Audio Interview with Max Starkov
In this streaming audio interview, Max Starkov, Chief eBusiness Strategist at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. in New York City, comments on his report: "Your Hotel's 2002 Cyber-Resolution." How can a recovery continue? Max says hotels need to use the Internet to sell their inventory - and be proactive in doing so. It's easy, relatively inexpensive and companies such as Marriott and Hilton have flourished in the on-line booking business.
"We're talking about 54,000 hotel properties in the United States....and billions of dollars that the industry has lost," says Max Starkov, when reacting to Smith Travel Research's recent 2001 hotel occupancy and REVPAR numbers.
Why eDistribution? And why right now? First of all, eDistribution is by far the lowest cost channel of distribution. Used properly it increases occupancy rates, improves the bottom line, opens new markets and attracts more affluent customers in these difficult times. The booking engine on the hotel website is a good starting point for any eDistribution strategy. But hoteliers should remember that this is only a small part of what eDistribution is all about.
Max Starkov is Chief eBusiness Strategist at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. in New York City. He advises companies in the Travel and Hospitality verticals on their eBusiness and eDistribution strategies. Max has 17 years experience in pioneering and building successful travel and hospitality businesses and eBusiness strategies for national and multinational leisure and hospitality companies. Max has an extensive eBusiness experience having co-founded and served as CEO and Director of two eBusiness companies. Under his leadership one of these companies won the prestigious 2001 Worldwide Microsoft RAD Award for Web-based technology applications (CRS and booking systems) for hospitality. He also teaches graduate courses on "Hospitality/Tourism eDistribution Systems" and "e-Travel" at New York University's prestigious Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Travel Administration. You can reach Max at