Orbitz Worldwide hosted their first annual Blogger’s Day early this week at their headquarters in the beautiful city of Chicago.
Orbitz was an incredibly gracious host and really went out of their way to ensure the comfort and enjoyment of all their guests, which included some of the biggest travel blogs on the web today (yes, even us!).
There are a lot of big things on the horizon for Orbitz and they were kind enough to share them with us, unfortunately they made us pinky swear not to cover all of it. Something about swimming and cement shoes.
What we can discuss is the excitement and passion that is Orbitz and how it runs throughout the entire company. They are generally giddy over the news regarding their change in Orbitz fee policy. They are obsessed with hotels and customer service. Technology drives them. Also, coffee.
Barney Harford, the Orbitz President and CEO gave us a good portion of his day and he was happy to do so. He even laughed at my jokes, which was probably forced and mere politeness, but I’ll take it.
In addition to Mr. Harford we were able to chat with Sam Fulton (Group Vice President, Retail), Chris Brown (VP, Product Strategy), Carolyne Crawford (Sr. Director, Customer Relations/Training), Roger Liew (VP, Technology), Julie Szudarek (VP, Strategy and Planning), Brian Hoyt (VP, Communications and Government Affairs), Eric Brodnax (VP/General Manager, The Away Network), Jan Lofgren (VP, Account Management and Development – Orbitz for Business), Chris Hills (Air Traffic Lead Team) and many others, including Kate who does a lot of the blogging and social media for Orbitz.
A special thanks, hence her own paragraph, goes to Marita Hudson Thomas, for everything.
Stay tuned to UpTake for more on Orbitz news and hovercrafts.
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3 Responses
[...] Kristin Wiig as a “Travel Expert” on SNL’s Weekend Update. I’ve met more than a few travel writers in my time, and thankfully Wiig’s take is pretty far-fetched. Just [...]
I bought (2) $1500 first class tickets from your company. There was a travel delay and I have been rebooked on a coach seat. I did not get my money back and Orbitz was unwilling to help me find another flight where there was a first class seat.
What you guys neglected to tell me is that you took my money and bought a ticket that was then upgraded to first class. So I was told I had purchased a different fare class. I feel completely screwed and deceived.
I am a frequent traveler as I travel weekly back and forth for work. Therefore I understand there are often extenuating circumstances very well. I felt that Orbitz was unwilling to do anything to help me get what I paid for. I feel as though I paid for something I DID NOT GET.
I will not use your service again EVER in the future. Nor will I recommend it. In fact, I have gone to great efforts to find as many travel feedback sites and post negative feedback on.
[...] good folks at Orbitz were nice enough to send along a list of the U.S. airports with the heaviest amount of holiday [...]