Ultimate Escapes Hires Robert Glinka As Chief Operating Officer

By: Destination Club News
Date: January 19, 2010

Ultimate Escapes, the world's second largest destination club in terms of members and largest in terms of total destinations, has brought in an experienced luxury travel veteran to serve as Chief Operating Officer, Robert Glinka.

"We are very pleased to add Bob Glinka to our senior management team," said Jim Tousignant, Ultimate Escapes' President and Chief Executive Officer. "Bob is a seasoned professional in the leisure, hospitality and resort industry and we expect that Bob's management, operational, planning and customer service skills will help us achieve our operational goals in 2010 and beyond. I'm thrilled to have Bob join the Ultimate Escapes team."

As mentioned by Tousignant, Glinka brings an extensive background to the destination club, including stops at:

  • Areus Holdings, LLC
    • Chief Executive Officer
  • Celebrity Resorts
    • Chief Development Officer
    • Vice President of Acquisitions & Development
    • Executive Director Acquisitions & Development
  • Sol Media
    • Vice President Business Development/Consultant
  • Cendant
    • Executive Vice President of Business Development
  • Fairfield Resorts
    • Senior Vice President of Planning & Development
    • Vice President of Planning
  • Walt Disney World
    • Senior Manger of Operations, Planning & Development

Glinka holds a BSBA from Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts and an MBA from the Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business. While new to the destination club industry, he has served with Ultimate Escapes since November of last year as a consultant.

Less than three months ago, Ultimate Escapes became the world's first publicly-traded destination club. Glinka and the rest of the Ultimate Escapes executive team will focus on "the growth of our business, delivering high quality member services and maintaining a high level of member satisfaction," according to Tousignant.

Some of the industry's leading clubs, including Ultimate Escapes, have shown positive sales numbers recently, indicating to some that the small sector is emerging from the economic collapse of 2008 and 2009. Hopefully, Mr. Glinka can help expedite that process.

Robert, welcome to the always exciting destination club industry!