Choice replaced the CEO who chased Wyndham and handed the company to its former CFO. Here is what that could mean for Choice Privileges.
Choice has now made the change permanent. An August filing confirmed Dominic Dragisich, who had run the company on an interim basis since Pacious left, as the permanent CEO, and Pacious resigned from the board customarily. Dragisich is not an outsider brought in to shake things up. He was Choice’s chief financial officer for most of his tenure, and he helped build the very deals, Radisson and the Wyndham pursuit, that defined the era now ending.
I have argued before that hotel programs are sitting on enormous piles of outstanding points that make devaluations close to inevitable regardless of the current executive with their hands on the buttons, and a cost-focused CEO only increases that incentive. A Choice Privileges devaluation hasn’t been made public, this is speculative, and Dragisich has said nothing about the program one way or the other. It’s a reasonable suspicion, but like the Bonvoy situation, Choice may face resistance for any substantial bottom line shifts.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on Live and Let's Fly.
