Editorial Board   Guest Author

Mr. Samuels

Gerry Samuels

Founder & Executive Director, Mobile Travel Technologies, Ltd.

Gerry Samuels has a number of involvements in software businesses in UK, Ireland and Australia. In 2000 Mr. Samuels was judged as amongst Ireland's Top 20 Entrepreneurs by Business Plus magazine, Ireland's largest circulation business magazine. Mr. Samuels is business advisor to an Irish government program for technology entrepreneurs. Mr. Samuels is an innovative and creative leader in the mobile and travel industry. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a regular contributor to trade publications. Mr. Samuels has been at the leading edge of mobile travel - recognizing in early 2003 that mobile phones had the capability to transform the traveller experience. A travel industry veteran, Mr. Samuels has more than 20 years experience in the travel industry, at Thomson Travel (TUI) and then at Worldspan, where he became Director - Northern Europe. In 1997 he co-founded Gradient Solutions, a Dublin-based internet booking engine specialist. With a record of rapid and profitable growth, and a client list including many of Europe's and North America's largest airlines and intermediaries, Gradient was acquired by Sabre in August 2000. Following the acquisition, he served two years as Vice President, Business Development, Sabre. Mr. Samuels started actively looking at the opportunities in mobile travel in 2003 and started development on a mobile travel platform in 2004. Mobile Travel Technologies (MTT), a Dublin based mobile software development specialist for the travel sector, was founded in 2005 by Mr. Samuels, and he is the full-time Executive Director. He leads the commercial development of the organization. MTT boasts a team of more than 45 mobile travel specialists. The MTT mobile travel platform, M2B, powers some of the busiest travel m-commerce sites in the world, and millions of euro pass through the platform each week. M2B delivers the efficiency and speed-to-market of a “Develop Once, Deploy Everywhere” mobile approach. With M2B a single implementation delivers both mobile web and apps, but where other platforms produce lowest common denominator apps, M2B Next Gen deploys 100% real, fully native apps for each mobile operating system. MTT applies a layer of custom handcode to each app to take advantage of the native user interface capabilities of each mobile operating system. Mr. Samuels has a number of involvements in software businesses in UK, Ireland and Australia. In 2000 Gerry was judged as amongst Ireland's Top 20 Entrepreneurs by Business Plus magazine, Ireland's largest circulation business magazine. He is business advisor to an Irish government program for technology entrepreneurs. MTT has quickly built up an impressive client roster of leading airlines and hotel chains including AirAsia, easyJet, S7, Virgin Australia, Jetstar, Melia Hotels International, Jumeirah Group and Atlantis the Palm Resort. Education: BA (Hons) Economics, University of Leicester.

Mr. Samuels can be contacted at 353-148-5342 or gerry@mttnow.com

Coming up in October 2020...

Revenue Management: Maximizing Profit

Hotel Revenue Management continues to evolve at a blistering pace. Driven by technological innovation and new distribution channels, there are some dynamic opportunities for expansion in this fast-growing field. The technology is primarily designed to help revenue managers further refine their operations and pricing models to maximize hotel profit. For example, hotels can't be all things to all people, so a key strategy is to precisely identify their target audience. By employing geo-targeting techniques and analyzing behavior such as previous bookings, on-property purchases and online shopping practices, there is an increased capability to define guest demographics. By segmenting customers in more specific ways, hotels are able to create more personalized experiences which, in turn, allow managers to optimize their room rates. It is also an effective way to fulfill the unique needs and preferences of the individual. Another methodology is to consistently monitor the competition's pricing strategies. There are software tools that analyze a competitor's current rates, and then allow a hotel to make its own pricing adjustments. It is also a useful means to conduct forecasting models. Other technologies that are being integrated into a revenue manager's toolkit include Artificial Intelligence in the form of automated algorithms, and Voice Recognition (VR) for data inquiries, rate changes, and booking behavior. Predictive and analytic software programs are also being leveraged to provide more forward-looking data, instead of the usual reliance on historical performance. These metrics allow managers to be more proactive - rather than reactive - with their revenue strategy. The October issue of the Hotel Business Review will examine these developments and report on how some leading hotels are executing their revenue management strategies.


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