Egan firm
buys dot-travel registry
An Internet
communications firm called Theglobe.com, led by
former Alamo owner Michael Egan, acquired
Tralliance, the registry for the newly ap-proved
dot-travel Internet domain, in a stock and cash deal. Theglobe.com
has been facing financial difficulties but already had provided $1
million in loans to Tralliance.
Extended
Stay extends its reach
HVM LLC, the
operator of Extended Stay Hotels, acquired 16
Sierra Suites Hotels from LodgeWorks, the Kansas
firm that owns the Sierra Suites brand. The properties will be
reflagged Extended Stay Deluxe, a new brand.
Choice
adds chat for Web users
Choice
Hotels International added a Click to Chat enhancement to
its Web site, www.choicehotels.com, enabling visitors to exchange
real-time messages with customer-service reps Mondays through
Fridays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TRX files
for IPO with the SEC
TRX, the transaction-processing and
data-integration services company, proposed an initial public
offering of its common stock in a registration statement with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Fairmont
to manage Kenya hotels
Fairmont
Hotels & Resorts and its joint-venture partners
acquired a portfolio of five Kenya properties, including the Mount
Kenya Safari Club, Nairobis Norfolk Hotel, the Aberdare Country
Club, the Ark and the Mara Safari Club.
The former Lonrho
properties will undergo a number of enhancements before being
renamed Fairmont hotels in the middle of next year.
The Kenya
properties follow several other key acquisitions by Fairmont and
its joint-venture partners, Kingdom Hotel Investments and IFA
Hotels & Resorts, including the Savoy Hotel in London and the
Monte Carlo Grand Hotel in Monaco.
NCL joins
Amadeus Cruise
Norwegian
Cruise Line went live in Amadeus Cruise,
the GDS companys stand-alone, Web-based cruise-booking
tool.
Amadeus Cruise,
available to all U.S. and Canadian agents, even those who are not
GDS subscribers, also offers availability and automated bookings
for Carnival, Royal Caribbean,
Celebrity, Holland America, Windstar, Princess and
Costa.
Boutique
in the Bahamas
Club
Med unveiled its first boutique resort in North America,
Columbus Isle, on San Salvador, Bahamas.
The debut
coincided with the launch of Spirit Airlines direct service from
Fort Lauderdale.
The property,
which opened in the early 1990s, completed a $5 million makeover
and joins two other properties in Club Meds new boutique line -- Le
Riad in Marrakech, Morocco, and Cherating Beach in
Malaysia.
Ensemble
names preferred eatery
In a first for
Ensemble, the agency cooperative tapped a
restaurant -- the landmark 21 Club in New York --
as a preferred supplier. All food and beverages are commissionable
to Ensemble member agencies when they reserve tables or private
rooms for clients.
For clients,
Ensemble said the deal covers preferred reservations (including
tables on short notice), a personal greeting from senior
management, a welcoming cocktail or champagne, and a tour of 21
Clubs Prohibition-era wine cellar.
Ensemble agencies
can reserve the entire establishment for client
functions.
Carnival
Liberty to repeat Europe
Carnival will deploy its new
Liberty in the Med in 2006 with 12-day cruises
from May to October, plus positioning crossings to and from Fort
Lauderdale.
The 110,000-ton,
Conquest-class ship is under construction in Italy and is slated to
debut in Europe in July.
China OKs
Okay Airways
Okay
Airways became Chinas first private airline when it
launched its first flight March 11 from Binhai International
Airport in Tianjin. Chinas first non-government airline will offer
charter services from its Tianjin base to Kunming, Changsha, Zhang
Jiajie, Guilin, Hohhot, Taiyuan and Haerbin. Other routes will be
added as the fleet expands.
People in
the news...
Neal
Cohen returned to Northwest Airlines, which named him
executive vice president and CFO. He replaced Bernard
Han, who resigned. Cohen was US Airways executive vice
president of finance and CFO from April 2002 to April 2004 and
worked in a number of senior marketing and finance positions at
Northwest from 1991 to 2000. Northwest also promoted T.
Jeffrey Putnam to senior vice president of finance. He was
formerly vice president of financial planning and analysis ...
Marshall Tullos was named general manager of the
Radisson Hotel & Suites Spartanburg in Spartanburg, S.C. ...
Edgar Bernal was appointed general manager and
Connie Hensley director of sales at the new Staybridge Suites in
Brownsville, Texas. The hotel is slated to open in late summer ...
Karen Ford-Warner, formerly acting secretary
general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, has been named head
of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the
University of Technology in Jamaica. Replacing Ford-Warner as
acting secretary general is
Arley Sobers, formerly the CTOs director of
information research and management. A permanent secretary general
will be announced in June ... Loreto Bay Co., developer of the
Villages of Loreto Bay in Loreto, Mexico, named Stephen
Ast executive vice president of hospitality ... Couples
Resorts promoted Melissa Trench to director of
marketing. She was formerly the companys sales and marketing
communications manager ... The Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel &
Towers named Jason Nandwani assistant director of
food and beverage ... Karime Buraye was named
director of sales of the Garden City Hotel on New Yorks Long Island
... The Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six Resort in Fort Lauderdale
named Carlos Molinet general manager, a position
he held at the Wyndham Grand Bay in Coconut Grove, Fla. ... The
Hotel Monaco, a Kimpton Hotels property in Chicago, named
Marco Scherer its general manager. Scherer had
been with the Royal St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans ... The new
general manager for Buddy Dive resort in Bonaire is Jan
Willem t Hooft.