George leads an international team of travel and tourism industry veterans in digital marketing, social media and travel distribution as well as aspiring young software engineers, product managers and internet marketing specialists to provide Best in Class solutions in helping travel organizations reach Chinese consumers online.

Prior to co-founding Dragon Trail, George founded or co-founded two travel meta-search engines, based in Silicon Valley and Beijing. As co-founder of Mountain View, California based Search Party, George led product development for the internet based service that helped users perform Total Price Comparison on tens of thousands of hotels in the US, across hundreds of supplier-direct and OTA channels. As founder of Go10000.com, George helped introduce the concept of travel meta-search into the Chinese market.

Previously, George worked in Silicon Valley for Rich Internet Application software company Altio Inc. As Director of Solutions at Altio, George worked closely with Fortune 500 clients to implement the most advanced web technologies at the time. Also in Silicon Valley, George worked as a staff product manager for one of the earliest hotel B2B distribution platform companies, WorldRES.

George spent many years in revenue management, first as a corporate manager of revenue management at Choice Hotels and then as a business consultant at Talus Solutions (DFI/Aeronaumics). He has extensive experience in revenue management systems and business processes for hotels, casinos and events. Earlier in his career, George worked for Hyatt Hotels and Holiday Inn in China.

George holds a Master’s Degree in Hospitality Management from Cornell Hotel School.

Specializing in digital and social media marketing for the global travel and tourism industry, Jens has over 15 years of international hospitality marketing and operations experience. His career spans from positions in rooms and food and beverage operations, to revenue management, to strategic planning, and to e-business for such companies such as Four Seasons, Ian Schrager Hotels, Kempinski, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, and Marriott International.

Prior to co-founding Dragon Trail, he was the Executive Director of Marketing Strategy and Customer Relationship Management for the Canadian Tourism Commission, where oversaw e-marketing, campaign management, and customer relationship management. Under his direction as Director of Internet Strategy for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts as well as Marketing and CRM for Fairmont’s Vacation Ownership division, the company won multiple prestigious awards in website design and online marketing. Regarded as a thought-leader by his peers, he was listed as one of the ‘Top 25 Most Extraordinary Sales and Marketing Minds in Hospitality and Travel’ in 2004 and 2005. He was also recognized as one of the ‘travel industry top 100 rising stars’ by Travel Agent Magazine in 2003.

He is frequently quoted in industry trade magazines, and speaks at travel and tourism conferences all over the world. His blog “TourismInternetMarketing.com” is widely respected and frequently quoted, and he is the co-founder of the “Tips from the T-List” travel blogging community.

He founded the HSMAI Travel Marketing Special Interest Group (2003), the HSMAI Internet Marketing Strategy Conferences (2003), the Canadian e-Tourism Council (2006), the Online Revealed Canada Conference (2006), the Canada-e-Connect Strategy Conference (2007), and the Canadian e-Tourism Awards (2007). He sits on various advisory boards, including the Global and Americas Board of Directors of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), and the International Federation of Information Technology in Tourism (IFITT). A dual citizen of Germany and Canada, Jens now lives in Beijing, China.

Jens 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.

Qing CHEN, a native of China with over ten years of experience in Germany, is a well known figure in the development of China’s online travel industry. Mr. Chen manages Dragon Trail’s Shanghai office, and leads the development of critical travel trade relations in China to further help our international clients connect with Chinese consumers.

Mr. Chen joins Dragon Trail directly from his previous post as Managing Director for Care Insurance China, which is owned by the second oldest health insurance provider in Germany, HanseMerkur. He established the company in the Chinese market, and developed its Chinese online presence. Previously, Mr. Chen was the Managing Director China for Finland-based leading online travel agency Hotelzon, where he established the company’s Chinese online presence and market strategy, developed a 24/7 toll-free call center, and generated 15% sales growth for the company.

In 2002, Mr. Chen was in charge of operations of one of the earliest travel distribution companies in China, 4Oceans, which was later acquired by Blackstone. 4Oceans connected global hotels via its booking platform to over 3,000 travel agents in China. Before joining 4Oceans, Mr. Chen established the Chinese presence for the leading German online travel agency, HRS (Hotel Reservation System), first as a Product Manager in Cologne, Germany, and later as Chief Representative Asia.

With deep roots in the China outbound travel market, Mr. Chen started his career 20 years ago as a tour guide and translator for Chinese tour operator, CITS. Fluent in Chinese, German, and English, Mr. Chen was educated at the Foreign Language University of Tianjin, China with a Bachelor in German Literature, and with a Masters in German Literature and International Communications from Germany’s prestigious Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich.

Sam has almost 10 years experience in the China market and wide knowledge and understanding of China’s business and travel environment. His background and specialities vary across a large number of fields including marketing, public relations, advertising and sales, editorial and research, China corporate establishment, business advisory, accounting and tax.

At Dragon Trail, Sam manages all client relationships, and is heavily involved in the firm’s marketing and sales activities. Sam helps manage the coordination of service delivery teams in social media, digital marketing and technology development across three locations.

Prior to joining Dragon Trail Sam directed the Asia marketing operations of a specialist Asia foreign direct investment practice providing business advisory services to multinational companies investing into Asia. As the Asia Marketing Director, Sam successfully developed the company’s marketing operations in China, India and Vietnam as well as internationally. He also helped to create and launch a media publishing platform providing Asia business news, regulatory information and reports to business executives based in over 165 countries worldwide.

Prior to moving China, Sam worked for the British Airways Executive Club as part of the European team assisting over 2 million corporate members with business travel and carrying out marketing, sales and promotional activities worldwide.

Sam brings with him extensive media experience, in both new media (online) and publishing and a strong skill set related to multiple areas of marketing, public relations and sales, event organisation, and assisting companies in doing business in China.