PinT – People-in-Travel

A monthly report that tracks leaders in the travel business. What they said, what they did, what they must do. Unusually frank and detailed.

As this is a subscription report, the following is not the current edition.

Dale Hipsh

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Dale Hipsh is named President Tourism/Exploration at World View*.

  He has been SVP Hotels at Hard Rock Hotels but has also worked at Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Sun.WV says he created ‘unparalleled hospitality destinations’ – in Ibiza, Spain; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Goa, India; Amsterdam; Dalian, China – but gives no details.

*Notes:

-World View has added ‘space tourism’ to its activities, and the Hipsh appointment is related to this.

-WV says Hipsh will ‘guide engineering and design efforts’. It wants Hipsh to develop a ‘hospitality strategy’ for its so-called spaceports (confusingly, they are on the ground), and its flight facilities.

-WV targets its first commercial flights in 2024, taking-off from special tourist sites such as the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef. Flights will have places for eight passengers plus two crew in a stratospheric balloon and pressurised space capsule. Food and beverage will be served on the 6-12/hour trips. Seating will be ‘comfortable’ and the vessels will have large windows. They will fly up to 30,000m (commercial flights are around 10,000m; supersonics like the Concorde flew around 15,000m).

-Tickets cost US$500/passenger – which looks low.

Briefs

[] American Airlines CEO Doug Parker is due to retire March with current president Robert Isom due to take over from April. Earlier, Isom was EVP and COO at American and US Airways, and before that at America West and Northwest.

[] Pieter Elbers, KLM president/CEO says he will not stay for a third term, which would be from May. He has been with the airline 30 years.

[] Singapore-based Capella Hotels, which has not grown as fast as expected, names Cristiano Rinaldi as CEO. He succeeds Nicholas Clayton.

  Capella is owned by Pontiac Land Singapore. The company was founded by Horst Schultz, but, pathetically, he has now been expunged from the Capella history. (Schultz is best known from his work at Ritz-Carlton Hotels. He was involved with RCH at the time it was established, later led it, and eventually sold out to Marriott.)

[] Failed start. Sudhir Gaur, interim CEO at India’s grounded Jet Airways has left. The airline stopped flying in 2019, but has been planning to relaunch under new owners, the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium.

[] Andrea Scherz named chairman of The Leading Hotels of the World, the hotel representation company. Before him were Andrea Kracht 2011-21, Jean-Jacques Gauer 1989-2010.

#peopleintravel #travelbusiness #managementmoves

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