The Revinate Blog

The Faces of Revinate - Nick Ferris

We think we’re pretty lucky to have so many talented and diverse colleagues here at Revinate. We’ll continue to share a little bit about each person so that you can see the “faces of Revinate."

In a nutshell what do you do at Revinate?

I’m a Sales Representative for Revinate and work with prospective customers throughout the East Coast and Europe.

 

What do you like most about Revinate?

I love the team. Everyone working at Revinate is smart, motivated, and a ton of fun. It’s a great place to work and I am extremely lucky to be a part of such as great team!

 

How long have you been with the company?

I joined Revinate in February, 2011.

 

What were you doing before joining Revinate?

I was previously living in Boston and working for a division of Experian, selling software.

 

What’s your favorite hotel that you’ve stayed at?

The Hotel Danieli in Venice, hands down. Upon entering, you step into a beautiful atrium dating to the 14^th century. It’s breath taking and you feel honored to be staying in such a historic property.

 

What is the number one city on your list that you want to travel to?

Sydney, Australia. I’ve heard such great things about this city and it strikes me as a very active city that would be a lot of fun and a place I could live in (plus my girlfriend is from there!)

 

What kind of things/activities do you like to do outside of work?

I love to play tennis as well as most sports but I also really enjoy cooking, traveling, and since moving to NYC, one of my favorite hobbies is searching for great restaurants (and the process of dining in them).

The Faces of Revinate - Chris Fox

We think we’re pretty lucky to have so many talented and diverse colleagues here at Revinate. In the weeks to come, we’ll continue to share a little bit about each person so that you can see the “faces of Revinate."

In a nutshell what do you do at Revinate? I’m the director of product development, and at Revinate that means I wear a lot of hats! I do feature and road map planning, feature specification and design, and even design of our new website (coming soon)!

What do you like most about Revinate? I love the team our founders have put together, I really believe in the business and our ability to execute, and love that belly laughs, smiles and high-fives are pretty much constant around here. We’re getting it done and having fun doing it!

How long have you been with the company? I’m just a newbie, I joined in April. I’m definitely excited to be here.

What were you doing before joining Revinate? I was building and running the user experience team at a language learning startup, and before that running product development and design at video chat startup.

What’s your favorite hotel that you’ve stayed at? Omni in San Franciso. Service is impeccable, and it’s a great value. Old school, but they do it right, every time.

What is the number one city on your list that you want to travel to? I’d have to say, it wouldn’t be a city, it would be a beach in Costa Rica with my wife, kids and friends. Does Tamarindo count as a city?

What kind of things/activities do you like to do outside of work? When time allows I love cycling with some of the Revinate crew up the Marin headlands before work. Other than that I’m an avid acoustic guitar player and surfer. My favorite thing is the beach in Santa Cruz with my wife and daughters.

The Faces of Revinate - Vinay Kumar

We think we’re pretty lucky to have so many talented and diverse colleagues here at Revinate. In the weeks to come, we’ll continue to share a little bit about each person so that you can see the “faces of Revinate."

Vinay is our second member of "the brain" - our term for our stellar group of engineers. Here's a little more about Vinay!

- In a nutshell what do you do at Revinate? I am a Software Engineer at Revinate. Along with the rest of our engineering team, I help develop new features and maintain the product.  

- What do you like most about Revinate? I always wanted to work at a start-up and Revinate was a perfect match. The two things I like most about Revinate are its passionate team and the amazing company culture. Our cut-throat “fricket” tournaments is a close third.

- How long have you been with the company? I started at Revinate almost a year and 3 months back.

- What were you doing before joining Revinate? I was a software engineer at Ning which is a white-label social network hosting platform. That was my first job after completing my MS from NC State. 

- What’s your favorite hotel that you’ve stayed at? I like all hotels, especially all our clients. :)

- What is the number one city on your list that you want to travel to? Zurich, Switzerland

- What kind of things/activities do you like to do outside of work? I am petrol-head at heart. Occasionally I like to do landscape photography. In my free time I play badminton and poker with friends.

The Faces of Revinate - Christophe Sabineu

We think we’re pretty lucky to have so many talented and diverse colleagues here at Revinate. In the weeks to come, we’ll continue to share a little bit about each person so that you can see the “faces of Revinate."

Meet Christophe Sabineu. He is our resident “Frenchie” and was Revinate’s very first employee, so he has really seen our company grow from the very beginning!  

In a nutshell what do you do at Revinate?

I am in charge of building the Revinate hotel database and putting our client’s accounts together before they get launched. I also work with our Customer Support team to make sure our clients get the most out of Revinate.

 

 

What do you like most about Revinate?

I love our smart & fun team; I love our Product; I love our office (& our Golden Gate Bridge view). Above all, we share a passion for making Social Media more accessible and meaningful for Hoteliers. Revinate is the new mission control for the online word of mouth!

How long have you been with the company?

I joined early as employee #1; at the time Revinate was only ideas on paper.

What were you doing before joining Revinate?

I worked in the field of hotel revenue management in Europe, Asia and the US. I always had an interest for technology and how it can help us. It's no wonder I ended up at Revinate.

What’s your favorite hotel that you’ve stayed at?

Colonnial Terrace Inn, Carmel-by-the-sea. It's a small, private inn, just one block from the beach!

What is the number one city on your list that you want to travel to?

Perth, Western Australia 

What kind of things/activities do you like to do outside of work?

Windsurfing, Stand Up Paddle, Mountain Biking, Tons of VW van camping

A Big Texas Welcome

I just checked into my room at the Sheraton Fort Worth Hotel and Spa and found this awesome, Texas-sized welcome gift. Surprised and delighted? Yes! Very full after eating the boot and part of the horn? Yes! Going to tell my friends and networks about the great hospitality here? You bet. 

The Faces of Revinate - Wayne Huang

Our team at Revinate continues to grow and we think we’re pretty lucky to have so many talented and diverse colleagues that really make up the back-bone of the company. We thought we’d share a little bit about each person in the weeks to come, so that you can see the “faces of Revinate”.

In a nutshell what do you do at Revinate?

I help build, maintain and keep operational Revinate’s flagship social media monitoring application. I also help keep the office fully stocked with wine.

What do you like most about Revinate?

Amazing team, beautiful views of the Golden Gate & Presidio, and peanut butter pretzels!

How long have you been with the company?

1 year, 8 months

What were you doing before joining Revinate?

I was a software engineer at Ning, a platform for creating social networks around common interests.

What’s your favorite hotel that you’ve stayed at?

Mandarin Oriental in San Francisco

What is the number one city on your list that you want to travel to?

Bordeaux

What kind of things/activities do you like to do outside of work?

Flying (I’m a private pilot), landscape/architectural & food photography, cooking & baking, connoisseur of Sichuan cuisine.

Celebrating Social Media Wins

James Palmer, the General Manager of The Maritime Hotel in New York City recently shared some great news about his success with Revinate. The hotel's focus on online reviews is helping his business. He reports, "We jumped another few points (on the TripAdvisor Popularity Index) shortly after I emailed you the first time. Then, over the weekend, I got this amazing email that is further proof in the pudding... It's going great!"

The email he mentions reads:

Hi James,

I was deciding where to stay with my husband to celebrate our 10 year
anniversary of being together.  Last time we were in NY I was pregnant
and ruined the whole trip.  Anyway, he really wanted to stay at the
Maritime and I was less excited - felt like more of a Mondrian girl.
Then I saw your individual responses to each review on TripAdvisor.
You are warm and friendly and love your hotel.  It sold me.  See you on
June 3.
  Jill

Have your own win? Let me know in the comments below!

Proof that no one reads anymore

The truth is that we're all scanners. We skim a Web page to figure out what a company does rather than read the details. We agree to terms of service without reading the terms. We sign contracts without reading the fine print. I say this to make myself feel better for missing the Revinate mention in my favorite new book, The Thank You Economy, by Gary Vaynerchuk.

Yes, I did blog about the book here and here. I even made a joke about him working for Revinate. I also tweeted out thoughts as I read, applauding when I got to the chapter about our client, Joie de Vivre Hotels. Had I read that chapter just a *little* more closely, I would have seen this on page 172:

"To help keep tabs on how well its social media efforts are working, the company relies upon daily updates and a scorecard system from Revinate, which monitors and manages online reviews and social media sites exclusively for hotels. It also pays close attention to TripAdvisor consumer reviews and ratings. It should come as no surprise that as of the first quarter 2010, two-thirds of the Joie de Vivre hotels were listed in TripAdvisor's top ten for their geographical area."

File this in 'egg on my face.' but also HUGE!!

West Coast Revinate Sales Team

Halloween... or just another day in the San Francisco office? Bonus points to anyone who can name all 3 costumes - leave a comment!