Gnome on the Range

D Magazine, Dec 01, 2004 by Brass, Kevin

For the record, TRAVELOCITY CEO MICHELLE PELUSO is tired of gnome gifts. Ever since her online travel company adopted the bearded garden dweller as its globetrotting mascot, Peluso has been barraged with gnome calendars, gnome watches, and assorted gnome desktop accessories. "Please stop," she says with a laugh. "A nice spa certificate would work really well."

Industry insiders scoffed when the 33-year-old launched an $80 million ad campaign based on the 2-foot-tall figure. But this fall Travelocity, which is based in Southlake, posted its first profitable quarter. After taking over last December, Peluso has given the company a mega-makeover, dumping the fussy old web site and ratcheting up the company's hotel business.

Travel seems to be in Peluso's blood. Her Wharton-anchored resumespiced with philosophy studies at Oxford--includes stops in Senegal, England, and Vietnam. In 1999 she founded the online travel site Site59. Three years later she sold it to Travelocity for $43 millionin cash.

These days Peluso is almost constantly on the move. Prospective boyfriends must adapt to a schedule that might find her in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, New York on Saturday, and Dallas on Monday. "The guy has to have a great passion for life and adventure," she says. "My life isn't exactly the most normal."

But does she know any good gnome jokes?

"No, he's my friend," she says. "I can't risk alienating him by telling some cheap gnome joke for D Magazine."