MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — (Marketwire) — 03/28/13 — Hotel search engine today announced travel industry and search veteran Drew Patterson, 36, has been named chief executive officer. This appointment comes on the heels of a $30 million financing round the company recently announced, which is being used to accelerate Room 77-s growth and international expansion.
“Room 77 has experienced tremendous growth in the last year, and Drew has the perfect background in travel and search to help take the company to the next level,” said Brad Gerstner, founder and Chairman of Room 77. “The Room 77 team has built an incredible hotel search engine, which customers are raving about because it-s faster, easier to use and it-s helping them find better deals. Drew-s history as a product pioneer and brand builder will continue that momentum and help deliver our message to a much broader audience. We could not be more excited for him to be joining at this key moment in the company-s growth cycle.”
Patterson, a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Business School, is a seasoned travel executive. As one of the founding employees at travel metasearch site Kayak, he was instrumental in building the business and brand, serving in business development roles and then as vice president of marketing. He left Kayak in 2009 to co-found Jetsetter, which he helped build into the leading travel brand in the flash sales segment with more than $100 million gross bookings.
After leaving Jetsetter, Patterson co-founded a stealth mobile hotel startup called CheckMate, which Room 77 is simultaneously acquiring as part of Patterson-s appointment. The CheckMate product and team are a great complement to Room 77-s mission of building the world-s best hotel search engine.
“Room 77 is an incredible company with a world-class team. Their history of product innovation is impressive, and Room 77 has created an experience that travelers love and use again and again,” said Patterson. “Travel search is a category with huge potential, further accelerated by the rapid shift to mobile. I-m thrilled to get back to my search roots in an industry I love, and I look forward to building Room 77 into a global hotel search leader.”
The company has raised $43.8 million to date from leading companies, venture capitalists and high-profile angels, including Expedia, Inc.; Concur Technologies; General Catalyst Partners; Sutter Hill Ventures; Rich Barton, founder of Expedia; Erik Blachford, former CEO of Expedia and IAC Travel; Spencer Rascoff, co-founder of Hotwire and CEO of Zillow; Hugh Crean, former CEO of Farecast; and Bob Pittman, founder of MTV, among others.
Room 77 is a growing hotel search engine where travelers can instantly shop hundreds of travel sites at once to find great . By combining fast and comprehensive search technology with unprecedented service, Room 77 is proving it helps users save time and money — and score a great room. Two out of three searches on Room 77 uncover real hotel savings, averaging $72 per stay — this translates to more than $7 million in found savings for Room 77 customers. And, only Room 77 offers free service, which leverages Room 77-s proprietary room data and insights to get travelers in a room that meets their needs. The appreciation customers have for Room 77 shines through in its high . Based in the Silicon Valley, Room 77 launched out of beta in 2012, and has raised $43.8 million. For more information, visit .
Room 77 is a registered trademark of Room 77, Inc.
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