Biography - Jens Thraenhart

Please click here to view my pictures

SHORT:

LONG:

As Executive Director of Marketing Strategy & Customer Relationship Management for the Canadian Tourism Commission, Jens Thraenhart oversees the development and implementation of approaches, programs and initiatives to ensure the effective management and expansion of integrated solutions to e-marketing, e-business, campaign management, customer relationship management, and technology development initiatives aimed at increasing the penetration of Canadian tourism in targeted markets. He drives the domestic Canada.travel portal strategy to create synergies across Canadian destinations with the goal of generating targeted leads to travel and tourism providers.

His over 15 years of international hospitality experience includes hotel and restaurant operations, revenue management, sales & marketing, e-business, strategic planning, and hospitality consulting. He has worked with such companies as Fairmont, Four Seasons, Ian Schrager Hotels, Kempinski and Marriott, including founding and operating a successful food catering company and starting a New York-based Internet company focused on upscale leisure travel, as well as managing an independent luxury golf resort in Germany.

Thraenhart has an impressive track record in directing e-marketing and marketing automation programs in the hospitality and tourism industries, most recently with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in heading up E-Commerce as well as Marketing and CRM for Fairmont's Vacation Ownership and Residences division.

In his role as director of internet strategy, he was responsible for executing Fairmont's overall direction on the Internet, including the company's consumer, corporate and multi-lingual websites. Thraenhart also ensured that Fairmont maximized its online presence to increase revenues, service, brand awareness and built strong long-term customer relationships.

Under his direction, Fairmont.com has won multiple prestigious awards in website design and online marketing. He was recognized as one of the 'travel industry's top 100 rising stars' by Travel Agent Magazine in 2003, and is listed as one of the 25 Most Extraordinary Sales and Marketing Minds in Hospitality and Travel in 2004 and 2005.

He holds an MBA-accredited Masters of Management in Hospitality from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and a joint Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University Center 'Cesar Ritz' at Brig, Switzerland. He serves as President of 'Cesar Ritz' Colleges' Alumni Network Society, and served as President of the Cornell Hotel Society Toronto Chapter.

Thraenhart sits on the Americas Board and the Global Board of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI). He also initiated and currently acts as the global chair of the HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Organization, and was the founding past chair of the HSMAI Hotel Internet Marketing Committee. He also sits on the advisory boards for the (International Hotel & Restaurant Association) IH-RA Global E-Marketing Council, the (Travel Industry Association of America) TIA E-Business Committee, and is a former member of the advisory board of the Canadian Code of Practice for Consumer Protection. Thraenhart also co-founded WOWtraveler (www.wow.travel), which he successfully merged with Vancouver based publishing company Kiwi Collection.

Thraenhart is quoted frequently in consumer and trade media and is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and trade industry events, as well as operating the TourismInternetMarketing.com blog. He served on the advisory board of TravelCom Expo & Conference, chairs the HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Strategy conferences, co-founded and co-chaired the first Online Revealed Canada conference in May 2006, founded and chairs the Canadian E-Tourism Strategy Conference, Canada-e-Connect, which is held in conjunction with the first ever Canadian E-Tourism Awards, which he created. He also established and chairs the Canadian E-Tourism Council, consisting of the "who's who" in travel and tourism marketing and e-commerce in Canada, spanning through all industry sectors and all over Canada.