Bob Troni, Managing Director, International Sales and Marketing, American Airlines, has been recognised as “Allied Member of the Year” by the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), at this year`s Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference (CHIC 2003).
The award is presented every year to recognise an individual who has exhibited great generosity and dedication to the Caribbean region, volunteering to work towards the betterment of CHA and the Caribbean hotel industry. “Bob has been working with and for the Caribbean for more than 30 years,” said Alec Sanguinetti, director general and CEO of CHA. “His efforts have reached a zenith in the extraordinary role he has had with the Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust (CHACT),” he added.
Troni is a key, active private sector member of the Trust, responsible for the `Life Needs the Caribbean` regional advertising campaign. A Founding Trustee of CHACT, he pledged a cash contribution of US$25,000 on behalf of American Airlines to get the program `off the ground` in 2001. Since then, he has been an enthusiastic private sector player, fully involved in all aspects of the Trust`s work, from planning, to development, and production.
He, along with fellow public and private sector members of CHACT, were fundamental in the development and execution of the creative work for the advertising campaign and the placement of the television media plan. With the support of American Airlines, he helped the CHACT save some $100K in travel related expenses for the production of the commercials in the Bahamas and Dominica.
As a member of the Trust, he was also instrumental in the creation of the private-label booking engine for the campaign`s travel site www.gocaribbean.com, with Expedia. He then chaired the subcommittee that led the development of long-term strategies to increase membership and sustainable funding from the private sector to the program. As a result, a significant 70% of CHA member rooms are now present on the online booking engine.
He is currently involved in yet another working subcommittee, which is spearheading the development of new functionality that will allow tourism related businesses - fellow CHA Allied Members - to profit from the www.gocaribbean.com booking engine, through value-added packaging and direct sales and merchandising to the consumer. This new phase in the gocaribbean.com website is poised to launch in August 2003.
“He has been a valuable component of the Trust in establishing the foundation for a branding campaign that fulfills a regional marketing imperative with built-in levels of sustainability,” concluded Sanguinetti.
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