Are
management changes in the works at ARTA?
TC hears that
John Hawks, who has been the organizations
president for nearly nine years, will step down soon.
What would life
after ARTA include? Word is Hawks will open a retail travel
business.
Grand
Circle Corp. has a rep for, well, not being so
travel-agent friendly. But the Boston-based direct-seller and
Vantage Deluxe World Travel have struck up a different arrangement
for the Paul Gauguin, the Tahiti-based ship they own.
Radisson
Seven Seas Cruises, which continues to manage the Paul
Gauguins hotel operations, also continues to sell around 90% of the
cabins through its own distribution system -- in other words,
through travel agents.
Grand Circle and
Vantage Deluxe hired Radisson Seven Seas to market and sell the
Paul Gauguin, according to TCs source. The owner will typically
only market directly to their customers on sailings when Radisson
needs help filling cabins.
Jumeirah
Hospitality & Leisure was recently in the news for its
impending takeover, from Starwood, of the
management of New Yorks Essex House. Jumeirah has
some high-profile properties in Dubai (the sail-shaped Burj Al
Arab) and London (the Carlton Tower and Lowndes) in its small
portfolio.
TC hears, however,
that it was unsuccessful in its pursuit of the
InterContinental Paris, which sold last week to
the real-estate investment arm of the Singapore government for $400
million.
Hurricane
Katrinas damage to the Port of New Orleans has affected at
least one new hotel in the Caribbean, TC hears.
Furniture and
fitness center equipment, en route from New Orleans at the time of
the storm, has not arrived in Curacao.
The delay pushed
back the unveiling of the new resort to the press -- hotel
officials were reluctant to showcase their luxury property without
all the goods in place.