Technology >> CEO Interviews >> July 24, 2000
ROBERT B. DIENER is President and co-founder of Hotel Reservations
Network (HRN), a USA company (NASDAQ: USA), and has propelled HRN into
being the Internet's primary source of discount accommodations worldwide
and the country's leading hotel consolidator. With more than 15 years of
experience in the travel industry, Mr. Diener was a pioneer in the hotel
consolidation industry and is now leading the way in the explosive e-
commerce market. After receiving his Law degree in 1982 from Cornell Law
School, he served as an attorney in the world-renowned law firm of
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles. However, his love of travel
coupled with his entrepreneurial spirit and his knack for finding money-
saving deals inspired him to embark on a career in the travel industry.
He joined his Cornell Law School friend, David Litman, HRN's CEO, and
the pair started an airline consolidation business. As a consolidator,
Mr. Diener would contract and purchase blocks of tickets at a discount
from the airlines and pass on the savings to travelers. They soon
realized there was an even greater potential in the hotel industry for
consolidators, and the same principles were applied when the partners
founded Hotel Reservations Network in 1991. As a leading travel industry
expert, Mr. Diener is a frequent source for news organizations,
including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, and
CNN, as well as a recurrent guest on hundreds of major radio stations
across the country. Profile
company?
Mr. Diener: We started in 1991 as a call center. In 1995 we opened our
first Internet site. In 1997 our
