OpenTravel European Conference

OpenTravel's sold-out inaugural 2008 European Conference was held in London on Tuesday, 5th February 2008.  It was a very productive day for travel industry distribution professionals from around Europe.

Session Presentations

OpenTravel's Role in Travel Technology

John Turato, OpenTravel Board of Directors Chair, VP Technology, Avis Budget Group
Valyn Perini, Executive Director, OpenTravel
John Lambe, OpenTravel Board of Directors Vice-Chair, CTO, OpenJaw Technologies

Getting Started with OpenTravel Schemas

John Lambe, CTO, OpenJaw Technologies
Olivier Lamy, OpenTravel Interfaces Technical Lead, Accor
Darrin Talbot, Platform Technical Architect (ba.com Selling), British Airways

Success Stories

Bobby Healy, CTO, CarTrawler
Malachi Faughnan, CIO, Datalex
Alan Young, Vice President of Sales, IBS Software Services

Events and Activities

OpenTravel has an active membership and busy calendar of committee, work group and project team meetings.  A full calendar can be accessed from our wiki.

OpenTravel representatives speak at travel industry events on a regular basis.  Recent presentations included:

  • John Turato, Vice President of Technology for Avis Budget Group talks to ZDNet Editor in Chief about his role as Chairman of the OpenTravel Alliance, and discusses transformation at Avis Budget Group.  Click here to watch!

  • Board member Clay Dickinson of EDS and Valyn Perini, Executive Director, participated in a panel titled Next Gen eBusiness Opportunities and Issues with OpenTravel members Starwood Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotel Group and AltiusPar in New York on November 11, 2007.  Click here for the presentation.

  • John Turato, VP of Technology for Avis Budget Group and chair of the OpenTravel board of directors, participated in a panel at the EyeForTravel Travel Distribution Summit in Chicago on October 10, 2007.  Click here for the presentation.

  • Valyn Perini, Executive Director, gave a speech titled Leveraging Open Standards for Collaborative Commerce at International Union of Railways' (UIC) annual eBusiness Conference in Paris on October 11, 2007.  Click here for the presentation.

  • Valyn Perini, Executive Director, participated in a panel titled How Online Distribution Channels are Driving Adventure Travel Growth with AdventureLink and OpenTravel member Adventure Central at the Adventure Travel World Summit in Whistler, BC on October 6, 2007.  Click here for the presentation.

  • Valyn Perini, Executive Director, hosted a panel at TravelCom/ResExpo in Las Vegas, NV on April 5, 2007 titled The Role of OpenTravel in the Customer-Driven Marketplace.  Participants included OpenTravel members Viator, Electric Vine and Leonardo.