Torres Consulting

TORRES HOSPITALITY PODCAST INTERVIEW: Francine Heywood , OTA Insight, UK

If you are familiar with the format of the podcast, you will know that we focus on the person behind the role.

Francine started her career in IT, working her ranks up the tech industry. Then stopped 1 year for an MBA, which helped her turn into consulting.

From there to film producing, working at GuestRevu, and joining OTA Insight the day the pandemic emergency was declared.

In this conversation, Francine -who describes herself as “optimistic beyond belief” talks about:

Enjoying her role, where she does a bit of everything, managing South and East Europe areas, with the support of an amazing sales and tech team

How she enjoys to help hotels get used to tech, which are trying to do more with less.

In the current scenario, the comp set has changed. Apartments and vacation rental might have become part of your comp set now.

Part of the role includes training hotels, making them see how they can maximize ROI. Hotels might historically not be good on tech because they focus on people, not tech. Airlines focus on tech, hence the difference on how they treat customers.

Tech drives revenue, there is no doubt of that Industry adapts and is resilient, and it will return bigger, better and more appreciated

And as always, a message for the young:

Hospitality is about scope, there are many areas in the industry! GO AND TRY!

There are schools doing a great job: Glion, Stenden, Bournemouth,… They all need to create that bridge between industry and educational institutions

As for finding an opportunity in a company such as OTA Insight, she highlights that all profiles fit. It´s about transferable skills, confidence, and helping them be the best they can be!!!

I hope you find it as insightful as I did.

Pablo Torres

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