Author: Alicia

  • Choice Hotels International appoints chief technology officer

    Choice Hotels International, Inc, one of the crucial world’s largest hotel companies, announces the appointment of Eben Hewitt to Chief Technology Officer based out of the company’s global technology hub in Phoenix, Arizona. On this role, Hewitt will report on to the option Hotels Chief Information Officer, Todd Davis, and oversee Choice Hotels’ technical vision and lead all aspects of Choice’s technology development in applications, architecture, and data—a pivotal role given the company’s strong emphasis on technology and innovation.

    Hewitt already possesses a firsthand understanding of the selection Hotels technology and business strategies in addition the corporate culture as a former associate having risen within the ranks to Senior Director of System Architecture. While at Choice Hotels, Hewitt led the team that won the Oracle Corporation Middleware Innovation Award for Architecture, before a short departure in 2012 to function Chief Information Officer for O’Reilly Media, a Silicon Valley innovator. 

    “Eben contains all of the skills and proven track record as a technology leader and visionary – plus he knows and thrives within the Choice Hotels culture. We couldn’t be more pleased than to bring him back on this vital role,” said Todd Davis , chief information officer of Choice Hotels International. “The role of CTO is important for our organization, during which technology plays such an important role in our current and future direction. Eben’s broad experience in all aspects of data technology—including application development, architecture and infrastructure—along with knowing the way to apply technology to business development and strategy, enables us to continue to exploit technology to advance our corporate goals and franchisee and guest experiences, especially as we progress as an industry leader in cloud-based systems and mobile technologies.” 

    In addition to leading the design and implementation of technology solutions, as CTO, Hewitt will lead Choice’s culture of creative problem solving. Further, Hewitt will actively evaluate the direction and growth of industry technologies and trends to make sure Choice Hotels is staying earlier than technology developments and leveraging these developments for any potential growth opportunities.

    Hewitt can also be liable for the oversight of the the company’s technical intellectual property, while leading all information systems planning, including all phases of systems architecture and design; programming; installation and ongoing operations; and upkeep. Further, he’s going to oversee architecture and development standards, policies and procedures and make sure adherence to those standards.

    Hewitt is the writer of several books on software development and technology, including some of the earliest books on big data, Cassandra: The Definitive Guide and he was a contributor to 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know. He has worked in technology as an architect, software developer, systems administrator, manager, and consultant across many industries including media, retail, government, ISPs, and software startups. He serves at the Advisory Board for Arizona State University’s Computer Information Systems department.

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  • News: ebookers launches multi functional travel app

    ebookers.com, today announced the launch of the ebookers multi functional travel app, ebookers Travel: Hotels, Flights, Car Hire, available now at the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The ebookers Travel: Hotels, Flights, Car Hire App offers search and book functionality for hotels, flights and car hire. It’s easy to take advantage of and convenient, giving customers access to their reservation details in addition to flight status and ebookers exclusive mobile only deals of as much as 65% off hotels.

    Features include:
    *  Hotels, Flights and Car Hire multi functional single app
    *  Your entire ebookers itineraries stored inside the app – even and not using a data connection
    *  One-tap access to flight status details
    *  Exclusive Last Minute Deals & Everyday Offers; save as much as 65% off hotels with mobile only deals
    *  Secure low prices on flights and car hire every day
    *  Book last-minute travel with smart search options
    *  One-tap access in your recent searches
    *  Powerful sorting and filtering capabilities
    *  Single-screen booking process that pre-fills your info once you sign-in

    With holiday bookings via iPhone, iPad and iPod touch becoming increasingly popular, ebookers is committed to delivering the most effective experience to its customers.

    Tamer Tamar, ebookers Senior Vice chairman International, comments, “We are excited to be launching ebookers Travel: Hotels, Flights, Car Hire App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. It’s the perfect travel companion for our customers and we’re committed to providing them with the neatest means possible to confirm a simpler and happier booking experience. With more travellers showing a powerful preference for mobile booking options, we’re confident our new one-stop shop ebookers travel app will continue to cater to the travel demands of our customers.”

  • New Zealand prepares to co-host 2015 Cricket World Cup

    Seven New Zealand centres were chosen to host matches within the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 – spreading the foremost international event throughout both the North and South Islands.

    Auckland, Hamilton, Napier and Wellington inside the North Island and Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin within the South Island will join seven Australian cities to jointly host the tournament in the summertime of 2015.

    The announcement is welcome news to Kiwi sporting fans who fondly remember the “stadium of 4 million” idea that brought the rustic to life in the course of the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

    The ICC Cricket World Cup is among the world’s largest sports tournaments and the flagship event of the international cricket calendar.

    All eyes can be at the chosen cities from February 14th to March 29th 2015 as they not just host thousands of players, officials and fans, but also are profiled globally to an expected television audience of greater than a thousand million people.

    As well as a warm welcome, visitors can expect a various range of scenery and a varied cultural experience as they travel the throughout New Zealand’s host regions.

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  • Atoll Paradise wins three World Travel Awards

    At the Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony for the arena Travel Awards, which passed off at Paradise Island, a personal resort inside the Maldives, on May 12, 2013, Atoll Paradise emerged once more as a pacesetter within the region, winning three of the coveted awards, for ‘Indian Ocean’s Leading Travel Agency’, ‘Maldives’ Leading Tour Operator’, and in addition within the newly established category ‘Seychelles’ Leading Luxury Tour Operator’.

    Atoll Paradise is incredibly pleased with this accomplishment, especially because the company only added the destination Seychelles in late 2011 to its exclusive luxury resort portfolio and has already been recognized because the Leading Luxury Tour Operator of this gorgeous island nation!

    “It is an honor to were selected for the second one year now as a pacesetter inside the travel industry of the region! We base our success at the inside knowledge our Travel Consultants have of every resort in our collection, and naturally at the top-notch personalized service we offer! All of our team members are very devoted to their work and to the corporate, and we fully embrace our motto to always exceed our customers’ expectations. My team, as an instance, is on call 24-hours an afternoon for our clients on location, and we ensure no hick-up will disturb your holiday serenity!”, says Jenny Vettiger Mufeed, Guest Experience Manager at Atoll Paradise.

    The elegant award ceremony came about on Paradise Island within the Maldives, and the ambience was fitting for this dream destination – chic, yet laid-back, elegant with a tropical touch! The hole speech was given by Mr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, the President of the Maldives, and he was followed by Mr. David Falcon, Senior Vp WTA, who gave a brief background on WTA’s 20-year history. Attendees included the crème-de-la-crème in travel of the Indian Ocean region, and entertainment came with compliments of Unoosha – an impressive singer who mixes traditional Maldivian sounds with modern beats – and native Bodu Beru groups.

    The Indian Ocean Award ceremony also recognized the Maldives as a full, awarding this gorgeous island nation the elite status of Indian Ocean’s Leading Beach Destination, Indian Ocean’s Leading Cruise Destination, Indian Ocean’s Leading Tourist Board, and Indian Ocean’s Leading Destination – awards were received by the Minister of Tourism himself, Mr. Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor, who was also named Indian Ocean’s Travel & Tourism Personality of the Year. The winners within the resort categories included lots of our partner resorts, with LUX* Maldives being named Indian Ocean’s Leading Beach Resort, Ocean Haven at W Retreat Maldives won for Indian Ocean’s Leading Hotel Suite, Frégate Island Private within the Seychelles was awarded Indian Ocean’s Leading Private Island Resort, and Hilton Mauritius received a statue for Mauritius’ Leading Spa Resort! We congratulate all of our partners who were recognized as leaders in luxury travel, and are proud to be working with each of them!

    The World Travel Awards were launched in 1993 to recognize and recognize excellence within the global travel and tourism industry. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, it’s considered as the very highest achievement that a travel product could hope to receive and their aim is to focus on and reward those travel brands that experience made the best contribution to the industry over the last year. Votes are cast by greater than 700,000 travel professionals and consumers in over 170 countries around the globe.

    Atoll Paradise is busy with plans for further expansion, on the point of move into their new state-of-the-art office complex by next month, where they’ll benefit from the perfect that technology has to give, to make sure customers can lie back and relax worry-free while on vacation.

    Atoll Paradise extends a heartfelt Thanks to its customers, business partners, and employees – only in the course of the dedicated collaboration of all three components can a tender company like this achieve such heights of success!

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  • News: Birmingham New Street’s 150-year history revealed as station switchover nears

    A choice of original plans and drawings detailing the 150-year history of Birmingham New Street were published for the primary time, as passengers await the hole of the 1st 1/2 the station’s new concourse in under a week’s time – the primary major change to New Street station in over 40 years.

    The station has remained largely unchanged because it was last redeveloped in 1967 and in additional recent years have been the focal point of much criticism as numbers of folk using the railway has increased, with greater than double the passengers using New Street today than it was designed for. The experience for passengers is poor, with the station being too dark, busy and overcrowded with inadequate access to platforms. This month, everything changes because the halfway point of the station transformation is reached.

    To mark the closure of the old concourse later this month, the Network Rail archive team has for the primary time published the unique plans and drawings of the station on its virtual archive. The various plans date back to the 19th century, showing the layout of the unique station which opened in 1854 in addition to the 1960’s rebuild. The web exhibition are located at www.networkrail.co.uk/virtualarchive/new-street

    Vicky Stretch, Network Rail archivist said: “Since publishing the primary railway architectural plans on our virtual archive over a year ago, it’s been fascinating to gradually work through our number of over five million records to look what other elements of the railway’s history we will uncover. With the upcoming unveiling of the recent concourse at Birmingham New Street, we’ve been looking for the unique plans and drawings of the station and feature found a number of great interest and importance at this exciting time of change for passengers. Little or no survives for the unique nineteenth century New Street, but what we do have, in addition to a set of the more familiar 1960s station, is now published online.”

    New Street wasn’t always the eyesore that has proved so unpopular within the city lately. When the unique station first opened in 1851, it was the biggest inside the country, encompassed by the most important single span arched roof on earth at 212ft wide and 840ft long. Constructed by a similar team who built Paddington station, New Street in its original guise was a grand structure and typical of 19th century architecture and only rivalled by the arriving of St Pancras in 1868.

    When the brand new concourse opens on the end of this month, it is going to be one-and-a-half times bigger than the present one, featuring all the facilities expected in a significant station, with a brand new, larger and improved ticket office and new lifts and escalators improving access to platforms.

    Ahead of the 28 April, the general public exhibition giving comprehensive information regarding the station switchover will occur at the main concourse at New Street between 7am-7pm Tuesday (April 23) and Friday (April 26) and 9am-7pm on Saturday (April 27).