For over 10 years EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit has featured senior speakers from hotels, airline and online agencies.  This year, the organizers brought together leading executives from America’s biggest online travel agencies to speak on today’s fundamental issues in online travel: Innovative sales and marketing techniques, the role of traditional online intermediaries and crucially, how to ride out the current economic downturn.

Frank Petito from Orbitz, Glenn Fogel from Priceline.com, Noreen Henry from Travelocity and Michael Reichartz from Expedia will all be speaking on October 1-2 in Las Vegas.

Frank Petito, Orbitz’s SVP Corporate Development will open the conference with a keynote presentation entitled “The Role of Innovation in Online Travel”.  He’ll identify which sales and marketing techniques have kept travel as one of the largest and fastest moving online verticals over the past ten years.  Using examples from Orbitz, Kayak and TripAdvisor he’ll reveal what really keeps top companies like these in the lead and share his predictions for the future.
 
Noreen Henry, VP Hotels and Packaging for Travelocity and Michael Reichartz, VP Market Management for Expedia will speak on the opening panel session, along with William Koo from Castle Hotels and Tammy Peter from Wyndham Hotels.  They’ll be looking at the rise of next-generation intermediaries and explaining how suppliers and 3rd parties can profit from shifts in the distribution landscape. 

In their individual presentations, Expedia and Travelocity will give tips on driving traffic and developing meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers.  They’ll reveal which web 2.0 tools are delivering maximum return and explain the benefits of XML interfaces.  Following the presentations, a panel discussion will give delegates a chance to quiz the delegates on key issues in 3rd party distribution. 

Finally on day two, renowned speaker Glenn Fogel from Priceline, will be making a keynote presentation on the Future of the “Traditional” Online Intermediary.  He’ll ask if the traditional model of transaction-based revenue will become extinct and if so, what impact will this have on suppliers and consumers.  He’ll also discuss the benefits for traditional players in acquiring “next-generation” players to stay ahead. 

Through a series of keynote presentations, case-studies and panel debates these expert speakers will share their wealth of knowledge and experience.  By attending, delegates will get inside knowledge from the biggest players in the industry and find out which marketing and distribution methods are delivering the greatest ROI.
 
Joining Orbitz, Priceline, Travelocity and Expedia will joined by a host of other senior level speakers from Hotels and Airlines.  Other topics on the agenda include Social Media, Online Adverting and Consumer Behavior.