PROFILE
Tim Hentschel of HotelPlanner eagerly awaits a Return to Worldwide Travel
after the Pandemic Growing up, Tim Hentschel’s family owned several hotels, so the CEO of HotelPlanner has deep roots in the hospitality industry. One of the challenges he noticed early on was how difficult it was for travelers to procure a hotel rate or quote. Traditionally, administrators would gather the complex information on group travelers, and the process would continue over and over until a figure was finally arrived at. Tim Hentschel soon realized the opportunity to simplify the process and launched HotelPlanner.com in 2004. Here’s how it works. When you visit the booking site, all you need to do is provide your desired location, dates, number of rooms and your budget, and then hotels instantaneously bid for your business. Having provided streamlined services to millions of event planners and travelers over nearly two decades, this travel entrepreneur and innovator is now looking ahead to see what it will take to navigate his business in a post-pandemic world. Tim is the recipient of the prestigious 2018 Cornell Hospitality Innovator Award, an annual award given by the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Tim’s alma mater. Importantly, Tim generously gives back to the community every year with major philanthropic and sponsorship efforts supporting St. Jude’s Hospital. By Rich Monetti
30
