people profile

people profile

open to question: David Danby, Holiday Inn and Express

profile

Job title: area vice-president marketing, Europe.

Age: 53.

Born: Lyndhurst, Hampshire.

Lives: Milford on Sea.

Status: married with two daughters.

Education: Haileybury, Hertford (GCEsand A levels).

Path to career: started as a trainee manager with Trusthouse Forte before joining Hallway Hotels as an assistant manager working in Lagos, Kano, Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam. Returned to London to join Strand Hotels and later Grand Metropolitan Hotels. After a brief return to Hallway Hotels, he joined Inter-Continental Hotels and worked in London, Dubai and Vienna in various marketing positions. He took up his current position late last year.

industry talk

&#42 What was your first job in travel and how much did you get paid?

Washing up dishes in a hotel, I was paid 50p per meal.

&#42 What white lies did you tell on your first job application?

That they would not regret employing me.

&#42 What has been your biggest challenge in the travel industry?

Solving a horrendous hotel over-booking situation where the nearest available hotel rooms were 1,000 miles away.

&#42 What has been your most embarrassing moment in the travel industry?

Faxing my thoughts on a low-rated piece of business to the client rather than the responsible sales manager.

&#42 What’s the best job you’ve had, apart from your current one?

Hotel sales manager – based in the Seychelles.

&#42 Which company, apart from your own, do you most admire and why?

Marriott, as Ihave always found them throughly professional and competitive.

&#42 If you weren’t in travel, what would you be doing?

I would be a professional tennis player (in my dreams).

&#42 What advice would you give to someone starting out in the travel industry?

Get a Masters of Business Administration.

&#42 What one thing would you change about your job?

Remove the ‘cc’ element of e-mails.

&#42 What percentage of holiday bookings do you estimate will be taken direct in five years time?

50%.

&#42 How many travel agents do you estimate there will be left in the UK in five years’ time?

The market will dictate whether there are more high-street agencies than e-commerce agencies or vice-versa.

&#42 Make one prediction about travel in the 21st century:

There will be a surge in last-minute short-break holidays, fuelled by hotels and airlines being able to quickly market distressed inventory.

personal talk

&#42 What is your star sign?

Gemini.

&#42 Which living person do you most respect and why?

Jim Laker – he created a new way of travel.

&#42 What is your greatest regret?

Not learning another language at an early age.

&#42 What is your greatest extravagance?

A billiard table.

&#42 If you could be anyone for the day, who would you be and why?

Captain Cook, or any of the early explorers – seeing the world before the Lonely Planet journalist got there.

&#42 Who, apart from your partner, would be your ideal holiday companion and where would you go?

Lara Croft – endless fantasies, adventures and personal bodyguard. We would go to the Seychelles.

&#42 What is the most memorable destination you’ve visited and why?

Seychelle Islands for the sheer beauty and tranquility.

&#42 What type of holiday would you avoid at all costs?

A package holiday.

&#42 What is your favourite TV programme/film/book?

I enjoy any rugby union international on TV, the film is Last of the Mohicans and the book is Lord of the Rings.

&#42 What would you have put on your gravestone?

david.danby@bighotelinthesky.com