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 353-1-485-342 or gerry@mttnow.com

Coming up in July 2018...

Hotel Spa: Oasis Unplugged

The driving force in current hotel spa trends is the effort to manage unprecedented levels of stress experienced by their clients. Feeling increasingly overwhelmed by demanding careers and technology overload, people are craving places where they can go to momentarily escape the rigors of their daily lives. As a result, spas are positioning themselves as oases of unplugged human connection, where mindfulness and contemplation activities are becoming increasingly important. One leading hotel spa offers their clients the option to experience their treatments in total silence - no music, no talking, and no advice from the therapist - just pure unadulterated silence. Another leading hotel spa is working with a reputable medical clinic to develop a “digital detox” initiative, in which clients will be encouraged to unplug from their devices and engage in mindfulness activities to alleviate the stresses of excessive technology use. Similarly, other spas are counseling clients to resist allowing technology to monopolize their lives, and to engage in meditation and gratitude exercises in its place. The goal is to provide clients with a warm, inviting and tranquil sanctuary from the outside world, in addition to also providing genuine solutions for better sleep, proper nutrition, stress management and natural self-care. To accomplish this, some spas are incorporating a variety of new approaches - cryotherapy, Himalayan salt therapy and ayurveda treatments are becoming increasingly popular. Other spas are growing their own herbs and performing their treatments in lush outdoor gardens. Some spa therapists are being trained to assess a client's individual movement patterns to determine the most beneficial treatment specifically for them. The July issue of the Hotel Business Review will report on these trends and developments and examine how some hotel spas are integrating them into their operations.
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