Loews to
manage D.C.s Madison
Loews
Hotels on April 1 will take over management of the
353-room Madison, an independent luxury hotel in the nations
capital that will be renamed The Madison, a Loews
Hotel.
The move marks
the return of the Loews brand to the Washington market after an
absence of several years.
Avis,
Budget, offer automated toll tags
Avis and Budget will
offer cars with electronic toll collection devices starting in
April.
In the Northeast,
cars with toll tags will incur a daily fee of $1.50. The charge for
drivers in Texas will be $2. In either case, the actual toll
charges will be added to the passengers bill.
The Cendant Car
Rental Group, parent of the two brands, this year plans to offer
the devices in other areas in the Northeast and Texas, and in
Florida and Illinois.
Crowne
Plaza flags Moscow site
InterContinental Hotels Group has signed a
deal to open its first Crowne Plaza property in Russia.
Part of Moscows
World Trade Center complex, the 572-room hotel was built in 1980
for the Olympics. An extensive renovation is planned before it
opens as the Crowne Plaza Moscow -- World Trade
Centre in 2007.
Canadas
Transat buys Thomas Cook
Transat
A.T., owner of tour operations in Canada and France and
Air Transat, said it will buy Canadian agency network
Thomas Cook Travel Ltd. from Thomas Cook AG for
close to $6.4 million.
Transat said the
deal would make it the biggest travel retailer in Canada, giving it
190 additional outlets (124 franchised and 66 owned) for a total of
430 locations. Included are 96 Marlin Travel and 94 Thomas Cook
agencies and 22 foreign exchange sites -- 19 of them in Cook
agencies.
Transats holdings
include the Exit.ca online agency plus Club Voyages and
TravelPlus.
Southwest
fare cap rises to $309
Southwest has raised its one-way fare cap
for the first time in four years, from $299 to $309, because of
rising fuel costs.
Southwest said
the cap increase will affect only 2% of its passengers. Most of the
March 10 fare hikes were between $2 and $4.
Ryanair
founder behind new venture
Ryanair founder
Tony Ryan and members of his family have invested
in Viva AeroBus, a low-fare airline in
Mexico that plans to start service in September.
The majority shareholder will be IAMSA, Mexicos largest bus
company.
Corporate
agency named BCD Travel
BCD
Travel is the name that BCD Holdings
picked for the new travel management group it is forming following
its split from Hogg Robinson.
The name goes
into effect when BCD closes on its acquisition of TUIs corporate
travel businesses, expected this month.
Mike
Buckman, CEO of WorldTravel BTI in the U.S., will be the
CEO of BCD Travel, which will be headquartered in
Amsterdam.
Louisiana
launches new ad campaign
Louisiana has launched a $7 million TV and
print ad campaign, featuring celebrities inviting tourists to fall
in love with Louisiana all over again. TV buys will likely focus on
cities in Texas, Arkansas and other nearby states. National
newspaper and magazine ads are also planned.
Strategic
Resorts buys site in Mexico
Strategic
Hotels & Resorts has acquired a 20-acre site for the
development of La Solana Hotel and Villas in Nayarit, Mexico. The
plot is adjacent to its Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita. Planned are
70 hillside suites, a spa, a restaurant, a pool and shops. The
hotel is expected to open in 2009.
Renamed,
OneLink signs agency group
Onelink4Travel, a provider of booking and
settlement services for nonair suppliers, has changed its name to
OneLink Corp. and signed up IT
Group of Ponte Verda, Fla. as the first agency group to
adopt the OneLink portal at www.ccraonelink.com. Since February,
Vacation.com agencies have been beta testing OneLinks hotel booking
and settlement services.
Friends
& Colleagues
Vail Resorts said Ed Mace
will leave his post as president of its luxury lodging unit,
RockResorts, and Vail Resorts Lodging Co. on April 15.
William Hall will take over as vice president of
the lodging division on April 15. Hall is vice president of
operations for RockResorts and Vail Resorts Lodging Co. " " " The
National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents has named
Alleigh Grieder director of sales and marketing.
Grieder was with Globus, where she was the home-based channel
manager. " " " InterContinental Hotels Group has appointed
Tom Conophy to the newly created position of chief
information officer. Conophy was with Starwood, where he was
executive vice president and chief technology officer. " " "
Crestline Hotels & Resorts has named Jeanine Korm
Glendon director of sales and marketing of the Churchill
Hotel in Washington. Glendon was executive director of SAS Corp., a
real estate holding company in Tysons Corner, Va. " " "
Dieter Huckestein has been named president and CEO
of Big Sky, Montana-based Yellowstone Club World, which expects to
develop a portfolio of resort properties in 10 destinations around
the world. Huckestein was chairman and CEO of Conrad Hotels. " " "
Wimco, a Caribbean villa-rental company, has appointed
Stiles Bennett director of marketing and
Bob Brown director of sales. " " " Joslyn
Sylvester-Gairy has been appointed director of the Grenada
Board of Tourism, replacing William Joseph.
Sylvester-Gairy is a former member of the Grenada Mission to the
U.N. and had been CEO for two Brooklyn, N.Y.-based travel agencies
for the last 19 years. " " " Virtuoso has named Clark
Collins executive vice president of marketing. Collins was
senior vice president of marketing for Washington
Mutual.