{"id":5143,"date":"2019-05-03T16:43:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T20:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reservations.com\/blog\/?p=5143"},"modified":"2019-05-10T21:39:45","modified_gmt":"2019-05-11T01:39:45","slug":"the-next-generation-online-travel-marketplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reservations.com\/blog\/media-coverage\/the-next-generation-online-travel-marketplace\/","title":{"rendered":"The Next Generation Online Travel Marketplace"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Meet Orlando Based Reservations.com \u2013The Next Generation Online Travel Marketplace<\/p>

We recently spoke with Yatin Patel, CEO and Co-Founder of Reservations.com<\/a>:<\/p>

What is your personal and professional background?<\/b><\/p>

Most of my career has been spent in the hospitality and travel industry. I’ve been specifically focused on understanding and facilitating the modernization and digitization of online travel. My professional career has allowed me the opportunity to co-found, operate, and invest in several successful hospitality businesses.<\/p>

Reservations.com<\/a>\u00a0was born from my experience in the travel space and the realization that there was a significant opportunity for a new travel platform that was purpose-built to provide customers with a higher-touch, service-oriented hotel accommodation solution.<\/p>

On a personal level, I’ve been active in the Orlando community that I’m proud to call home. This includes work with the Dr. Phillip Performing Arts Center, the University Club of Orlando, the Orlando Film Festival, and the onePULSE Foundation.<\/p>

What is the story behind\u00a0Reservations.com?<\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

I co-founded\u00a0Reservations.com<\/a>\u00a0in 2014 with my partner Mahesh Chaddah. Based on our prior experience, we identified a distinct opportunity to bring the human touch back to online travel. We had the chance to purchase the\u00a0Reservations.com<\/a>\u00a0domain as the foundation for a strong consumer brand from which we could build on this vision.<\/p>

We started the business in Orlando and currently employ roughly 30 local professionals. We are entirely independent and founder-owned, which allows us the opportunity to invest in the long-term success of the business and our employees. We have grown consistently since inception and currently offer access to over 500,000 hotel properties across 5,000 destinations around the world. We have served nearly 2.5 million travelers and facilitated more than 4 million room nights along the way.<\/p>

We pride ourselves on delivering a higher level of service than other online travel options within the market. To this end, we have invested heavily in a 24\/7 call center that is available to all of our customers. Our travel agents are trained to assist with complicated reservations and answer questions about upcoming travel plans.<\/p>

It has been incredible to see what we have been able to accomplish over the last 5-years. This has only been possible with the fierce dedication of our team. The Orlando community has provided us with a terrific pool of talent. Many of our employees have been with us for multiple years and we are happy to call them our friends as well as our colleagues. We are incredibly excited about what the future holds for\u00a0Reservations.com<\/a>!<\/p>

There are multiple competitors in the online travel space. Why do customers choose you?<\/b><\/p>

The travel industry has evolved significantly over the last 20 years. Travel used to be a human-driven purchase. Travelers would meet face-to-face with a travel agent who would carefully plan their entire journey. The upswell of the internet resulted in a shift towards an extremely low-touch, self-service model. This caused a relative commoditization of travel planning where the competition was mostly focused on cost.<\/p>