CEOs tips

In the modern airline business, companies are usually divided by their “low-cost” or “legacy” models. The upstarts versus the old guard.

Many American tourism marketers are well-paid. Visit California CEO Caroline Beteta recently collected more than $1.5 million in compensation. Brand USA CEO Chris Thompson recently took home over $700,000.

We reported last month that Airbnb Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky’s compensation package could top $1 billion over a decade. It’s a lot, no doubt, but he’s also said he plans to give a lot away.

MGM Resorts CEO and president William Hornbuckle made around $38 million in pay in 2023, more than the CEOs of rival casino resort operators Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands, as detailed in recent SEC filings.

Hoshino Resorts is small but punches above its weight. It only has 68 hotels, but several of them regularly top the most-recommended lists of Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association said Tuesday that President and CEO William “Chip” Rogers had resigned.

Rami Zeidan, founder and CEO of Life House, has resigned from the hotel startup, according to a letter to shareholders sent Monday and seen by Skift.

Marriott CEO and president Anthony Capuano faces a pivotal point in the growth trajectory at the world’s largest hotel group.

Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corp., rhapsodized last week about how the hotel giant uses empathy as a tool for everything from fostering company culture to strategically analyzing acquisitions and brand development.

Accor, the Paris-based hotel giant, said on Tuesday that Omer Acar will head its brands Raffles & Orient Express as of March 1. Acar will join Accor’s other brand CEOs in its luxury and lifestyle group (Fairmont, Sofitel & MGallery, and Ennismore) — all of whom report directly to group CEO Sébastian Bazin.

Poland’s national airline LOT has fired its CEO Rafal Milczarski, it said on Wednesday.

Accor put in place the pieces for a corporate re-organization this month. But this re-org is one of a few over the roughly decade-long reign of Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO. The latest changes have prompted some eye-rolling from analysts at investment banks and executives at competitor hotel giants.

Travel technology giant Sabre said on Wednesday that Sean Menke, who has been CEO of the company since 2016, will become executive chair of its board on April 27, at which time its current president, Kurt Ekert, will become its CEO, too.

Portugal’s government has sacked the CEO of the state-owned airline TAP in the wake of a scandal involving an irregular severance payment of €500,000 ($532,945) to a former executive board member, finance minister Fernando Medina said on Monday.

Gender diversity in hotel leadership was boosted this week when Wyndham said its year-old program “Women Own the Room” had signed more than 30 hotels, with 10 already open. But the effort is an exception, not the rule — and efforts have faltered in the past few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group CEO Keith Barr announced he would be leaving his role at the UK-based company at his company’s first-quarter earnings call on May 5.

Travel metasearch company Trivago said on Tuesday that Johannes Thomas had become CEO and Managing Director, succeeding Axel Hefer, as the company struggles to return to its pre-IPO glory days.

As a woman with a general contractor’s construction license, Karie Brittano is used to being the only woman in a room. For her, that’s been an edge when it comes to having conversations as co-CEO of the Brittano Group, Inc., which is now building The Rook, a boutique property in South Boston, Virginia.

InterContinental Hotels Group accompanied its first-quarter earnings with the news that group CEO Keith Barr will be replaced by IHG‘s Americas CEO Elie Maalouf on June 30. Barr has led IHG for six years, and Maalouf has been in his role since 2015.

Australia’s flagship carrier, Qantas Airways, on Tuesday named finance chief Vanessa Hudson as its next CEO, making her the first woman to lead the century-old airline.

Anthony Capuano took the helm of Marriott International in early 2021 in what was in some ways a battlefield promotion, following the tragic death of the company’s president and CEO Arne Sorensen. After navigating the tumultuous post-pandemic era, Capuano finally has time to pause and fine-tune strategy at the world’s largest hotelier.