.hrc.org. Hotel Boom: Marriott Sees Big Boost in Quarterly Results There's just no stopping the expanding hotel sector. Industry giant Marriott International, Inc. reported income from continuing operations of $132 million, up 42 percent, and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.55, up 45 percent for the quarter ended Sept. 10, 2004. North American company-operated comparable RevPAR for the quarter increased 8.3 percent. Room rates were up over 4 percent, while occupancy increased nearly 3 percentage points to 75 percent. Since the 2003 third quarter, 177 managed and franchised hotels (28,000 rooms) were added to the system. Nearly half of the 6,000 new hotel rooms added to Marriott's system in the third quarter were conversions from other brands. Adjusted earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (Adjusted EBITDA) increased 22 percent to $239 million. Said J.W. Marriott, Jr., chairman and CEO of Marriott International: "We are having an outstanding year. Strong demand is filling our hotels and we are benefiting from rate increases. In fact, third quarter North American room rate growth exceeded occupancy growth for the first time since early 2001. Leisure demand remained solid during the summer while group and transient business showed steady improvement. RevPAR for our comparable North American company operated hotels increased 8 percent, with over half of the increase driven by rate. Strong business transient demand increased RevPAR 9 percent at Marriott branded airport hotels. International business continued to surge, with the number of international guests visiting our U.S. hotels increasing 21 percent during the quarter, particularly with travelers coming from the U.K and China. Our hotels outside the U.S. also attracted travelers, resulting in 16 percent RevPAR growth for our comparable systemwide international hotels." Survey: Many Hospitality Workers Looking to Change Jobs While hotel profits are surging, some hotel employees may still not be all that happy. A new survey shows that one in five hospitality workers intend to change jobs by year end. The CareerBuilder.com survey found that 47 percent of hospitality workers say they are underpaid, with 68 percent still waiting for their annual salary increase. Roughly 39 percent of them are dusting off their resumes in the hopes of landing a new job in the next six months, while 21 percent plan to change jobs by the end of the year. The CareerBuilder.com survey, "The Pulse: Hospitality," included 100 Hospitality workers and was conducted Aug. 5-24, 2004. Hospitality workers are frequently looking for a job on a daily basis (12 percent), weekly basis (18 percent) and monthly basis (13 percent). Overwhelmingly, the top motivator to find a new job for hospitality workers is pay, followed by a job with better benefits, improved balance of work and life, a better boss and more opportunities for career advancement. Twenty-nine percent of Hospitality workers are dissatisfied with their jobs overall. One-half of hospitality workers say they are burdened by an excessively heavy workload. The demands of their jobs have also resulted in 44 percent reporting that they cannot maintain a satisfactory balance between work and life. The ability to experience upper mobility is also a point of contention for hospitality workers. Forty-five percent feel that there is a lack of career advancement opportunities for them at their current job. Thirty-nine percent of these workers are dissatisfied with their career progress and 37 percent feel that their companies are not providing sufficient development and learning programs. On the other hand, the Careerbuilder.com survey focused mostly on staff personnel--housekeeping, custodial, receptionists and food service personnel--not on top executive level jobs. Find Destination Pros at the ETC Transatlantic Conference Want to network with top European destination officials and tour operators? The European Travel Commission's "Europe Unlimited" Transatlantic Conference will take place Friday, Oct. 29 at Cipriani's at 110 East 42nd Street in New York. The keynote speaker will be former United Nations Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who has managed some of the toughest diplomatic end games of our times, including difficult negotiations with Serbia and the other states that formerly made up Yugoslavia. Holbrooke was chief negotiator for the Dayton Peace Agreement that led to the end of the war in Bosnia. A distinguished lineup of speakers has been assembled to share their perspectives on the issues facing Europe's travel industry in the third year following the events of September 2001: Lionel Barber, Managing Editor, Financial Times, on "The Expanding European Union"; Roger Cohen, Foreign Editor, The New York Times: "Europe from the US Perspective"; Peter Greenberg, Travel Editor, Today Show: "The Travel Experience"; Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Founder of easyJet: "The Revolution of Low-Cost Carriers"; Michelle Peluso, CEO, Travelocity: "New Developments in Online Travel"; Bob Mankoff, Cartoon Editor, The New Yorker: "How Cartoonists See Europe." Morning registration and continental breakfast will begin at 8:00 a.m., followed by a cocktail reception and lunch, after which Ambassador Holbrooke will speak. The conference will end at 2:30 PM. Places are limited and seating will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis. Registration will not be accepted after Oct. 15, and the cost is $275 per person. For more information on registration, call Spring, O'Brien & Co, Inc. at 212-620-7100. OPPORTUNITIES EXECUTIVE MOVERS! AIRLINES: Delta Air Lines has named Jerome Miller as vice president-global diversity and community affairs, effective Oct. 25. Miller, 50, will report to both Gerald Grinstein, CEO, and Lee Macenczak, senior vice president and chief customer service officer. He is charged with leading Delta's efforts in making diversity a core value within the company, while strengthening its position in the communities it serves. Miller joins Delta from InterContinental Hotels Group where he began his career in 1999 as vice president-human resources, before being promoted to his most recent position of vice president and chief diversity officer for the Americas division in 2001. In that role, he was responsible for leading diversity strategies and actions in recruitment and development, supplier and vendor relations and external relations. Before joining InterContinental, Miller worked for The Coca-Cola Company for 12 years and held positions of increasing responsibility, including human resources director for Southern Africa, business change consultant and HR consultant. He also brings more than eight years of professional experience from Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Company and the Ford Motor Company world headquarters...Spirit Airlines, the low-fare carrier, has selected Graham Parker as its new vice president of pricing and revenue management. Parker joins Spirit from PROS Revenue Management, where he most recently served as senior vice president-business development. In his previous role at PROS, he was a senior consultant using his expertise in airline revenue management and pricing to support both Lufthansa German Airlines and Continental Airlines. Parker also held positions as manager of both revenue management and pricing/revenue management analysis at Southwest Airlines. His responsibilities included revenue management systems development, pricing strategy and supervising a team of more than 20 analysts and programmers...Elite Flight Solutions, Inc. has named Bruce Edwards as its new interim president and sole director to replace Greg Meech. Edwards brings more than 10 years experience with Fortune 500 companies. As a financial analyst for Hyatt Hotels Corporation and an executive for Clear Channel Communications, he has both financial and operational experience. He will be responsible for managing the company's current expansion phase through the use of the existing $8 million equity line of credit. Elite, operating through its subsidiary American Air Network Alaska, provides air ambulance and charter air services for Yukon-Kushkokwin Health Corporation of Alaska as part of a five-year contract. CRUISES: Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises launched a new brand-dedicated U.S. field sales forces that replaces the dual-branded sales force. The company also hired 33 new employees and announced several promotions. The brand-dedicated sales forces are designed to address travel agents' requests for stronger field support and allow each sales force to better focus on brand differentiators, such as Celebrity's Cirque du Soleil partnership and Royal Caribbean's "Get Out There" features, including rock climbing walls and new bungee trampolines. The new Celebrity sales organization of 50 district sales managers and inside sales reps will be managed by Dondra Ritzenthaler, vice president of sales. Five new field directors will lead both key account and district sales manager teams. Jeff Clarke is the new vice president of national accounts for Celebrity and two new Celebrity national account managers have been added. For Royal Caribbean, Ken Muskat and Robert Friedman were promoted to new regional sales vice president positions and will manage the brand's field sales team and key account team. Patrick Mitchell will assume the new position of vice president of national accounts for Royal Caribbean, supervising two national account managers. HOTELS & RESORTS: Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, a joint venture of Boyd Gaming Corporation and MGM Mirage, promoted Larry Mullin to executive vice president and chief operating officer. Mullin has overseen marketing and branding, relationship marketing, advertising, direct marketing, entertainment, customer care center, and the My Borgata Rewards Program. His additional responsibilities include slot, table game, security and credit operations. Mullin has held a variety of senior management positions in Atlantic City. Prior to joining Borgata, Mullin served as president and chief operating officer of Trump Marina. Borgata, located at Renaissance Pointe in Atlantic City, features 2,000 guest rooms and suites, 125,000 square feet of gaming, 145 gaming tables, 3,600 slot machines, 11 destination restaurants, 11 retail boutiques, a 50,000-square-foot spa, 70,000 square feet of event space, and parking for 7,100 cars...A seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Ivan Lee has joined the Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles as vice president and general manager. Prior to joining the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Lee was chief executive in the hotel division for Sino Group, a real estate development/management company with a hotel division including over 3,000 rooms in Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as a private yacht and country club. Lee has worked in the hospitality industry in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore. With a strong background in food and beverage, he has been associated with the Hyatt, Sheraton, Four Seasons and Renaissance hotels. He also has opened several hotels, most notably, The Fullerton, a renowned historical property in Singapore. Lee has also been general manager at the Royal Pacific Hotel & Towers, Gold Coast Hotel, Island Pacific Hotel and Renaissance Parc Fifty-Five Hotel in San Francisco. He has substantial expertise in the food and beverage field since he was food & beverage director at Hyatt Regency hotels in Vancouver, Dallas, San Francisco and Orlando...Raffles International appointed Leong Wai Leng as chief executive officer. Raffles International is the hotel management arm of Raffles Holdings Limited, and markets its hotels and resorts under two brands, Raffles Hotels & Resorts and Swissotel Hotels & Resorts. Leong, who is currently the deputy chief executive officer of Raffles Holdings Limited and the executive director of Raffles International, has had the opportunity over the last three years to lead the various corporate departments within the group. After her appointment as CEO, she will continue to work with Jennie Chua, who continues to be chairman of Raffles International and president and CEO of Raffles Holdings... Stephen Joyce, executive vice president of owner and franchise services, has been named to the expanded position of executive vice president of owner and franchise services & North American full service development for Marriott International, Inc. While retaining overall responsibility for owner and franchise services, Joyce is now also responsible for managing the North American full service development effort and the newly formed real estate development group for the following brands of the company: JW Marriott, Marriott, Renaissance, Ritz-Carlton and Bulgari. An important element of his new responsibility includes increasing the number of minority owners and franchisees across all of these brands. Joyce is a 22-year Marriott veteran. Prior to his role in owner and franchise services, he was senior vice president-full service franchising, with responsibility for the Marriott and Renaissance brands. Other senior-level positions have included vice president of franchising for Courtyard and Fairfield Inn, as well as positions in corporate and lodging finance. Joyce reports to James Sullivan, executive vice president-lodging development, and William Shaw, president and chief operating officer. Before joining Marriott Lodging in 1988, Joyce was a senior manager for Marriott's Corporate Finance Group, Partnership and Syndication Group, and has also served as a financial and operational consultant...Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts named Samir Wildemann as the new general manager of Pan Pacific Bangkok. For the past 17 years, Wildemann held various management and supervisory roles in the hotel industry. Prior to this appointment at Pan Pacific Bangkok, he was general manager of Le Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club, and then moved to Le Royal Meridien Baan Taling Ngam in Koh Samui. Originally from Hamburg, Germany, Wildemann has spent most of his life in Asia, where he grew up in Thailand, India and Japan. He went on to pursue his studies at the Klessheim school of Hotel Management and Tourism in Salburg, Austria, after which he served an apprenticeship with the Sheraton in Salzburg. His first job in Asia was at the then Borobudur Inter-Continental Jakarta, Indonesia. Subsequently, Wildemann's career path took him to Paris and Singapore, where he served as rooms division manager and executive assistant manager at Le Meridien, before arriving in Thailand...Paramount Hotel Group, a third-party, independent hotel management and ownership group, said Ed Dykes has joined the company as vice president of business development. In the newly created position, Dykes will be responsible for sourcing and negotiating acquisitions, joint ventures and management contracts to complement Paramount's current 27-hotel portfolio. The Fairfield, N.J.-based company seeks to operate and/or own both full-service and select-service hotels, primarily in the eastern half of the country. Dykes began his hospitality career as a student, and acquired his first hotel while still in college. He subsequently joined Ramada Hotels, where he held a variety of operations positions. He spent nearly a decade as a regional director of hotel operations with Helmsley Hotels before joining Prime Hospitality as a regional vice president of operations. He was promoted to senior vice president of operations for the company's AmeriSuites brand, where he actively was involved in the development and operations of approximately 100 properties... Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. said Brian Guernier has joined the company in the newly-created position of senior vice president-acquisitions in late October 2004. Guernier will lead Eagle's efforts in adding additional upper upscale, full service and all-suites hotels to its existing portfolio. He most recently has held the position of vice president-acquisitions and development at CNL Hospitality Corp in Orlando. He holds a Masters Degree from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and his background includes positions in hospitality valuation and consulting and in the planning for the development of hotels with a major hotel brand. Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, Inc. is a newly formed Maryland corporation that intends to qualify as a REIT. The company has been formed to pursue investment opportunities in the full-service and all-suites hotel industry. Its hotels are located in Colorado, Florida, New York, Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois...Marshall Management announced that Trish Williams has joined the company as regional vice president of operations. In her new position, she will be responsible for managing the company's six IOPA properties. Previously she was director of operations for Humphrey Hospitality, Inc., overseeing the IPOA properties. Marshall Management, founded in 1980, has special expertise in operating three- and four-star branded hotels and resorts, averaging 100 to 400 rooms, in urban and central business districts, suburban/drive-to and resort locations. In addition, the company has a proven track record managing independent resort properties. Located in Salisbury, Md., the company has managed a wide array of leading hotel brands, including Hilton, Sheraton, InterContinental Hotel Group, Choice and Cendant. DESTINATIONS: Erik Dahlerbruch, a veteran hospitality executive with nearly 20 years of hotel sales experience, has joined LA Inc. The Convention and Visitors Bureau as vice president of hotel sales. In his new position, Dahlerbruch is responsible for driving all hotel and non-citywide sales. He has held positions at both the corporate and property levels of the hospitality industry. His accomplishments range from repositioning hotels for growth to reorganizing national sales offices. Dahlerbruch began his career as an intern at the State Game Lodge in Custer, South Dakota, and worked his way through the ranks of Marriott International, ITT Sheraton (now a division of Starwood Hotels), Renaissance Hotels International and Hilton Hotels Corporation. Most recently, Dahlerbruch was director of sales and marketing at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport, a post he held for six years. Prior to that, he was director of sales for the Los Angeles national sales office of Renaissance Hotels International, where he built awareness for the Renaissance brand and increased office revenues by 33 percent in a one-year period. Dahlerbruch also was director of sales at the Renaissance Los Angeles Hotel-Airport and the Sheraton Los Angeles Airport and Marriott LAX. Dahlerbruch has served on the Gateway to L.A. board of directors, LA Business Travel Association (past president), Southern California Chapter of Meeting Professionals International, Association of Corporate Travel Executives and Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International...LA Inc. The Convention and Visitors Bureau has appointed Jeff Leung as director of Western Region Sales, responsible for booking citywide conventions from the West Coast market and specializing in high tech companies. Prior to joining LA Inc., Leung was on the sales team of the Century Plaza Hotel & Spa and The St. Regis Los Angeles for the past six years, most recently as national sales manager. He handled the West Coast, Far East tour and travel, and Northeast corporate and association markets and effectively grew key vertical segments such as the sports market. In addition to sales, Leung was a banquet manager at the Century Plaza, the Biltmore Hotel and the Sheraton Long Beach Hotel...The Mexican Heritage Corporation has hired Marcela Consuelo Davison Aviles to serve as executive director of the Mexican Heritage Plaza, completing a comprehensive international executive search. She succeeds Interim Director Laura Esparza. Aviles is a senior business and philanthropy executive, entrepreneur, and attorney. Previously, she served as executive director of the Latino Community Foundation and as CEO of Blackboard Entertainment, a children's media company. She is a member of the state bar of New York and California and serves on the Boards of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Women's Initiative for Self Employment, the Coalition for Quality Children's Media and the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She is also a member of the national advisory board for Lee y seras, the Hispanic children's literacy initiative formed by Scholastic Publishing. She earned a Juris Doctor Degree from Stanford Law School. The Plaza's new executive director will bring more than 15 years of experience in the social and private sectors to the $35 million state-of-the art facility. The mission of the Mexican Heritage Plaza of San Jose, Calif., is to affirm, celebrate and preserve the rich cultural heritage of the Mexican community and showcase multicultural arts within the region and nationally. TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY: Pegasus Solutions, Inc. added Dennis Law as senior vice president of product management. Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions is a leading worldwide provider of hotel reservations-related services and technology. In his role at Pegasus, Law is responsible for managing the performance of Pegasus' entire portfolio of services, managing all Pegasus services throughout their life cycles, and managing and maintaining product plans. Law's activities include setting priorities, releasing funds, linking to other departments within Pegasus and developing strategic direction for the product portfolio. Law has more than 13 years of global service industry experience in telecommunications, Internet services and managed hosting services. He comes to Pegasus from EDS, where he served most recently as Hosting Services global portfolio executive, responsible for the planning, direction and development of the hosting portfolio service, which represented $3.9 billion in revenue. His responsibilities included managing the Hosting Services portfolio's product line (Web, mid-range and application hosting and mainframe services), hosting market readiness and utility compute services. Earlier in Law's career, he served as the executive director of Internet Applications Services at Global One in Reston, Va., where he launched several major services and oversaw the profit-and-loss responsibility for a $500 million line of business. Recently, Law was deployed to Afghanistan and the Middle East to conduct civil-military operations, and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for his service...Travelocity, a Sabre Holdings company, announced that Damon Tassone has been named president of its Travelocity Europe operation, replacing Dirk Hauke, who has accepted a non-related-travel position with the Otto Group, Travelocity's joint venture partner in Germany. Tassone most recently served as senior vice president of distribution at Travelocity, where he was responsible for subsidiaries Site59.com and World Choice Travel, as well as the company's relationships with distribution partners America Online, Yahoo! and other leading travel suppliers. Travelocity completed the acquisition of the remaining 50 percent of the Travelocity Europe joint venture it did not already own, excluding the operations in Germany, on Oct. 4, 2004. In Germany, the company continues its joint venture with the Otto Group business Otto Freizeit und Touristik GmbH (OFT). Tassone will be based in London and will report directly to Travelocity CEO Michelle Peluso. He will assume responsibility for all Travelocity's European businesses outside Germany, and for Travelocity's 50 percent shareholding in the German operations. Before assuming his most recent role at Travelocity, Tassone held key positions at Site59, a specialist in last-minute online travel, eventually serving as its general manager. Prior to that, he worked for beer and spirits giant Guinness and was a consumer products and retail advisor at Boston Consulting Group.
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