Although it is playing it safe to a certain extent, National Geographic pulls off the trick of both hiring from within and getting a new digital perspective.
When Huston took over as CEO of the Priceline Group 13 months ago, a financial analyst told us that Huston would play it safe and not make any bold moves in his first year at the helm because he needed to assure Wall Street about his leadership. Boy, was that analyst wrong.
This hotel stuff really isn't easy, and Travelzoo isn't the ideal candidate to start such a business from scratch. Travelzoo does, however, have 24.2 million newsletter subscribers, and that's a valuable asset.
Hotel site Getaroom.com tried to drive consumers from its Web site to a call centers for up-selling, but the much larger CheapOair is intent on doing both -- perfecting online booking and giving travelers that option, but also prodding them to phone agents in its company-owned call centers.
Steve Singh is one of the most-forward-looking CEOs in the travel industry, and Concur's $150 million Perfect Trip Fund is actively investing in that vision.
Will the immediacy of Orbitz Worldwide's loyalty program redemption be a difference-maker in helping to build its global hotel business? CEO Barney Harford is counting on it.
Will Congress reauthorize the nation's first national destination marketing organization before session ends? Both big and small town America hope so based on Brand USA's economic development and job creation deliverables in 2013.
Caesars Entertainment is promoting The Cromwell as a new hotel experience in Las Vegas focusing on personal service, while leveraging the all-female C-suite as industry disruptors and role models for working women.