Hilton CEO Expects to Push Direct Booking Forever

Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of video interviews from the Skift Take Studio, presented by KDS, that were filmed at last year's Skift Global Forum.

During the 2017 Skift Global Forum in September in New York City, we heard from a host of the travel industry’s top leaders from across every sector.

And after first speaking to them on stage in front of an audience of more than 1,100, we took another few minutes with them to get more insight in our backstage Skift Take Studio.

In our behind-the-scenes conversation, Christopher Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, shared his thoughts about personalizing the hotel experience, the potential implications of tax cuts on of business travel, and efforts to encourage customers to make direct bookings with the company.

"As they connect with us directly, we know more about them so that we can customize and personalize the experience," he said. "So whether it's in the form of 'Stop Clicking Around' or a thousand other permutations, I think you're going to see a book direct effort from us forever."

Giving "mass personalization" as an example, Nassetta said one of the main trends he sees now is using technology to create better experiences for customers.

"Imagine a room where anywhere you travel with us in the world we are personalizing, no matter whether you're in Bangkok or New York City or Reading, Pennsylvania," he said. "We know you and what your preferences are because you've told us that, and our rooms are adapting to you — they essentially are connected to you."

Watch all the Skift Take Studio videos here.