Online Travel Gets a Woman CEO and a Rebrand

The hotel distribution company that Pegasus Solutions recently spun off to HIG Capital will be called DHISCO and will be led by Toni Portmann, who has taken on the roles of CEO and executive chairman of the board, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Portmann, who currently serves on the board of Support.com and most previously was CEO of LockIN, says DHISCO is “soon to be the new name of a carve-out of Pegasus Electronic Distribution Systems Company.”

Katherin Dockerill, DHISCO’s vice president of marketing, has confirmed the name of the new company, saying DHISCO stands for Distribution Hospitality Intelligent Services Co.

In the late 1980s a division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., with an assist from global hotel chains, formed the Pegasus predecessor, THISCO (The Hotel Industry Switch Co.)

“And now, as a nod to our past, HISCO becomes DHISCO, Dockerill says.

Portmann’s LinkedIn profiles says DHISCO connects “100,000 hotels’ rooms and rates to consumers worldwide.” The company will distribute hotel rates to online travel agencies, global distribution systems, and other distribution channels.

The online travel world is currently dominated by men, and Portmann will join the ranks of female CEOs among established travel companies, including Marina Kolesnik of Travel.ru, Barrie Seidenberg of Viator and Beatrice Tarka of Mobissimo, among others.

Pegasus Solutions itself, which will focus on the hotel reservations side of the business and was acquired by Regent Equity Partners in October, is headed by Scott Gibson, most previously Best Western CIO, who was named CEO of Pegasus in November.

Dockerill elaborates on the new business and branding:

“Pegasus has recently completed a recapitalization and has a new owner/investor, H.I.G. Capital. As a result, the distribution division—Pegasus Electronic Distribution Services—is now a standalone company. Our strategic, even zealous, focus is to “connect the world” by providing intelligent distribution solutions that drive our clients’ success.

“Toni Portmann is the new CEO of this distribution company, and the leadership team has completed a strategic planning process and created a vision and set of strategic initiatives for the new company. Our vision is to ‘connect the world’ — and we mean just that. As the single largest processor of electronic hotel transactions, delivering advanced and affordable connectivity and distribution solutions to over 100,000 hotels worldwide, we are now equipped to enhance both our services and products.”