Page 39

Travel Industry CEO Interviews

Conversations with travel’s top leaders at hotels, airlines, travel tech companies, tourism boards, and more.

Online Travel

CEO Interview: GetYourGuide Funding Was Protection Against Bigger Players

With GetYourGuide's latest funding, making it the most heavily funded startup in the annals of tours and activities, a potential acquisition price just got racheted up. With TripAdvisor's acquisition of Viator, the market indeed is a "land grab" now for global expansion.

CEO Interview: GetYourGuide Funding Was Protection Against Bigger Players

Tourism

Interview: Brand USA CEO on the Next Phase of Marketing America Abroad

Will Congress reauthorize the nation's first national destination marketing organization before session ends? Both big and small town America hope so based on Brand USA's economic development and job creation deliverables in 2013.

Interview: Brand USA CEO on the Next Phase of Marketing America Abroad

Business Travel

CEO Interview: Inside the New American Express Global Business Travel Joint Venture

American Express Global Business Travel now has a new opportunity and $900 million bankroll to reinvent itself. The challenge will be to make meaningful and relatively rapid changes in an organization that historically has been very conservative.

CEO Interview: Inside the New American Express Global Business Travel Joint Venture

Hotels

CEO Interview: HomeAway Has One Million Listings in Hospitality’s Hottest Category

Vacation rentals and alternative types of accommodations is such a hot space that it is fairly clear that HomeAway is likely to be joining forces with a major player sooner rather than later. With a $3.2 billion market cap, HomeAway is relatively affordable.

CEO Interview: HomeAway Has One Million Listings in Hospitality’s Hottest Category

Ground Transport

CEO Interview: Greyhound’s Boss on Reinventing a 100-Year-Old Brand

Greyhound had to go outside its brand to find out what today's travelers want and is now incorporating those learnings nation-wide in a customer experience overhaul.

CEO Interview: Greyhound’s Boss on Reinventing a 100-Year-Old Brand

Tourism

CEO Interview: Grenada Tourism Attempts Brand and Strategy Refresh

Grenada attracts a relatively older demographic, but the Grenada Tourism Authority is going new school in analyzing data to better attract younger, tech-savvy travelers to introduce them to "the spice of the Caribbean."

CEO Interview: Grenada Tourism Attempts Brand and Strategy Refresh

Airlines

CEO Interview: Finnair’s Contrarian Strategy to Serve China’s Second-Tier Cities

Finnair is trying to reinvent itself, in part by taking a hard look at 10 to 20 second-tier cities in China, as well as routes in other parts of Asia. What happens, though, when larger competitors get around to taking up some of the same opportunities?

CEO Interview: Finnair’s Contrarian Strategy to Serve China’s Second-Tier Cities

Online Travel

CEO Interview: Cheapflights and Momondo Attempt a Dual-Brand Strategy

The Momondo Group is in the early stages of pursuing a dual brand metasearch strategy with its Cheapflights and Momondo brands. Are they different enough from one another, and will they stand out sufficiently from their rivals to make a real go of it? Other players will be watching to see if any of this makes sense.

CEO Interview: Cheapflights and Momondo Attempt a Dual-Brand Strategy

Online Travel

Interview: Trippy’s CEO on Travel Startups and the Art of the Pivot

Trippy is banking on the premise that its new question and answer platform for travel will be a cut above the rest in terms of quality, and that it will distinguish itself in the way it maps attractions and concisely summarises their basics for travel planning. That begs the question: Will it be enough?

Interview: Trippy’s CEO on Travel Startups and the Art of the Pivot

Airlines

Interview: Hawaiian Airlines CEO on New Routes and New Ancillary Revenues

With its emphasis on long-haul flights to Asia, and connections to the mainland U.S., it would be in Hawaiian Airlines' best interest to make installation of Wi-Fi a higher priority. The airline may be under-estimating the desire for Wi-Fi among its core leisure travelers.

Interview: Hawaiian Airlines CEO on New Routes and New Ancillary Revenues