Vacation Rental, Destination Management Organizations, Tours and Activities on the Agenda
The OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel), the travel industry's leading distribution specification/standards development organization, is turning its attention to several emerging travel segments, including destination management organizations (DMOs), tours and activities, and vacation rental, and will discuss this topic at its upcoming OpenTravel Chicago Seminar on September 15, 2009.
"The vacation rental market segment has seen an amazing amount of consumer interest, online travel player interest and interest by both trade and mainstream press,' said Eric Mason, vice president of global product development, Group RCI/Wyndham Worldwide, the parent company of Endless Vacation Rentals. 'Consumer-facing vacation rental sites are burgeoning, and it's time to bring some structure to the online distribution of vacation rental inventory. OpenTravel has created standard messages that have been successfully implemented in other travel segments; it's time to bring that expertise to the vacation rental market.'
Eric will participate in a panel discussion at the Chicago Seminar entitled:
Distribution Trends in Emerging Travel Segments
Some of the most exciting distribution strategies are coming out of the emerging travel segments - tour operators, activities, vacation rentals, time share and destination management organizations. Join a panel of experts from some of these areas to discuss how standards can support the efforts of these segments.
Moderator:
Susan Black, Managing Partner, Susan Black Associates
Participants:
Stephen Joyce, CEO, RezGo
John Lambe, CTO, OpenJaw Technologies
Eric Mason, Vice President Global Product Development, Group RCI
Other topics on the agenda include:
Getting Started with OpenTravel
Interested in understanding how OpenTravel structures its schemas, and how to approach implementation? Learn what you need to know to be successful using OpenTravel schemas.
Success Stories
Two leading travel companies that use OpenTravel schemas to connect to their trading partners will discuss their implementations. These brief case studies will cover business and technical drivers, messages used, production environment details and outcomes.
Participants:
Greg Berman, COO and Managing Director, Hotel Booking Solutions, Inc.
Lew Harasymiw, Director of Interface Solutions, SynXis
Distribution Innovation in a Down Economy
In a down economy when money is tight and projects are curtailed, how can travel companies continue to innovate in their distribution strategy? The panel of airline, hotel and rental car distribution executives will share how their companies manage, and the role standards play in their strategy.
Moderator:
Susan Black, Managing Partner, Susan Black Associates
Participants:
Michelle Aaron, Director of Applications, American Airlines
Lisa Fues, Director of Reservations, Inventory and Distribution, Marriott International
James White, Director Global Automation Marketing, Hertz
For more information about the OpenTravel Chicago Seminar, click here.
About the OpenTravel Alliance
OpenTravel's mission is to engineer specifications that make data transmission flow smoothly throughout travel, tourism and hospitality. OpenTravel creates, expands and drives adoption of open universal data specifications, including but not limited to the use of XML, for the electronic exchange of business information among all sectors of the travel industry.
With a diversified membership representing influential names in all sectors of the travel industry, OpenTravel is comprised of representatives from airlines, car rental firms, hotels, cruise lines, leisure suppliers, service providers, tour operators, travel agencies, and trade associations. Thousands of OpenTravel message structures are in use, carrying tens of millions of messages between trading partners every day. For more information, visit www.opentravel.org.
Logos, product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
