“Even travel biz's big names shop with rivals - Vancouver Sun” plus 1 more |
| Even travel biz's big names shop with rivals - Vancouver Sun Posted: 27 Feb 2010 03:00 AM PST NEW YORK - In an era of burgeoning travel options, some of the leisure industry's top executives are having trouble finding their choice vacations through their own companies. That's the reality, even though many online travel sites, hotels, airlines and casinos have staked their reputations on being able to offer a wide range of experiences to an increasingly diverse market. For example, when Orbitz Worldwide Inc OWW.N Chief Executive Barney Harford took his wife to Alaska for their honeymoon, he did not use his popular travel site to book the trip. "I can't quite remember how I ended up booking" the trip, Harford told the Reuters Travel & Leisure Summit in New York earlier this week. "Unfortunately, it wasn't something we had available on Orbitz." And Jim Abrahamson, who heads the North and South American operations for InterContinental Hotels Group IHG.L, was forced to stay at a local hotel in Cuzco, Peru, because his company doesn't have a location there. "We're working to change that," Abrahamson said. Here's a breakdown on executives' vacation habits, as told to the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit. US Airways Group Inc Chief Financial Officer Derek Kerr said he always flies on USAir domestically, except when "there's a situation where I have to be somewhere at a certain point in time and our flight does not get me there." Las Vegas Sands Corp President Michael Leven said he does not gamble. His company owns casinos in Las Vegas and Macao, China. As for vacations, "I just like to go home," he said. Expedia Inc CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he recently took his kids to a Dreams Resort all-inclusive facility in Los Cabos, Mexico, where he said he got a chance to swim with the dolphins. Southwest Airlines Co CFO Laura Wright said she went skiing in Beaver Creek, Colorado, last month and flew Southwest to Denver to get there. Last year, she flew on American Airlines for a personal vacation to Spain. Southwest does not fly internationally. Priceline.com Inc CEO Jeffrey Boyd said he went on a ski trip to Vermont last December. He said he always uses his website for travel. "I don't need to go anywhere else" to book, he said. Harrah's Entertainment Inc CEO Gary Loveman said the private casino and hotel operator's New Orleans location is his favorite to visit due to its workers' resilience after Hurricane Katrina. Blackjack and sports betting are his favorite gambling activities, he said. Marriott International Inc CEO Arne Sorenson said he took his wife and four children to Japan last December. He stopped in Tokyo, where he stayed in a Ritz Carlton, and Kyoto, where he stayed in a locally owned facility. Marriott owns the Ritz Carlton brand. UAL Corp (United Airlines) Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells said she flew on United to Telluride, Colorado, for a ski trip earlier this month. "I came back exhausted, but it was all good fun," she said. Wyndham Worldwide Corp CEO Stephen Holmes said he hasn't had time for personal travel recently, but does anonymously stay at his hotels to check on quality. He last stayed at a Hawthorne Suites in Orlando. Carlson Hotels Worldwide CEO Hubert Joly said he recently vacationed at the private company's Regent Palms hotel in the Turks and Caicos. AMR Corp AMR.N (American Airlines) CFO Thomas Horton said his last vacation was to Saint Barts in the Caribbean, and that he flew American. Air Line Pilots Association Inc The head of the pilots union, John Prater, said he prefers to spend his free time with his family, but travels for work on many different airlines. Prater admitted he took a train from Washington, DC to arrive at the Reuters Travel & Leisure Summit in New York. "I wanted to be on time," he said. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| United Airlines open to mergers: CFO - Reuters Posted: 23 Feb 2010 07:39 AM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - United Airlines (UAUA.O) is open to merging with U.S. or foreign carriers as the industry is "poised for consolidation," the airline's chief financial officer said on Tuesday. "UAL has been supportive of consolidation for a long time," CFO Kathryn Mikells said at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York. "It is something we will continue to look at." Mikells declined to comment on whether United's parent company, UAL Inc, was in talks with other carriers, but added that the airline is seeking more alliances, especially in regions such as South America and Brazil. In 2008, sources told Reuters that United was in talks with Continental Airlines (CAL.N) and U.S. Airways (LCC.N) about a possible merger with either company. Mikells declined to comment on whether those talks had resumed. She said barriers preventing foreign airlines from entering the U.S. market were blocking global consolidation at a time when airlines needed scale. Current U.S. law restricts foreign ownership of U.S. airlines to 25 percent of voting stock. "Clearly, outside of the U.S., consolidation is underway," Mikells said. "Not being able to participate in that in a more material way just really positions the U.S. companies detrimentally relative to international carriers. "We are hopeful as we move into this recovery period ... that folks will focus again on the fact that we need to have the same ability to make changes in our industry as other industries clearly have," she said, referring to sectors such as autos and technology. INDUSTRY LOSSES The airline industry has lost $50 billion in the past 10 years, including $11 billion in 2009 alone, according to the International Air Transport Association. The trade group expects the industry to take at least three years to recover from the slump in demand caused by the recession. Mikells said United was seeking more alliances and was planning to eke out more cost savings from current partnerships, which typically focus on sharing revenue. "We are now focusing more on the cost side by co-locating at airports, sharing IT systems, doing joint investments in information technology," she said. When asked if the 2008 merger between Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and Northwest Airlines had made the combined carrier a stronger competitor, Mikells said the market had spoken: Delta's current market capitalization is nearly $10 billion, about twice that of United and Continental Airlines combined. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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