
As a judge at the Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit last week, I had the honor of having 30 companies present their businesses to me and my fellow judges in eight-minute slots during one day.
Valyn Perini is an experienced travel professional with more than fifteen years in operations, sales and marketing, systems, consulting, and software development in the hospitality and travel industry.
As chief executive of the OpenTravel Alliance, she oversees the operations of the organization, including developing and executing strategies to reach the goal of standardized electronic distribution of travel and traveler information.
Her travel career includes stints with InterContinental, Westin and SwissĂ´tel, with PricewaterhouseCoopers as a travel technology consultant, and as the director of product strategy for Newmarket International.
Originally from Atlanta, Valyn now lives in Boston.

As a judge at the Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit last week, I had the honor of having 30 companies present their businesses to me and my fellow judges in eight-minute slots during one day.

Big Data. I know, you’re totally sick of this topic. The chatter about Big Data is just numbing – even the Harvard Business Review joined the chorus a few months ago.

As a neutral and independent standards body, we at OpenTravel get questions, and lots of them, about the travel industry.

Larry Smith of Thematix has previously written several excellent posts in Tnooz about semantic technologies in the travel industry.

Open APIs (those that are freely or cheaply and easily available) are great – the travel industry has a long and checkered past with proprietary access to information that has, as most here will argue, stifled innovation.

Technology enables service. That’s the idea, anyway. In the hotel industry, thousands of companies provide hundreds of applications to help hotels to manage operations and provide better guest service.

The Travel Technology Initiative recently announced the launch of TTIcodes, an initiative to create “the definitive listing of properties” core information.

Lots of ideas were floated at the annual Datalex User’s Conference in Dublin last week, as a roomful of consultants, airlines, distributors, and technology providers talked about airline merchandising perhaps coming-of-age.
Travelers who love hostels usually say their favorite thing is the social life – meeting new friends, hanging out in the bar or lobby or garden, the potential for new experiences.
An industry with multiple standards bodies using the same type of technology addressing the same business functions could be seen as an indication of an industry in some disarray.

Banish how it used to be carried out – travel inspiration and searching for products has changed immeasurably as consumers find new ways of finding the perfect trip.

Do you understand the true costs of travel payments, how to reduce your exposure to credit card fraud and surcharges or how virtual cards work?

Discussing recent hot topics such as the TripAdvisor-Jetsetter acquisition, hotel wifi, Wordpress and hotels, mobile design and user experience.

Ancillary services are here to stay, so how do travel companies and airlines develop their technology and relationships so that merchandising can work for everyone?
All Rights Reserved © 2013Tnooz - About | Advertise | Privacy | Copyright | Disclaimer | Contact Us | Site Map
