LODGING LEADERS
019 | Technology Innovation, Big Data Analytics and Cyber Security with Fortune 500 CIO Les Ottolenghi
LODGING LEADERS
Les brings 30+ years of experience as a Fortune 200 IT executive, an entrepreneur, and a creator of several of the travel and entertainment industries’ most game-changing technologies. He’s been lauded by top executives at many of the world’s most respected technology companies including HP, Microsoft, Google, Dell, and Cisco as the best CIO they have ever seen and he’s earned the distinction of a top 50 CIO by CIO Magazine.
After earning his MBA in Internet, Information Technology Strategy from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, Les joined Holiday Inn Worldwide as their Director of Emerging Technologies where he planned, developed and implemented the hotel industry’s first web-based, Internet travel reservation system for the company in 1994. Les then joined Carlson Wagonlit Travel in 1996 as their Chief Technology Officer where he built the industry’s first Internet-based system for the travel industry. In 1999, Les Co-Founded AgentWare where he designed and developed the first and most comprehensive Meta-Search Engine for the travel industry, and he then licensed it to Kayak.
Over the next 10 years, Les founded and grew two more tech companies – INTENT MediaWorks, a file-sharing content Management & Distribution platform in the entertainment industry, and PLAT4M, where he built highly scalable SaaS applications for the Web 2.0, Media and Travel Industries.
Most recently, in 2013, Les returned to the corporate world as Global CIO & Chief Innovation Officer for the Las Vegas Sands.
Resources & Links
Les Ottolenghi
LODGING LEADERS
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262 | Strongest Link: Hotel procurement specialists keep supply chain connected
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the global supply chain. With most whole goods and components coming from China, the U.S. hospitality industry began to scramble in January to keep the supplies coming. Manufacturing has resumed in China as the crisis has reportedly eased there, but the outbreak has yet to reach its peak in the read more
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261 | Let’s Make a Deal: Coronavirus crisis alters hotel transaction landscape
The U.S. hotel industry has practically grinded to a halt in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. As Lodging Leaders shared in our previous report, Episode 260, hotel business performance has declined to unprecedented levels. Another area of the industry that the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting is hotel transactions. Properties remain on the market, but read more