RateGain, a leading travel technology provider of competitive price intelligence, channel management, reputation management & social media marketing solutions, announces the appointment of Marion Hughes as Vice President, Business Development, Hospitality Solutions for the Americas region.  Marion will be working closely with clients across the USA, Canada, Mexico and other South American and Caribbean countries. She is based in RateGain’s New York offices and will report to Bruce W. Mainzer, Sr. Vice President - NORAM Hospitality Solutions.

On Marion’s appointment, David Chestler, President, Hospitality Solutions said, “We are very excited to have Marion join our business development team in the Americas.  While we are in a mature market domestically, the Americas region still has great potential for growth. Marion’s keen understanding of the complex interconnection between OTA’s, individual Properties, brands, and Global Chain from a Revenue Management perspective will serve our clients and prospects well as she delivers on our mission to enable enhanced revenue growth through our Distribution, Business and Rate Intelligence and Social Media solutions.”

Marion brings 25+ years of global business development experience in the travel industry with emphasis on electronic distribution, online marketing and most recently revenue management. In the past two decades she has specialized in international business development for technology and service providers across various touch points for the electronic distribution of the hotel product.  After 20 years in Paris covering EMEA and ASPAC she is completely fluent in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

“Rarely have I had the pleasure of joining a company that has so much going for it – RateGain’s comprehensive and customizable product suite, solidly backed by a superior IT infrastructure and developers is a company that has been stealthily growing by leaps and bounds in the past 8 years.”

“In fact, from top to bottom, our team is comprised of very highly respected industry leaders, innovators and staff - I am proud to have been given the chance to work with them!”

Marion has a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising from The Pennsylvania State University and her MBA in International Marketing. Her career has spanned working on property as Director of Sales and Marketing for 6 properties to running the NYC market region for a leading OTA.  She has held roles with firms representing the GDS, worked for an online booking engine technology provider, and managed the European Affiliate Sales division of Travelocity.  Finally, she successfully ran a group of travel portals that generated over $30 million in online bookings (www.luxurytravel.com, www.worldairportguides.com et al.) and was elected by her peers to HEDNA. (www.hedna.org). She is very active with HSMAI and is being certified by Cornell Hospitality School in Revenue Management.