Travel site Priceline claims top spot for bookings

The Priceline Group recently surpassed Expedia to become the world’s highest-grossing online hotel reservations company and the largest player in online travel.

CEO Darren Huston spoke to CBC’s The Lang & O’Leary Exchange about the success of Booking.com, which has staff in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal who work with local hotels, motels and B&Bs.

“Those local teams work with the properties very much hand in hand because they want to make sure they get the lowest price for the guest, but they also need to get the availability,” he said.

“Properties in low times, they’ll take all the guests they can, but in high times we want to make sure that our guests can get rooms as well.”

Darren Huston says Priceline was built on a better consumer experience online and leveraging the power of the internet.

Read Full Article @ https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/travel-site-priceline-claims-top-spot-for-bookings-1.2504101

Darren Huston Wants To Stay Humble With More Heart

Darren Huston runs the world’s biggest travel company which shows no signs of stopping and which has been gobbling up almost everything in its path.

According to its latest financial results, announced Nov 4, third quarter gross travel bookings reached $13.8 billion, an increase of 28% over a year ago. Gross profit was $2.6 billion, 32% up on the prior year. And evidence that its international expansion is working – its international operations contributed gross profit of $2.3 billion, a 33% increase versus a year ago.

But during his session at Phocuswright in Los Angeles last month, one almost did. One, he spoke about the problems of size. Two, when asked about how he was managing Steve Hafner and the Kayak acquisition made two years ago, he said, “You don’t manage Steve.” And three, a fire alarm went off in the middle of his interview which left him, and everyone else, wondering what to do. Should we run or should we stay?

But you don’t get to where Darren Huston is by not staying cool and calm under fire, even if it was only a drill. The former Starbucks and Microsoft executive was all heart when he spoke about the challenges of size.

Read Full Article @ https://www.webintravel.com/alarm-bells-huston-wants-stay-humble-heart/

Engineer.ai Has Bootstrapped To $24 Million in Revenue

Engineer.ai, a human-assisted artificial intelligence platform, said it has secured $29.5 million (about Rs 210 crore) funding led by Lakestar and Jungle Ventures with participation from Softbank’s DeepCore.

The funds will be utilized for strengthening engineering operations and customer acquisition, Sachin Dev Duggal, Founder and Chief Wizard of Engineer.ai, said.

Engineer ai was created so that everyone can build an idea without learning to code, he added.

“The capital comes at a time of rapid growth and will propel the platform into the mainstream, allowing ‘Builder’ to open the door for entire categories of companies that could not consider it before,” he said.

Launched in June 2018, Engineer.ai has already attracted hundreds of customers across many geographies.

Its ‘Builder’ solution allows people — even those without technical skills — to get customised apps built for Android, iOS and other platforms.

Asia Pacific region mainly India, MENA, South East Asia including China are key focus areas for Engineer.ai to expand their presence into, building a stronger base for all ‘Builder’ offerings, the company said.

Read Full Article @ https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/engineer-ai-raises-29-5-mn-from-softbanks-deepcore-and-others-3197781.html

Priceline Group Made Changes To Attract More Business Travellers

The Priceline Group, says in its full year earnings report today it is “feeling positive” about the changes it has made in recent months to attract more business travellers.

Darren Huston President and CEO of Priceline , says there is no negative impact on the company’s financial performance as a result of allowing bookings to take place on TripAdvisor, rather than on the mothership.

 

Bookings via TripAdvisor as a percentage of the overall pie are in the “low single-digits”, Huston says.

CEO Darren Huston : See tremendous growth ahead

Nevertheless, Darren Huston adds that the branding that Priceline Group-run companies get on TripAdvisor is “great”, and that in the US this may have helped raise the profile of Booking.com, where traditionally Priceline has been the better known brand.

Darren Huston Serving As Executive Chairman

Slickspaces brings automation & technology to both guests and hosts at vacation rental properties through things like smart locks and voice-led tools.

CEO Darren Huston serving as executive chairman, a new funding round and integration with online travel agencies and the likes of Airbnb, Slickspaces can look at the market at a global scale.

Paul Viollis on TV Tango

Network: ReelzChannel
Category: Series
Genre: Talk
Type: Live Action
Concept:
Created by Terry Murphy
Subject Matter: Crime

Paul Viollis talk on true crime story. Paul reveals telltale signs a partner isn’t being truthful; “Stolen at Birth,” as one woman is reunited with her daughter more than 50 years after she was stolen at birth then illegally adopted, with Paul speaking to other women who’ve suffered a similar fate; and many more real-life stories of people who overcame crimes committed against them.

Darren Huston, The Leader In Travel Service Market

President and CEO Darren 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.