How Did I Get Here? Interview with Darren Huston | Booking Holdings

Education

· Revelstoke Secondary School, Revelstoke, B.C., class of 1983

· Trent University, Peterborough, Ont., class of 1989

· Harvard Business School, class of 1994

Work Experience

· 1990–1992

Policy adviser on the environment, Department of Finance Canada

Darren Huston Says “I helped negotiate the climate change agreement that led to the Kyoto Protocol.”

· 1994–1998

Engagement manager, McKinsey

· 1998–2003

Senior vice president for branded products and new ventures, Starbucks

He Says “Everyone was jumping to the Internet, and I chose coffee.”

· 2003–2005

Corporate vice president, Microsoft U.S.

“At Starbucks, [CEO] Howard Schultz asked Darren, ‘Can we do Internet access without cords?’ because cords are dangerous around coffee shops. So he met people like Steve Ballmer, and he recruited huston.”

· 2005–2008

President and CEO, Microsoft Japan

“Darren Huston learned how valuable attention to detail is. The Japanese just do things better — they really think of everything.”

· 2008–2011

Corporate VP, Microsoft

· 2011–2014

CEO, Booking.com

· 2014

President and CEO, Priceline Group

He Said “We have six brands, including Priceline, Booking.com, and OpenTable. My challenge is to continue growing — we’re the third-largest e-commerce company in the world after Alibaba and Amazon.”

Five things to watch for in the Canadian business world

Aphria call

Aphria Inc. will hold a conference call to discuss its first-quarter financial results on Monday. Cannabis company Aleafia Health Inc. announced on Oct. 8 that it is moving to terminate its wholesale pot supply agreement with Aphria, citing a “failure to meet its supply obligations.”

September inflation numbers

Statistics Canada will release its Consumer Price Index for September on Wednesday. The agency reported last month that Canada’s annual inflation rate slowed slightly to 1.9 per cent in August under the weight of declining gasoline prices. Economists are expecting a reading of 2.1 per cent, according to markets data firm Refinitiv.

Kinder’s last hurrah

Kinder Morgan Canada hosts one of its last quarterly conference calls on Wednesday as its sale to Pembina Pipeline is expected to close late in the fourth quarter of 2019 or in the first quarter of 2020. Pembina’s CEO said in August that the Trans Mountain pipeline system would fit neatly into his company’s business model but he wouldn’t want the “noise” associated with its controversial expansion project.

Where’s the beef?

The A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund releases its third-quarter results and holds a conference call with analysts to discuss the results on Wednesday. A&W Food Services of Canada’s CEO said in July that the company could add more plant-based protein foods to its menus after the success it’s seen with the Beyond Meat burger.

Corus call

Corus Entertainment will hold its Q3 conference call on Friday. In June, CEO Doug Murphy attributed a 10 per cent bump in second quarter advertising revenues to the harnessing of audience data that allows advertisers to target specific TV programs, rather than those with the top overall audiences.

Read Here : https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/five-things-to-watch-for-in-the-canadian-business-world-in-the-coming-week-1.4636701

Booking.com Team Responds To Ice Bucket Challenge

Booking.com CEO, Darren Huston & team answer the ice bucket challenge to raise awareness for ALS.

Darren Huston Tells on CNBC- Priceline is in Competition

After beating earnings expectations, Darren Huston discusses how macro factors like oil and terrorism impact the travel environment.

Darren Huston Profile on Dbpedia

About Darren Huston

Born - 3 January 1966 Hope, British Columbia, Canada

Residence - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Nationality - Canadian

Alma mater - Trent University, University of British Columbia, Harvard Business School

Salary - US$21,966,094 (total compensation)

Successor - Jeffery H. Boyd

See Full Profile : http://dbpedia.org/page/Darren_Huston

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Booking.com Made Brand Push in Canada : Darren Huston

Darren Huston knows all about hotel rooms — staying in one at least 80 days a year for his job.

As chief executive officer of Booking.com, an Amsterdam-based hotel accommodation website, Huston says free Wi-Fi is a priority for him.

“Everyone has their own preferences. I have a lot of devices, so I love free Wi-Fi,” he said. “Free and good Wi-Fi makes a huge difference.”

Darren Huston also believes hotels sometimes underestimate the value of having a pleasant person greet a guest at check-in. “That first impression of coming to the desk, and what does it feel like?” he believes can be a key to the experience.

You Must Be Interested In —

• Darren Huston, the head of world’s largest online accommodations agent
• Booking.com scholarship

With increased Internet bookings, travellers have many more options today — widened immensely thanks to endless photos, detailed reviews and vivid descriptions.

“Think about 20 years ago, you would go to the local travel agency, and you’d say, ‘I’m thinking of going to Tuscany,’ ” Huston said in an interview at Toronto’s Shangri-La hotel.

Read Full Article @ https://www.thestar.com/business/2014/01/20/bookingcom_makes_brand_push_in_canada.html

EveryThing You Need To Know About Darren Huston

Full Name — Darren R. Huston
Born — 3 January 1966 (age 50) (1966–01–03) Hope, British Columbia, Canada
Salary — US$21,966,094 (total compensation)
Alma mater — Trent University, University of British Columbia, Harvard Business School
Nationality — Canadian
Residence — Amsterdam, Netherlands

Early life

Darren Huston completed his high school education at the United World College of the Adriatic in Italy, received a BS in Economics from Trent University, an MA in Economics from the University of British Columbia, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Career

From 1990 to 1992 Darren Huston was an economic advisor in the Canadian government. From 1994 to 1998 he held an executive position with McKinsey & Company. From 1998 to 2003 he was a Senior Vice President at Starbucks. In 2005 he became President and CEO of Microsoft Japan, and from 2008 served as Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President, leading the company’s Consumer & Online business. He joined Booking.com as CEO in September 2011, and became CEO of parent company Priceline on 1 January 2014…

Read More @ https://alchetron.com/Darren-Huston

Business Leader Darren Huston - Biography

Darren Huston was the President & CEO of The Priceline Group. Mr. Huston was also Chief Executive Officer of Booking.com B.V. (Netherlands), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Priceline Group and the number one online hotel reservation service in the world, a position he held since September 2011.

Mr. Huston came to the Group from Microsoft Corporation, where he served as Corporate Vice President, Consumer & Online from 2008 and President & CEO of Microsoft Japan from 2005. 

Prior to joining Microsoft in 2003, Darren Huston was Senior Vice President at Starbucks Corporation, responsible for acquisitions and new product development. Mr. Huston holds a Masters in Economics from the University of British Columbia and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University.

Read Full @ https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/Darren+Huston/392766

Priceline Darren Huston : We Have Double the Hotel Bookings of Expedia

While Expedia dominated headlines with its more than $6 billion worth of acquisitions in 2015, the Priceline Group needs to win the narrative back and CEO Darren Huston made his case about his company’s competitive advantages.

“Our capabilities and scale in partner acquisition, customer experience, and efficient demand generation plus our large installed base of accommodations and loyal travelers give the Priceline Group a competitive moat that is deep and wide,” Huston said.

If there were any doubts that Huston’s comments were at least in part an answer to some of Expedia’s gains, including Expedia’s 39 percent fourth quarter growth in room nights sold, although they were pumped up by acquisitions, then consider this Huston zinger:

“Our customers made reservations for over 432 million room nights on Priceline Group platforms in 2015, over twice as many as our next biggest competitor,” Huston said.

Must Read : Darren Huston Background

He added: “We don’t take any competitor lightly, and we compete ferociously every day, continuously seeking a higher executional gear in every facet of our business.”

Beyond all of the rhetoric from the Priceline and Expedia camps, we decided to compare some of their most important fourth quarter of 2015 metrics despite the fact that they are very different businesses. The Priceline Group is more hotel-oriented and derives more of its revenue from non-U.S. points of sale while Expedia Inc. offers a more well-rounded assortment of products, including a much bigger airline-tickets business, cruises and tours and activities.

Read Full Article @ https://skift.com/2016/02/17/priceline-group-ceo-we-have-double-the-hotel-bookings-of-expedia/

Darren Huston – Should Robots Ever look like us

Humanoid robots are a recognizable trope in popular culture, but do machines look a bit creepy and possibly harmful like us?

Whether it’s the robotics books by Isaac Asimov, the 1980s film character Johnny 5, Hollywood’s Avengers: The Age of Ultron or the sci-fi drama Humans by Channel 4, there has long been a fascination with robots becoming sensitive in popular culture-humans who can experience emotions and human-like consciousness.

But how realistic is the prospect of robots that become almost indistinguishable from humans-and desirable?

Also Read : Priceline Darren Huston: Focus on organic growth 

Ben Goertzel, the creator of Sophia, a Hanson Robotics-based social humanoid robot from Hong Kong, thinks that robots should look like humans to assist “break down doubts and reservations that individuals may have” about interacting with them.

“Because individuals like them, you’ll have humanoid robots,” he informs the BBC. “They’d rather give orders or complain about their girlfriend to a humanoid robot than to the Roomba [a vacuum cleaner robot].” “I think [Softbank’s] pepper robot is very ugly. It’s kind of like a rolling kiosk. Sophia’s going to look at you in the eye; it’s going to mirror your facial movements.

Read Full Article @ https://ceojournals.com/tag/darren-huston/

Darren Huston- Chief Executive Officer of Booking.com

Darren Huston, who is a Canadian native, brings a deep portfolio of related experience to Booking.com. Since 2008, he served as Microsoft Corporation’s Corporate Vice President, Consumer & Online, responsible for the company’s consumer and advertising businesses in over 40 countries. From 2005-2008, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Japan, which is the company’s largest subsidiary outside the United States.

Before joining Microsoft in 2003, Darren Huston was a Senior Vice President at Starbucks Corporation, responsible for acquisitions and new product development. He has also served as an executive with McKinsey & Company, and as an economic advisor to the Government of Canada. Mr. Huston holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA/Economics from the University of British Columbia, and a BS/Economics from Ontario’s Trent University.

“Darren Huston has extensive knowledge of two landscapes that are very important to the continued success of Booking.com,” said Jeffery H. Boyd, President and CEO of Priceline. “He is extremely familiar with the online marketing landscape and the strategies that work in different markets around the world. And his leadership of business activities in Japan and 40 other countries position him to understand the global landscape, market conditions, and growth opportunities facing Booking.com.” 




Read : Darren Huston buy OpenTable for $2.6B


“Booking.com is fortunate to bring on board a chief executive of Darren Huston’s caliber,” said Mr. Koolen. “His global familiarity and his online expertise blend extremely well with Booking.com’s corporate culture. Our hotel supplier partners and customers around the globe will benefit as he puts his expertise to work on their behalf. I look forward to working with Darren in his new role.” “The rapid and sustained growth of Booking.com has been incredible,” said Mr. Huston.

“After meeting the team, I attribute this performance in large part to the superior caliber of Booking.com’s management and its highly dedicated employees in more than 50 offices around the world. Globally, there are significant opportunities for our business, both in core markets and in developing ones. I look forward to leveraging these opportunities with my new Booking.com and Priceline Group colleagues.”

Read Full Article @ https://news.booking.com/darren-huston-named-chief-executive-officer-of-booking-com/

Alumnus Darren Huston Visited the College and Held a Lecture

Alumnus Darren Huston (UWCAD 83-85), visits the College and establishes a new scholarship scheme.

Alumni are not just the “primary outcome" of UWC. They are also a source of sometimes unexpected ways to support fundraising for scholarships. While he was CEO of Booking.com alumnus Darren Huston (UWCAD 83-85) visited the College and held a lecture. 

While he was talking about his life and career he was struck by the fact that his audience comprised so many young travelers from around the world and that all UWC alumni travel too – actually, as UWCers they tend to do so quite extensively! So – he thought – how about creating a way for the Alumni to give to the College simply by using Booking.com?

The grant is open-ended and variable and depends on the bookings our alumni, students and staff members make through Booking.com: the greater the bookings, the higher the grant! When the grant amount reaches the value of a scholarship it is allocated to a student as a Booking.com Scholarship.

So, when using the services provided by Booking.com, whether for holidays or work-related travel, please remember to use this link and why not ask friends and relatives to use it too? No additional costs are involved and you will be contributing to supporting future generations of young “travellers of the mind”!

Read Full Article @ https://www.uwcad.it/code/16522/Booking-com-scholarship

Why Driving Brand Value Matters Explained By Darren Huston

Skift has a fascinating interview with Darren Huston that covers a range of topics. But the one that really got the attention revolved around his views of meta search. It’s not every day that Priceline explains why driving brand value matters and it’s well worth your time. Here’s the first quote that leapt off the screen:

“Huston is fairly dismissive of price-driven meta search in general and the now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t pricing games that are endemic to lot of meta search sites.”

He continues:

    “We’d like to win not through constantly buying customers, but more creating experiences that customers want to have. That’s been the belief. I think that across the [Priceline] Group we believe in creating great products that people actually want to use and great customer experiences. That will, at the end of the day, carry the day. That’s a more valuable way to create a long term sustainable business than being in the market every year having to re-buy your customers.”

And, just to underscore that point, he adds:

    “We like selling experience versus selling things. We also believe there’s a large body of customers who are looking for value more than just saving a dollar on a hotel room.”

Now, remember, this is Priceline, a company originally founded on the idea of travelers naming their own price, a company that owns Booking.com. And here’s the CEO suggesting that the real opportunity isn’t in competing on price; it’s about competing on value.

Read Full Article @ https://www.timpeter.com/2015/02/10/ceo-darren-huston-priceline-explains-why-driving-brand-value-matters-travel-tuesday/

Darren Huston buy OpenTable for $2.6B

Extending its reach into restaurant reservations, online travel giant Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston buy OpenTable for $2.6 billion.

Priceline paid $103 per share in cash, which is a 46% premium over OpenTable’s Thursday closing price of $70.43.

OpenTable’s stock soared 48% to $104.48 Friday. Shares of Priceline were down 3% to $1,189.

OpenTable charges restaurants monthly fees to seat diners who book their reservations online. It has an inventory of more than 31,000 restaurants, and seats more than 15 million diners a month.

“Travelers are diners,” Priceline CEO and President Darren Huston said in a conference call with analysts and reporters. It’s the same customers. There’s opportunity to cross-promote brands.

“We spent a long time looking at OpenTable. It’s been on our radar for a long time. We felt now was a good time,” Darren Huston said.

Darren Huston said Priceline’s first goal is to expand OpenTable internationally. Users can already book restaurants through OpenTable in London, Berlin, Hong Kong and other cities, but Darren Huston said he wanted to bring it to more cities. Since Priceline already has “offices in every major city in the world,” doing so should be seamless, Huston said.

OpenTable will still be based in San Francisco and will operate as an independent business led by its current management team.

Since its start in 1998 as Priceline.com — a “name your price” site for airline seats, hotel rooms and rented cars — Priceline Group has grown into a colossus on which consumers can shop for U.S. and international accommodations, as well as cruises and vacation packages.

Read Full Article @ https://ceojournals.com/darren-huston-priceline-ceo-to-buy-opentable-for-2-6b/

Darren Huston's email

Location : Vancouver, BC, Canada


Work : CEO & Founder, BlackPines Capital Partners @ CEO & Founder at BlackPines Capital Partners
Executive Advisor @ Hillhouse Capital (高瓴资本)
CEO & Founder @ BP Global Advisors, B.V.

Education : 1992-1994 MBA in General Management @ Harvard University
1989-1990 MA in Economics @ University of British Columbia
1985-1989 BSc Honours in Economics @ Trent University
1983-1985 International Baccalaureate @ United World College of the Adriatic


Click Here To Know Full Information: https://rocketreach.co/darren-huston-email_427743

Darren Huston: Fifth Of Room Nights On Booking.Com Go To Business Travellers

President and CEO of The Priceline Group, Darren Huston, says there is no negative impact on the company's financial performance as a result of allowing bookings to take place on TripAdvisor, rather than on the mothership.

Bookings via TripAdvisor as a percentage of the overall pie are in the "low single-digits", Huston says.

Nevertheless, Darren Huston adds that the branding that Priceline Group-run companies get on TripAdvisor is "great", and that in the US this may have helped raise the profile of Booking.com, where traditionally Priceline has been the better known brand.

Overall, Priceline Group says gross travel bookings increased by 12.67% to $12 billion in the last quarter of 2015.

For the full year, gross bookings increased by 10% to $55.5 billion.

Read Full Article @ https://www.phocuswire.com/Priceline-Group-says-fifth-of-room-nights-on-Booking-com-go-to-business-travellers

Darren Huston Talks Direct Booking, HomeAway and Unicorns

Priceline Group’s attempt to build an effective home rental product is proving a challenge, but CEO Darren Huston maintains the company had no interest in acquiring Home Away because of its business model and the high cost.

Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston said he’s annoyed by the efforts of hotel brands to push back against online booking sites.

 The conversation with Phocuswright founder Philip Wolf, which included a discussion of Priceline Group’s operating structure, allowed Huston to provide his candid assessment of why he had no interest in acquiring Home Away before its sale to Expedia last year.

On both fronts, Priceline’s relationship with hotel chains and its decision not to attempt to acquire HomeAway, Huston was elaborating on remarks he’s made over the last few months.

Huston also questioned the viability of ride sharing giants as they begin to mature.

Read Full Article @ https://skift.com/2016/03/09/priceline-group-ceo-talks-direct-booking-homeaway-and-unicorns/