PARSIPPANY, N.J. (Oct. 13, 2005) � Following its acquisition of the
Wyndham® hotel brand this week, Cendant Hotel Group today announced
the appointments of Peter Strebel as president of Wyndham Worldwide and
Jean Thomas as the Hotel Group�s executive vice president and chief marketing
officer.
Strebel and Thomas will report to Steven A. Rudnitsky, Hotel Group
chairman and chief executive officer.
Peter Strebel
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Jean Thomas
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Peter Strebel, who will oversee the performance and strategic
direction of the Wyndham brand, is a 23-year lodging veteran who had served
the Hotel Group as executive vice president and chief marketing officer
since November 2004. He joined Cendant in February 2001 as senior
vice president, hotel marketing, and was promoted to senior vice president,
sales and marketing, in January 2002.
Prior to joining the company, he was vice president of marketing for
Omni Hotels in Irving, Texas, where he served for more than a decade in
various sales, marketing and operational positions with national, regional
and local orientations.
Among his recent accomplishments, Strebel directed the successful launch
of Cendant�s multibrand TripRewards® loyalty program, spearheaded the
re-engineering of the Hotel Group�s brand Web sites and helped drive an
increasing volume of business through the distribution channels that deliver
more than $1 billion in revenue annually to Cendant franchisees.
�Peter Strebel�s strong operations background, extensive experience
in the upscale lodging segment and passion for the industry make him the
right person for this major responsibility,� Rudnitsky said. �He
is an energetic, results-driven manager with strong business acumen, deep
understanding of hotel sales, marketing and distribution as well as an
impressive track record of accomplishment.�
Earlier in his career, Strebel was vice president of sales and marketing
for the Florida Hospitality Group of Tampa, Fla., a franchisee of Howard
Johnson®, Days Inn® and Omni® hotels, and served Prime Management
Inc. of Fairfield, N.J., in various sales, marketing and operational positions
in New York and Florida.
Strebel is a 1982 graduate of Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.,
where he earned a bachelor�s degree in business administration. He
serves on the board and executive committee of the Travel Industry Association
of America, Washington, and is an adjunct professor for the International
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Fairleigh Dickinson University,
Madison, N.J.
In her new role, Jean Thomas will be responsible for the strategy
and execution of the Hotel Group�s umbrella and brand-specific marketing
programs and oversee the following departments: Loyalty and Direct Marketing,
Brand Marketing and Strategy, Diversity and Community Involvement, International
Marketing, Market Research, Revenue Management and Reservations Sales,
Worldwide Sales and Communications.
She returns to the Hotel Group after serving for a year as corporate
senior vice president of marketing for Cendant's Travel Content Division,
reporting to Stephen P. Holmes, Cendant vice chairman, responsible for
developing the division's vision, strategies and marketing initiatives.
Her accomplishments include coordinating loyalty, cross marketing and new
product and business development opportunities across the hotel, timeshare,
timeshare exchange and car rental business units.
Thomas joined Cendant in 2002 as the Hotel Group's senior vice president
of brand strategy, responsible for developing comprehensive long- and short-term
strategies for the Hotel Group as well as the individual lodging brands.
In that role, she led the repositioning of each brand with corresponding
new marketing plans and programs. She also directed the consumer
research process that helped establish a new quality assurance program
for all brands.
�Jean�s extensive background and experience in marketing, operations
and at the Hotel Group make her ideally suited for her new role,� Rudnitsky
said. �Her recent work with Cendant�s other hospitality brands and
travel-related companies will help the Hotel Group further leverage intercompany
synergies on behalf of our brands and hotels.�
Prior to joining Cendant, Thomas was a vice president of marketing
for Nabisco and then Kraft Foods in Parsippany, N.J. From 1987 to
2002, she served in a variety of marketing positions including brand marketing,
customer marketing and food-service marketing and directed the integration
of the Kraft and Nabisco food-service marketing organizations. Prior
to Kraft, she held marketing positions at PepsiCo Inc., Carnation Company
and Harshe-Rotman and Druck Public Relations.
She earned her bachelor's degree in foods and nutrition from Oregon
State University and her master�s of business administration degree from
the UCLA Graduate School of Management.
New York City-based Cendant Corporation (NYSE:CD) provides travel and
residential real estate services to businesses and consumers in more than
100 countries. Cendant Hotel Group, based in Parsippany, N.J., is
the world�s largest lodging franchisor with 6,460 hotels on five continents
under the Wyndham®, Super 8®, Days Inn®, Ramada®, Travelodge®,
Howard Johnson®, Knights Inn®, Wingate Inn® and AmeriHost Inn®
brands. All hotels are individually owned and operated under franchise
agreements with Cendant subsidiaries.
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