Jeff Down Sojern, the world's leading performance marketing engine for travel brands, today announced the appointment of Jeff Down as senior director of sales for the hotels vertical in Europe. Down brings over 20 years of international experience in the travel and hospitality sector, primarily in technology and business development roles. Down will lead Sojerns regional initiatives to help hotels step up their data strategy and optimise their ad spend. Sojerns data allows hotel brands to target those travellers who are most likely to convert directly, maximising revenue and ensuring that each hotel room is selling at an optimal price to a direct customer. Jeff brings great expertise and knowledge of the hotel and travel industry. We look forward to him scaling the growth we have experienced in the hotel vertical, comments Stephen Taylor, vice president and general manager, International. Technology and talent need to go hand in hand to make data driven marketing successful. It is crucial to combine our leading data-driven performance marketing engine with highly experienced travel experts who can take a detailed approach to each brands strategy and fully understand our clients objectives and challenges. Only by doing this can we bring travel brands closer to their direct customers to maximise their revenue and improve customer loyalty. Prior to Sojern, Down served as Nor1s vice president of business development, EMEA, working with many global hotel brands. He previously held roles at TIG Global as regional sales director and Open World as commercial director where he developed and grew the EMEA markets. In these roles, Down worked closely with leading global brands in the hotel and hospitality sectors to effectively connect them with their target audience and drive direct revenue through online marketing techniques. After working in the hotel sector for many years I have a great understanding of the challenges that hotel brands face and I feel strongly that Sojerns high quality, granular data can transform the way hotel brands target and communicate with their direct customers, adds Down. Great data alone is not enough for hotels. The key is to interpret data to identify and precisely target travellers who are most likely to convert. The only thing that can set you apart from competitors is engaging with these customers in a personalised and time-sensitive way. As one of the first companies to have successfully cracked big data for online travel marketing, Sojern has been helping more than 650 of the world's top travel brands to convert and retain travellers, including brands such as Starwood, Marriott, Choice Hotels, Best Western, British Airways and Emirates.