Hotel Tech Insider

Balaji Krishnamurthy was previously Chief Strategy Officer at Sabre Hospitality Solutions. Prior to this role, he was responsible for new market development efforts in Africa and China across Sabre’s three business units. Prior to Sabre (GDS & Hotel Software, Krishnamurthy was at Orbitz Worldwide, a global online travel leader, where he led the global corporate strategy function for the diverse travel portfolio of B2C brands and B2B businesses. Before Orbitz, he was at LinkedIn in Silicon Valley, where he led North America sales strategy and operations for their Sales Solutions business. Krishnamurthy was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company for over five years, serving C-level executives on a diverse set of business-strategy, operations, and technology-related topics in financial services (asset management, retail banking, insurance), healthcare, high-tech, travel, and transportation sectors. Prior to management consulting, he spent over eight years with General Electric in different leadership and management roles across healthcare businesses focusing on global product management, development, and commercialization of several innovative healthcare technologies, imaging, and informatics products. Krishnamurthy is passionate about developing innovative new products, building new businesses, developing new markets, and fostering high-performing teams globally. He has spoken at many industry events on data science and analytics, including HITEC. Krishnamurthy graduated with an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, majoring in finance and strategy, and obtained his bachelor’s degree in electronics and communications engineering from Bangalore University.

In this episode we chat with Dave Berkus, a true one of the most prolific angel investors of all time.  Dave is the creator of FOSSE - the property management system that Marriott used for nearly 4 decades.  He is one of the most storied entrepreneurs in hotel technology and has invested in countless travel technology startups.   In the interview we cover topics such as: - How Dave landed the deal with Marriott to license his software - Why Marriott used FOSSE PMS for almost 4 decades - Why hotels in the future may not even need a property management system - The increasing importance of CRM, Business Intelligence and CRS - Why hotel general managers need to sharpen up on new skills or be replaced by robots

Ted Watson is VP of Hospitality for Aerohive Wireless and was formerly Global Director, Hospitality & Gaming Solutions at Ruckus Wireless where he led the success of Ruckus in Hospitality through his ability to build strong teams, relationships and provide solutions for and with customers and partners. He brings over 17 years of business and technical experience dedicated to the hospitality industry. Prior to joining Ruckus, Ted was the Director, Hospitality Solutions at Hewlett-Packard's Network division and focused his time building the North american Hospitality vertical. He came to this position from his prior 8 years running the very successful hospitality business for Colubris Networks, which was acquired by HP in the fall of 2008. Ted prides his success in building the very important vertical through brand relationships, integrator partnerships, and working within the industry to best understand and provide soltions for pain points. Prior to Colubris, Ted was the Director of Business Development for the WAN, Wireless, and Security group at Avaya where he built a very successful ecosystem that helped drive the market awareness of Avaya's wireless and security practices.

As the CEO of Cendyn, Tim Sullivan oversees global sales, business development, marketing, and client success. Previously President of Cendyn/ONE, where he brought an integrated hotel CRM and digital marketing platform to market, he is now responsible for Cendyn’s global expansion and strategy for the Cendyn Hospitality Cloud. During his eight years with the company, Tim played a key role in helping transform Cendyn into a cloud-based software and services company that is revolutionizing the hospitality industry. Throughout 2017, Tim helped bring in a vast number of integrations and partners, establishing the Cendyn Hospitality Cloud as the most integrated and connected in the industry.

Prior to joining The Sydell Group, Roy worked as a consultant for Edition Hotels/Ian Schrager, Thompson Hotels, and the One Group where his focus was on developing nightlife and entertainment concepts and initiatives. Roy’s work focused on the development of hotel positioning strategies to enhance brand equity objectives. Previously, Roy worked for Morgans Hotel Group as the Marketing Manager at the Shore Club Hotel’s SkyBar. At Sydell, Roy’s work is focused on the development of food and beverage concepts, branding and marketing strategies, and strategic partnerships that together create the unique brand culture of Freehand.

In this engaging podcast episode, we dive into the heart of hotel technology with Charlie, the dynamic founder of Triptease, a company that revolutionizes how hotels drive direct bookings and enhance guest experiences. Charlie shares his entrepreneurial journey, starting from his frustration with booking family holidays to identifying a massive opportunity within the online travel market. He underscores the importance of targeting big markets and the decade-long vision required for startup success. The discussion also illuminates the unique and playful essence of the Triptease brand, emphasizing its role in making a technical product fun and engaging. Charlie recounts the rollercoaster of the initial 18 months, marked by extreme highs and lows, and the transformative pivot when faced with legal challenges from booking.com, turning potential threats into opportunities. Furthermore, the conversation explores the strategic maneuvers of OTAs expanding into direct booking services, highlighting the implications for hoteliers and the broader market dynamics. Charlie discusses the critical importance of assembling a senior management team and the evolution of his leadership role, focusing on unique contributions as the company scales. Highlighting company culture, Charlie emphasizes transparency and the educational journey of growing a fast-moving business, aiming to inspire employees towards entrepreneurship. The dialogue also covers strategies for identifying early adopters among hoteliers and the pivotal role of inside sales in scaling the business. Charlie reflects on the invaluable lessons learned from ignoring conventional advice, underscoring the importance of following one's conviction in product development.