Travel Leaders Group has announced that its hotel team will now roll under John Lovell, president of Travel Leaders Network, Leisure Group and Hotel Division. Michael Heflin will serve as the Hotel Division’s new senior vice president with responsibilities for its day-to-day operations. Heflin will join the Travel Leaders Hotel Division on March 27 and will report directly to Lovell; in turn, the Hotel Division leadership will report to Heflin.
Ninan Chacko, CEO for Travel Leaders Group, said that Heflin has experience in industry relations with hotels and leveraging data into custom analytics.
Heflin is coming to Travel Leaders Group directly from Anglepoint Group, where he was focused as its chief operating officer on business process transformation and assisting clients leveraging data to design more intelligent business processes. Prior to that, he served as director of strategic account management for Orbitz, where he oversaw the development of its first hotel information management team and was accountable for global business with its two largest hotel partners and largest technology provider. While there, he also drove the company’s first-ever paid marketing engagement with the world’s largest hotel brand.
The Travel Leaders Hotel Division, which includes the company’s pinSIGHT hotel booking program, offers the Worldwide Hotel Program and the Select Hotels & Resorts luxury portfolio, and now includes the Andrew Harper Collection.
The Worldwide Hotel Program is Travel Leaders Group’s comprehensive, price competitive hotel program offering agents the best available rates at more than 33,000 three to five star properties, ranging from top brands to independent hotels. Clients will have access to amenities including breakfast, parking or in-room Wi-Fi, access to last room availability, flexibility to guarantee stays with credit cards, and guest loyalty points.
Select Hotels & Resorts is Travel Leaders Group’s luxury hotel program and is comprised of more than 800 of the world’s most distinguished properties. Clients will enjoy memorable experiences that include the best available rates or better, daily complimentary breakfasts for two, early check-in/late check-out (upon availability), room upgrade upon arrival (subject to availability), and up to $100 VIP value-added hotel amenities.
The Andrew Harper Collection is an amenity-driven hotel program with 600 luxury properties globally with average daily rates of more than $1,000 and was acquired by Travel Leaders Group in January.