PHOTO: Norwegian’s Alex Pinelo oversees relations with the home-based agent market for his cruise line. (Courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line)

The very first Agent@Home Travel Summit, scheduled Sept. 15-18 in Long Beach, Calif., will take place in less than a month, offering travel agent attendees a full slate of top keynote speakers, seminars and workshops, as well as great networking opportunities.

Alex Pinelo, Norwegian Cruise Line’s vice president-key accounts, will be a keynote speaker during the opening session on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Pinelo, who joined Norwegian in 1984, is a familiar figure for many agents, especially those who book the line.

In this case, he is taking over for Andy Stuart, president and chief operating officer for Norwegian, who was originally scheduled to speak but has been called away for a shipyard visit for his company’s brand new Norwegian Escape.

As vice president-key accounts, Pinelo is responsible for Norwegian’s overall account direction, including sales, marketing, strategic and tactical negotiations, reporting and relationships with all the larger online, strategic and home-based travel agent partners.

Pinelo, CTC and MCC, has worked with Norwegian in various capacities for more than 25 years.  Prior to his current role, Pinelo served as vice president-national accounts.  He began his career as a reservations agent in passenger services, and continued with the groups department, land programs and air/sea departments.

He then left the shore side office to work on the Sunward II as an assistant shore excursion manager, continuing on as assistant cruise director on various other Norwegian ships. Later, he returned shore side to work in the inside sales department, becoming a district sales manager in Ohio for the Central Region.

Twelve years into his Norwegian career, Pinelo left the company and joined Disney Cruise Line as part of the “opening team” for the company as a district sales manager. He was promoted to regional marketing manager before rejoining Norwegian in 2000 as the regional sales director for the Southeast Region.

Pinelo will address the Summit and then will be interviewed on stage, before taking audience questions.

Agent@Home Travel Summits, the first of their kind, provide a forum where home-based travel agents, the readers of Agent@Home magazine, can network, learn how to improve their business, and discover more about travel industry products and services. Twin summits are scheduled in Long Beach, Calif., Sept. 15-18, and Atlantic City, N.J., Sept. 29-Oct. 2.

The summits bring Agent@Home, the only magazine that caters to home-based travel professionals and entrepreneurs, to life by offering extensive educational programming covering the top issues facing the travel agency trade today. Agent@Home is a sister publication to TravelPulse.com.

For more information or to register, click on Agent@Home Travel Summit. Travel suppliers interested in exhibiting and/or speaking at either event should contact show organizer Paul Muir at pmuir@mse-management.com. 

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