Travel Industry CEO Interviews

Due to a confluence of rising rents in neighboring San Francisco and Berkeley, the area of West Oakland is evolving into the "Brooklyn by the Bay"—but don't actually say that in Oakland.

Hotel site Getaroom.com tried to drive consumers from its Web site to a call centers for up-selling, but the much larger CheapOair is intent on doing both -- perfecting online booking and giving travelers that option, but also prodding them to phone agents in its company-owned call centers.

Steve Singh is one of the most-forward-looking CEOs in the travel industry, and Concur's $150 million Perfect Trip Fund is actively investing in that vision.

Will the immediacy of Orbitz Worldwide's loyalty program redemption be a difference-maker in helping to build its global hotel business? CEO Barney Harford is counting on it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."