Robert Cole Email & Phone Number

Dallas, Tx, Us

Building the foundation for faster, cheaper, better travel distribution & technical integration on a level playing field for operators, distribution partners & tech vendors.

Irving, Tx, Us

Responsibilities: Consulting practice specializes in developing integrated marketing strategies, applying innovative technologies and efficient operational processes for the global travel industry. Applies modern customer engagement, seamless distribution, low cost settlement & advanced measurement processes to optimize revenue generation, operational efficiency and profit retention. Client portfolio is comprised of global hospitality brands, hotel management companies, technology providers, travel intermediaries, major publishers, startups, and the financial community, including venture capital, hedge fund and equity research. Consulting Engagement Experience: • Stealth Mode Start-up - Strategy & Business Model for Highly Disruptive Distribution Platform • Major US Ski Area Group - Guest Recognition/Loyalty Program Creation • Startup - Integrated Customer Communication & Engagement Platform • Hedge Fund - Metasearch Sector Landscape / Trends / Analysis • National Geographic Society - Unique Lodges of the World Strategy • Roomixer - Start-up for Distribution of Unfulfilled Hotel Demand • United States Government - Expert Resource for Confidential Project • Marriott International - Insourcing Dynamic Packaging Platform• Honeymoons.com - Website/Booking/CMS/Advertising Platform Design • GoScopia - Start-up for Global Ground Transportation Logistics • Exalead - Travel Industry Penetration Strategy for Semantic Search • Switch Commerce - ATM, Credit & Mobile Payments Processing Firm • Ness Technologies - Travel Industry Outsourcing Strategy • Sidestep.com, Santa Clara, California - Travel Packaging Strategy • The Old Course Hotel, St. Andrews, Scotland - Redevelopment Plan • Hotel Seiyo Ginza, Tokyo, Japan - International Marketing Plan • Rydges Hotel Group, Australia/New Zealand - Wholesale Market Plan • Sonesta Beach Hotel, Bermuda - Independent Marketing Valuation • St. George's Hospital Site, London, England - Redevelopment Plan

Washington, Dc, Us

Formerly Executive Advisor to Hospitality Technology Next Generation Board of Governors. Post-merger with AHLA, now member of The T100. Also co-chair for the Hospitality ID (Unique Hospitality Identifier) Workgroup.

New York, Ny, Us

Responsibilities: Serves as research analyst and consultant on topics related to hospitality, technology, distribution and traveler engagement for the leading travel industry research organization.Published papers include: • U.S. Online Travel Overview - Fifteenth Edition (January, 2016)• Social Media Attribution: A Different Kind of Sales Funnel (December, 2015)• Customization and Personalization in Travel Marketing (October, 2015)• Hotel Channel Management at a Crossroads (May, 2015) • U.S. Online Travel Overview Fourteenth Edition (December, 2014) • How the Deep Web, Big Data, Semantic Relationships and Personalized Content Change Travel Marketing (August, 2014) • Hotel Revenue Management: The Future of Now (November, 2013) • Hotel Revenue Management in 2013 - More Art Than Science? (November, 2013) • Spotlight on Hotel Distribution (September, 2012) • Semantic Technology in Travel: Powering Next Leap Forward (July 2012)

Troy, Mi, Us

Working on travel industry business strategy and analysis of product experience and satisfaction insights based on industry leading voice of consumer research using highest quality standards and advanced statistical methods.

Responsibilities: Provided leadership over 75 member team tasked with contracting, product operations and relationship management over global hotel, car rental & feature suppliers for major North American Tour Operator. Provided hotel content to business units operating leading travel vacation brands for United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Midwest Airlines, Continental Vacations (UK), Funjet Vacations, Fabugo and receptive operator Mark International. Introduced new methods to more effectively create business cases, define business requirements and efficiently perform user acceptance testing of technological enhancements with Trisept Solutions. Developed processes to ensure optimization of cooperative marketing funding and improve proof of performance & collections practices.Principal achievements: Dramatically increased global product portfolio from 4,500 to 23,500 participating hotel properties and from 350 to 3,500 car rental locations. Renegotiated existing chain hotel and car rental merchant distribution contracts and struck new agreements to lower cost of goods by securing access to product opaque, bundled and retail pricing discounts. Produced a nine-fold increase in year-over-year hotel booking volume sourced through electronic links. Redeveloped early booking bonus program to eliminate annual eight-figure cash flow liability. Developed strategic staffing plan to reallocate resources to specific geographic markets and enhance supplier relationships through launch of a global account management program. Defined requirements and drove development of both push and pull method direct interface links with major casino operators, third party technology providers and car rental companies. Tightly controlled staffing and operational costs, providing annual budget surpluses while maintaining target headcount and significantly increasing productivity per FTE.

Brooklyn, New York, Us

For Cendant Travel Distribution Services Division & Neat GroupResponsibilities: Member of initial management team responsible for creating and patenting the first real-time dynamic packaging technology for the travel industry. Responsible for strategic planning, business development, account management, product requirements planning and productivity analysis for hotel and car rental business sector. Coordinated B2B account development activities, including prospective partner identification, prioritization and solicitation. Principal business contact for direct hotel and car booking interface relationships with Pegasus Systems, Worldspan and Galileo. Defined requirements for geo-centric search functionality and product coverage. Principal achievements: Grew startup to $100+ million in gross package sales with 22% gross merchant margin, with Hotel & Car sales responsible for creating 75% of consumer value/net margin in package. Pioneered several innovative processes enabling real-time "trigger-based" queries to yield dynamically priced, tax-inclusive wholesale product quotes for hotels and cars, eliminating externally managed rate and availability databases. Solicited and secured supplier agreements with major lodging groups including Cendant, Harrah's, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Omni, Outrigger, Prince, Raffles, InterContinental, Starwood, Utell and Wyndham, as well as Avis, Budget, and Hertz for car rental. Signed distribution agreements with Harrah's, Leading Hotels, Marriott and Omni for dynamic packaging on their respective web sites. Originated single use credit card process to settle hotel merchant sales; now an industry standard process. Created innovative process to efficiently search and package fully inclusive voucher-less car rental rates. Initiated dynamic packaging optimization process to more efficiently intersect user requirements and supplier rules. Developed technology roadmap and integration strategy for Cendant global hotel merchant business.

Parsippany, Nj, Us

Responsibilities: Created, implemented and provided leadership for Budget Group's electronic distribution strategy for Budget Rent a Car and Ryder Truck Rental. Developed industry-first direct interfaces with priceline.com, Southwest Airlines and EuropCar. Oversaw Global Distribution Systems generating 60% of firm's annual reservation volume. Managed distribution technology relationships with key business partners such as Computer Sciences Corporation (IT Outsourcing), iXL (Web Development), and Wizcom (Reservation Services) as well as B2B travel partners. Administered capital development budget of $3.5 million and an $18 million annual operating budget. Served as Car Rental Industry Representative for Open Travel Alliance Interoperability Committee. Principal achievements: Successfully developed the organization's direct booking strategy to increase booking volume from new distribution channels while reducing reservation transaction costs. Oversaw development of a Java/XML enterprise Interface Application Server to facilitate low-cost, interactive reservation processing with third parties. Improved Budget Group's market share in Global Distribution Systems from 9.2% to 12.9%. Increased direct bookings on Budget.com web site from 1.5% to 6.2% of total reservation volume. Grew e-commerce booking volume to 60% of total reservation share.

Southlake, Texas, Us

Responsibilities: Oversaw strategic planning efforts, development of new technologies and expansion of hospitality related content. Principal focus was the development of hotel electronic distribution, hotel information technology and Sabre Group hospitality strategies. As Director, Hotel Distribution, held responsibility for bottom-line profitability of hotel line of business generating $55 Million in annual revenue. Managed team of eighteen direct reports, overseeing all aspects of the Sabre Hotel Program, including system design, project management, interface connectivity, product marketing, business development, joint ventures, account management, training & support, and budget administration. Principal achievements: Increased Sabre's leadership in electronic hotel reservations to $2.7 billion in annual booking volume (40% global market share), into 224 hotel chains representing over 44,000 properties. Generated 18% annual revenue growth rate. Created Hoteligence product line of competitive-set business intelligence and Sabre PromoSpots context-sensitive advertising suite. Developed business cases and implemented customized marketing information, interactive point of interest mapping, and low-cost automated booking products. Implemented strategic joint ventures with Japan's JAL/AXESS and Asia's ABACUS GDS to utilize Sabre's hotel platform. Introduced equitable pricing structure and premium account management programs. Developed benchmarking methodology to measure performance of travel agencies and hotel clients. Developed successful hotel sales promotional incentives for agency sales team. Identified significant hospitality business opportunity representing in excess of $600 million in stabilized annual revenues, yielding operating margins in excess of 20%. Worked closely with team from McKinsey & Company to develop business case, acquisition/integration strategies, and phased implementation timetable in alignment with corporate strategy initiatives.

For Travel Resources Management Group Division - Responsibilities: Led business development team responsible for identification of supplementary business opportunities to enhance the productivity and operational efficiency of 650+ member hotels worldwide. Oversaw the planning and initiation of brand and reservations web sites, directed GDS marketing and travel consortia initiatives, launched a centralized commission payment program, and evaluated a master credit card processing agreement. Additional responsibilities included management of the reservation services, member development, direct marketing solutions, management information systems, business strategy & planning, and contract administration areas. Principal achievements: Formulated original business plan and five-year pro forma financial statements for joint venture with Japanese investors in 1990. Subsequently created a global sales representation and reservation service supporting the Sterling Hotels & Resorts and World Hotels & Resorts brands. Stabilized business generated (over 500,000 room nights annually) for 171 luxury properties through 10 international sales offices, toll-free telephone service spanning 36 countries, and interfaces to all major GDS. Achieved a 31% average annualized year over year increase per hotel for arrived room nights originating through the reservation service. Assisted joint venture partners with divestiture of business in 1995 to Anasazi. Merged operations incorporating LRI & AXcess brands and private label reservation service customers. Designed management reporting systems to extract marketing information and monitor member productivity & profitability. Launched Direct Marketing Solutions product line featuring broadcast facsimile, direct response, telemarketing, and fulfillment for support member hotels. Refined the prospect identification and member development process. Integrated contract automation with member billing and account management databases.

Responsibilities: Development and implementation of all marketing programs designed to support the company's three product lines - Journey's End Motels, Journey's End Hotels, and Journey's End Suites. Oversaw advertising, public relations, national sales, hotel directory, reservations, marketing planning, guest satisfaction, collateral materials and administration functions. P&L responsibility for marketing budget - controlling all corporate and property marketing expenditures. Principal achievements: Successfully introduced 28 properties over a 12-month period, resulting in a total of 96 properties under management. Revamped company and product line brand identity programs to reinforce corporate affiliation. Tripled throughput of the company's central reservations office, increasing its relative share from 20% to 30% of total room nights consumed. Established Preferred Guest Card program, increasing frequent guest stays from 6% to 12% of booking volume. Designed a comprehensive $1,000,000 advertising strategy to maximize awareness through the efficient blending of corporate and property level funding. Automated a personalized response system for the 60,000 guest comment cards received annually and reduced processing costs by 50%. Revamped chain-wide telephone directory advertising to increase reach by 60% while reducing spend by 30%.

Toronto, Ontario, Ca

Responsibilities/achievements: Directed corporate planning activities for marketing division, including annual business plans, quarterly action plans and monthly marketing reviews for both home and field offices. Evaluated market environment, profitability requirements, design brief and operating criteria for development projects resulting in preparation of pre-opening budgets and operating pro-forma financial statements. Managed design, development, and implementation of marketing information systems throughout the company, including property rooms performance and national sales office lead tracking. Standardized company-wide accounting procedures for marketing expenditure allocations. Extensive marketing research, planning, promotion development, and analysis. Created national sales office contact management and property level flash reporting and wine inventory systems. Developed methodology and metrics for property marketing effectiveness audits. Designed national sales office network and travel trade advertising strategies.

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc), Hotel/Motel Administration/Management

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc), Hotel/Motel Administration/Management

Diploma