President and CEODarren Huston, one of the world’s leading group of online travel brands, The Priceline Group.
After
making ripples in the travel services sector with the acquisition of
Buuteeq, a digital marketing platform for hotels worldwide, Huston went a
step further sealing the deal to also add OpenTable to the group’s list
of subsidiaries in a deal worth $2.6 billion last month.
Darren
Huston has been a leader in the travel services market since joining
The Priceline Group in 2011. Previously he spent 7+ years at Microsoft
in various positions, namely President and CEO of the companies
operations in Japan.
He
has also been Senior Vice President at Starbucks where he headed up
their product development in the late 1990s. A lot of experience to
share when he comes to Dublin in November.
Priceline
Group CEO says his company didn’t get involved when HomeAway put itself
up for sale because “we’re quite picky” and HomeAway’s model of
allowing vacation rental owners to wait 24 hours before confirming a
booking and charging travelers a booking fee “just didn’t fit us.”
Expedia
Inc. announced that it would acquire HomeAway for $3.9 billion in cash
and stock. Asked whether the Priceline Group got involved in that sales
process, Darren Hustonsaid:
“No. Although we’ve talked to them for years. We were very much aware
of it. We knew kind of how it was going. We did a little bit of thinking
and said this isn’t the right thing for us. We’re quite picky.”
Balancing event productivity/profitability with ongoing criminal intelligence and venue-related risk is perhaps more challenging than ever before for the event planner. Given the increased risk of terrorism both on American soil and abroad amidst a plethora of other domestic and foreign concerns, this cadre of professionals is clearly in a precarious position as they attempt to solidify the 2016 calendar.
Given the apparent risks and the need for peace of mind, the following illustrates current “Best Practices” for enhancing personal safety during travel.
Pre-Travel Planning
Limit travel itinerary to a “need to know” basis and delegate someone as a 24/7 contact and arrange daily communication protocol.
Every traveler should have a system of accountability for tracking family members while traveling. This information must be limited to involved parties only and never discussed outside that inner circle.
Provide prearranged car service submitting segments of travel only.
Ensure no signs are presented to identify the individual traveling by name at the airport.
Travel Precautions
Always maintain a low profile.
Avoid routine patterns and vary travel routes.
Be conscious of being followed.
Never leave a laptop or any type of mobile electronic device unattended and only travel with needed data by utilizing removable media/data storage.
Affix an identification label to the outside of laptop to avoid confusion of ownership while processing through secure checkpoints.
Morning arrivals and departures are recommended.
Take caution when conversing with strangers despite their personal appearance.
Avoid traveling with items that are not absolutely necessary.
Limit items to be carried.
Dine in recognized eateries not off the beaten path.
Avoid street vendor food.
Paul Viollis, Sr. has dedicated his career to the protection of our country, as well as the shareholder value of the businesses he has navigated to the pinnacle of their respective vertical markets.
According to Airbnb, which just released a list of the top 20 destinations to visit in 2020, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is the world’s most up-and-coming destination.
Airbnb
looked at bookings made for 2020 as of September 2019, versus those in
the same time frame in 2019 to determine which of the world’s
destinations has been seeing the highest increase in interest.
Turns
out, Milwaukee saw a 729% increase in bookings for 2020, in part due to
the fact that it will be hosting the Democratic National Convention
next year.
CEO Darren Huston
says we’ve now been on a path and are sticking to the principle of
properties being instantly bookable and verifiable, and no consumer
fees. “Now we’re so far along the path that buying something that
doesn’t fit that model just didn’t fit us.
Extending its reach into restaurant reservations, online travel giant Priceline Group bought OpenTable for $2.6 billion.
Priceline paid $103 per share in cash, which is a 46% premium over OpenTable’s closing price of $70.43.
OpenTable
charges restaurants monthly fees to seat diners who book their
reservations online. It has an inventory of more than 31,000
restaurants, and seats more than 15 million diners a month.
“Travelers are diners,” Priceline CEO and PresidentDarren Hustonsaid in a conference call with analysts and reporters. “It’s the same customers. There’s opportunity to cross-promote brands.
“We spent a long time looking at OpenTable. It’s been on our radar for a long time. We felt now was a good time,” he said.
Priceline Group president & CEO,Darren Huston
discusses the company’s quarterly earnings and partnership with Ctrip.
Huston says Ctrip will help them bring Chinese customers to their
business around the world.
Priceline
CEO Darren Huston steps up the company by expanding the market, in his
new step Darren Huston takes it to china. Darren Huston live from
Amsterdam.
This article will provide a collection of20 most valuable insider tips, which can provide an outstanding platform for you to maximize your hotel’s revenue.
Truly Understand Your Market Knowing
your market thoroughly is necessary to manage any business
successfully. First, identify your hotel’s strengths and weaknesses, as
well as new opportunities for, and threats to, your hotel. Based on
this, you can then decide your hotel’s USP(s). Armed with these
insights, you can establish what your current guest profile is, and
crucially, the profile of your future guests.
Develop Monthly and Daily Pick-Up Reports In
revenue management you always aim to adjust the price of your hotel
room to the demand existing in the market, in order to post the optimal
price per hotel room. For this it is essential to keep track of your
hotel’s booking pace.
Monitor Your Hotel’s Unconstrained Demand Being
aware of the total demand in your market will help you to calculate
rates for future dates. Knowing the unconstrained demand is key. You
can, therefore, keep an up-to-date log of all denials for both
individuals as well as group bookings.
Utilize Demand Forecasting Demand
forecasting is vital to maximizing hotel revenues. It enables you to
plan ahead and reflect on your pricing decisions later on, allowing you
to learn from past mistakes and optimize for the future.
Dive Deeper into Seasonality Opportunities Every
hotel varies in demand during certain periods and days. High demand
seasons, national holidays, local festivities and events that re-occur
each year are essential to keep in mind.
Control your Guests’ Stays Patterns When
looking at specific dates with high demand your hotel might want to
control the length of guest’s stays. By adding restrictions such as
minimum or maximum length of stay, you can ensure that your hotel avoids
booking out for only one specific date, but also for the days before or
after. This allows you to capture demand and increase profitability
during times where your hotel is normally not fully booked. Controlling
and restricting your guests’ stay allows you to optimize revenue during
chosen periods.
Darren Huston discusses
the quarterly earnings and partnership of company with Ctrip. Darren
said that Ctrip will help them bring Chinese customers to their business
around the world.
Those who wants to know about the
shape of thetravel industry
of the future, should look to the finalists of the Radical Innovation
competition, which is gearing up to announce its winner next month on 16
October 2019.
The
yearly competition challenges designers, hoteliers, and students to
pioneer compelling ideas in travel.
The
idea behind the award is to challenge the hotel industry to elevate the
guest experience by calling for new ideas in design and operations.
Since its founding, it has handed over $150,000 to progressive
architectural and hospitality-minded thinkers.
This
year, the 13th of the competition, the three finalists were selected
from over 50 entries, submitted from 20 different countries.
Fighting it
out are Infinite Explorer by SB Architects, San Francisco, Volumetric
High-Rise Modular Hotel by Danny Forster & Architecture, New York,
Connectic by Cooper Carry, New York.
Ten years from now, travel won’t involve any paper, says Darren Huston,
president and CEO of the Priceline Group and booking.com. “You’ll have
no passport, no credit cards, no confirmation,” predicts the
Amsterdam-based Canadian. “You’ll just have your phone in your pocket,
and if you lose it, everything will be in the cloud.”
Until
someone invents teleportation, though, we’ll still have to fly —
something Huston doesn’t actually like to do. (He makes the most of his
air time by sleeping and working.) But for now, it’s the only way he can
access all the local experiences he craves. “I like bizarre flavours
and tastes. I’ve eaten ants in Nairobi, frogs in Vietnam and lots of
strange things in China — I really enjoy that about travel.”
Black book: Europe
Comfort
food: “In Amsterdam, if I feel homesick, I go to Restaurant Red. They
only serve three things: steak, Canadian lobster and wine.”
Local
fave: “Outside of Amsterdam is a little city called Delft, which is
where Vermeer did his paintings. Everything still looks like it did in
the 1600s.”
Greek
treat: “One place I just discovered and should have already known about
is the Greek islands. Mario Restaurant in Naousa is super authentic and
has a wonderful evening vibe. It’s Greek food and the Greek islands at
their best.”
Weekend
getaway: “I like spontaneous travel. I used to be a very ‘Let’s plan
two months ahead’ kind of person, but now I like making plans the week
before. There are so many choices within two hours of Amsterdam. One
weekend, I said to my family: ‘Why don’t we just go to Milan? I think
the Expo’s on.’ We booked on a Thursday and ended up in Milan for two
days. You have to be careful with flights, but in the world of hotels,
prices sometimes go down at the last minute and you can get great deals
if you’re not in high season.”
Priceline
Group CEO says his company didn’t get involved when HomeAway put itself
up for sale because “we’re quite picky” and HomeAway’s model of
allowing vacation rental owners to wait 24 hours before confirming a
booking and charging travelers a booking fee “just didn’t fit us.”
Expedia
Inc. announced that it would acquire HomeAway for $3.9 billion in cash
and stock. Asked whether the Priceline Group got involved in that sales
process, Darren Hustonsaid:
“No. Although we’ve talked to them for years. We were very much aware
of it. We knew kind of how it was going. We did a little bit of thinking
and said this isn’t the right thing for us. We’re quite picky.”
