Travelocity expands in Asia Pacific
Travelocity has expanded its hotel-team across Asia Pacific following the record success of the Travelocity Preferred Hotels program in the region.
Grant Colquhoun has been appointed to the new position of director of hotels for Asia Pacific. He will be supported by two new regional managers plus a larger team of market managers and market coordinators based throughout the region.
“Hoteliers have valued the global marketing power of Travelocity and its family of brands. Most notable has been the success of the ZUJI sites in Asia Pacific, supported by Travelocity.com (in the Americas and India), lastminute.com (Europe) and the network of 42,000-plus affiliates throughout the world,” Colquhoun said.
“We’ve been delighted to see that hotel sales on ZUJI alone have reached record levels with significant growth over 2006 figures,” he said.
“Many hoteliers will already know Colquhoun who helped grow the Travelocity hotel business since its inception in the region,” said Roshan Mendis, Travelocity’s APAC commercial director.
“His depth of knowledge will enable the Travelocity hotel program to continue to transform the way Asia Pacific hotels are sold. His team stretches throughout the region to ensure hotels have excellent support where they need it,” he added.
Colquhoun brings a perspective gained over almost 20 years in the travel industry. His roles have been strongly geared to developing relationships and understanding travel business drivers. Colquhoun has worked with Travelocity’s parent, the Sabre Holdings group of companies, for more than a decade including five years with Travelocity. He has relocated from Sydney to Singapore.
“I am focused on ensuring that our expanded team continues to deliver great results for Travelocity Preferred properties. At the same time, we will continue to extend the way hotels achieve visibility.
Other new positions in the team include two regional managers–Abdul Thinga in India and Alex Nieuwenhuys in Australasia. Most recently, Abdul was a consultant on major hospitality solutions with Infosys but prior to that was revenue management director for Taj Group in Bangalore. Alex has been a part of the Travelocity hotel team since its inception in Asia Pacific more than three years ago. Her proven skills as a networker, negotiator and thinker have taken her from market coordinator to market manager and now to her regional role.
More than 27,000 hotels participate in the Travelocity Preferred Hotel program globally; 2500 of these hotels are based in Asia Pacific. Hotels wanting to join Travelocity’s Preferred Hotel program should contact the team via email: Partner.Marketing@travelocity.com
Additional regional appointments above and beyond those listed in release include:
South East Asia: Two new market managers have been appointed for South East Asia-Stephane Thong and Louis Lew, both based in Singapore. Stephane’s previous position was managing hotel contracts for AirAsia while Louis joins us from Wotif.com. Further, Isabel Mah has been appointed market coordinator.
In India, Abdul Thinga has been appointed regional manager for the Indian Sub-continent. Most recently, Abdul was a consultant on major hospitality solutions with Infosys but prior to that was revenue management director for Taj Group in Bangalore. Aditi Sud and Amel Jo join as new market managers for Northern and Southern India respectively. Both come from a hotels background with Aditi working with the Taj Group in Bangalore and Amel with Leela Hotels in Mumbai. Yograj Kulkarni is the new market coordinator.
Australasia: Alex Nieuwenhuys has been appointed regional manager. Alex has been a part of the Travelocity hotel team since its inception in Asia Pacific more than three years ago. Her proven skills as a networker, negotiator and thinker have taken her from market coordinator to market manager and now to her regional role. Lauren Gainey joins the market manager team in Australia. A long term hotel team member, Lauren has most recently been focusing on bringing online hotel sales to ZUJI’s travel partners (business-to-business sites in Australia).
Japan: Atsushi Nazao has been appointed as a new market manager for Japan. Atsushi led an operations team within JTB Business Travel Solutions for many years after starting his career in tourism with the Westin Hotel in Tokyo.
Greater China: Jaime Wong is the new Greater China market coordinator.
Korea: Helen Lee has been appointed market manager, Korea. Helen has been with ZUJI’s Korean business (branded Nextour in Korea) for over three years. She was previously a hotel sales agent. Jinny Sun Woo has been promoted to manager, Hotel Outbound Sales, Korea.
About Travelocity, ZUJI and the ‘Preferred Hotel’ Program:
Travelocity® is an international leader in online travel. Travelocity booked US$10.1 billion in travel worldwide in 2006. Based in Southlake, Texas, Travelocity also owns and operates Travelocity Business(R) for corporate travellers, lastminute.com, a leader in European online travel and ZUJI, a leader in Asia-Pacific online travel. Travelocity is owned by Sabre Holdings Corporation, a world leader in travel commerce. Travelocity sold 16.6 million hotel room nights in 2006, up 30% on 2005. In Asia Pacific alone, room night sales increased by 90% in 2006 over 2005.
The ‘Travelocity Preferred Hotel Program’ in Asia Pacific offers hotels a cost-effective way to promote and sell hotel rooms to a huge, and still rapidly growing, national and international marketplace via Travelocity New Zealand, ZUJI sites throughout Asia Pacific, Travelocity sites in North America, lastminute.com sites in Europe, as well as through many Travel Partner Network sites in New Zealand and globally.
In 2005, 2006 and again in 2007, ZUJI® was recognised as Asia Pacific’s ‘Best Online Travel Agent’, as awarded by TTG travel magazines in Asia Pacific. ZUJI was also awarded as the ‘Best Online Travel Agency’ in 2007 by the TravelWeekly (Asia) Industry Awards. ZUJI gives travellers in Asia Pacific online access to real-time travel bookings for thousands of hotels and hundreds of airlines, as well as bringing cruises, car hire, attraction bookings, package tours and other inspirational travel offers, products and tools online. ZUJI has teams and travel websites in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Korea (‘Nextour’), New Zealand, and India (‘Travelocity India’), as well as many ‘Travel Partner Network’ sites throughout Asia Pacific.
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