Skift Take
Lisa Farrar, who leads a tech subsidiary for Nordic Choice Hotels, is a vocal advocate about how hotels can tighten control of their distribution and more effectively engage with their guests. You won’t want to miss hearing her talk at Skift Forum Europe in London on April 30.
Technology vendors often tell hotel companies to outsource the tech work to them and instead focus on providing hospitality. But four years ago, Nordic Choice Hotels decided to become more hands-on with technology.
The hotel chain — with over 195 hotels in Norway and five other northern European countries — decided to build its own tech to engage with its consumers more often and take more control of the distribution of its inventory.
Petter Stordalen, the founder and owner of the 16,500-employee company, created a tech subsidiary, eBerry. He hired Lisa Farrar, who had been a managing director at online travel agency ebookers, to head both eBerry and the chain’s digital initiatives.
Farrar’s priorities as the chief digital officer of Nordic Choice Hotels and CEO of the now-185-employee eBerry have included testing reception-free check-ins, enabling guests to pick their room when booking through the company’s
