Southwest readies return to reality TV
Southwest is returning to prime-time TV. The airline said it began production on a new reality show focused on passenger and staff experiences. The series, to be taped at Baltimore-Washington and Denver airports, will air on TLC, which ordered 13 episodes. The name and air date have not been set, but the airline said "viewers will see aspects of Southwest that have never been profiled in the past." The airline was similarly featured on A&E, which aired 70 episodes of "Airline" in 2004 and 2005.
Glitch mars Magic on its first cruise
The Carnival Magic experienced a technical problem with one of its stern thrusters during its inaugural six-day sailing out of its new homeport of Galveston, Texas. Repairs caused the 3,600-passenger ship to make an unscheduled overnight stop in Progreso, Mexico, and to skip a call at Costa Maya. The line said safety and hotel services were not affected. Passengers each received a $25 onboard credit for the inconvenience.
JetBlue adds three new routes
Continuing its buildup in Latin America and the Caribbean, JetBlue launched two routes from its New York home base: twice-weekly service to La Romana, its fifth destination in the Dominican Republic, and four weekly flights to Liberia, Costa Rica, an ecotourism destination northwest of the capital city of San Jose. The carrier also launched daily service on Embraer 190 regional jets to Nassau from New York's Westchester County Airport, about an hour north of New York City, the only international service at the airport.
Schrager's Public coming to NYC
Ian Schrager will bring his Public hotel brand to New York in late 2014 in a 56-story, mixed-use project on Sixth Avenue, near Manhattan's Herald Square. Plans call for a 250-room Public hotel on the first 16 floors and 315 luxury residences on the upper floors. The project will include about 60,000 square feet of retail space on the first and second floors. Schrager last month opened his first Public hotel in Chicago.
Expansion plan set for Joule, Dallas
The Joule, Dallas, part of Starwood's Luxury Collection, is set to begin a $78 million renovation that will expand the 129-room hotel into adjacent buildings, adding 31 rooms, suites and penthouse units, plus 10,000 square feet of ballroom and function space and an 8,000-square-foot spa. The downtown hotel will remain open during the yearlong project.
Residence Inn opens in Scotland
Marriott brought its Residence Inn brand to the U.K. with the opening of the 107-room Residence Inn Edinburgh in Scotland's capital city. The extended-stay hotel, near Edinburgh Castle and the central business district, is the first Residence Inn in the U.K. and only the second in Europe.
Nashville landmark joins Autograph
Nashville's 125-room Union Station Hotel will join Marriott International's Autograph Collection in January, becoming the 27th property in the group. The hotel opened in 1986 in a restored railroad station.
Friends & Colleagues
Mary Clegg has left her post as vice president of the National Association of Career Travel Agents to become president of Travel Professional Community, a social website for travel agents founded by Tom and Joanie Ogg. Joanie Ogg left a leadership post with Nacta herself in 2008 to launch Travel Professional Community with her husband. Replacing Clegg as Nacta vice president is Ann van Leeuwen. Van Leeuwen most recently was in sales at Windstar Cruises and Alaskan Dream Cruises. • • • Radius, a provider of global travel management solutions, said Roger Pfund and Richie Karaburun have joined the company. Pfund has been named general manager, corporate sales and client services for Asia-Pacific. He boasts more than 15 years' industry experience, previously serving in senior positions at Lufthansa, American Express, BCD Travel and, most recently, as CEO and president of Fursan Travel, a Middle East travel company and Radius member agency. Karaburun joins Radius as vice president, global supplier relations. He comes to Radius from Gullivers Travel Associates, where he served as president of GTA North America. Radius also announced that Chris McAndrews has joined the firm as senior vice president, marketing and business development. He most recently served as CEO of the leisure travel website Triporati. • • • Colette Baruth has left Gogo Worldwide Vacations to make a career change. Baruth, Gogo's vice president of product strategy, had been with the company for nearly 17 years. For most of her career at Gogo, Baruth had been vice president of products for Mexico and Latin America.