United Air Feels the Hyatt Touch: Tom O'Toole Named CMO

United Airlines (UAUA) has named travel industry veteran Tom O'Toole as their new Chief Marketing Officer. Tom was previously CMO and CIO (yes, he actually wore both hats!) for Global Hyatt Corporation(H) until his departure last at the end of 2009.

Tom's appointment marks the first move we can think of from Hyatt to United - most industry talent has flowed the other direction.

Appointing a non-airline (albeit a very well versed) expert to the marketing helm at United may be just what United needs to help drive a new course. The challenge, as always, will be in delivering at the operational level what has been promised - we bet Tom's unique blend of operational and marketing experience will be a great help in making that happen.

And here's hoping that Tom doesn't break any guitars.

United Matches Southwest's (and Frontier's) Promo for Colorado Residents

Let the Denver airline wars continue. As we predicted last week, both United and Frontier have matched (and in United, case, upped) the offer that Southwest initiated.

Southwest is offering a free ticket for each ticket purchased. United is similarly offering Colorado residents who purchase a ticket by February 14th a free additional ticket to any North American destination. For customers who purchase a ticket to a trans-Atlantic/Pacific or South American destination, United will offer a ticket anywhere in the world United flies.

Clearly, United is looking to leverage their global heft in the "Denver Wars" - clearly a free ticket to Sydney or Cancun is a lot more exciting than Amarillo. (No offense to Amarillo, of course.)

Southwest Announces the First Bonus Mileage Incentive for 2010

Remember how good business travelers (those that were still flying, that is) had it in 2009? The falloff in business travel brought dogfights to the skies as airlines showered travelers with miles to try and stimulate business and steal market share.

American, United and Continental all offered double status points for not just one period during 2009 but for two separate multi-month periods.

Delta offered double miles to on all flights for American Express card holders and American offered double miles to everyone living in the New York area.

Delta offered 50,000 miles flights to London and the list goes on...

Southwest has fired the first shot in 2010 by offering Colorado residents a free ticket for every ticket purchased. Yes, you have to buy one of the more expensive (for Southwest, anyway) Business Select tickets but then you earn a free one anywhere they fly.

Look for United to match with something similar in the Denver market shortly. And we bet Frontier, not wanting to be left out in the 3-way Denver fight will also offer an incentive as well.

So far, only Colorado residents are benefiting from the continued slump in business travel but we bet more incentives are on the way soon....

Buy your hotel room or car with SkyMiles at Delta.com

While trolling around Delta.com this afternoon looking to burn some of our hard-earned SkyMiles we came across a new (or re-launched) feature called the SkyMiles Marketplace. SkyMiles members can search for hotels and cars and then use SkyMiles to pay for some or all of the cost of the room or rental. The redemption rates can be a little dear but hey with air redemptions getting harder and harder, it is nice to have another option - particularly one without capacity controls and the like.

A little sleuthing shows that this is another website powered by ezRez. ezRez has been on a terror of late, launching similar pay with miles/points programs with the likes of Starwood, IHG, and United.

One of the coolest features is the slider bar that allows members to choose the mix of miles to cash they want to pay for the hotel or car.

At the rate we've been earning miles lately, it is great to have another way to burn them that doesn't rely on the whims of revenue management!