Mercedes Blanco
Chief Partnerships Officer
Connect with Mercedes!
Email: mblanco@thehotelsnetwork.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mercedesblancoanton/
Twitter: @mdeblanco
Mercedes Blanco is a Corporate Leader Executive in Global Travel & Hospitality with a solid record on International Sales and Marketing Strategies. She has over fifteen years of experience in the hospitality industry, meanwhile volunteering at SITE, HSMAI, MPI and teaching at several universities.
Bio
Mercedes Blanco is a Corporate Leader Executive with over 15 years of experience in Travel & Hospitality, she is passionate about creating value through digital-tech solutions, as well as fighting for women empowerment. Prior to The Hotels Network, as Chief Partnerships Officer, she worked at BCV a Rategain Company, Microsoft and AC Hotels by Marriott among others.
She has two bachelor’s degrees and two master’s degrees under her belt, including Tourism Management from IE Business School and a PDP in Digital Marketing from Harvard University.
Mercedes has been a dedicated member of the travel industry at-large. She is active member of the Sales Americas Advisory Board at HSMAI, and founding member of Women in Travel THRIVE. She was recognized as Top 50 Women in Travel by WINiT by GBTA and one of the Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds by HSMAI.
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Videos
- Strategies For Being Fearless in Hospitality | The Modern Hotelier
- AI for Dummies: Skynet not quite here yet | HSMAI Sales Forum
- DEI Advisors: Empowering Personal Success
- Achieving Team Balance in a Distributed and Multi Generational Workplace
- Forget Baseball; Executives Offer New Similes to Describe the Hotel Business
- Is the Hospitality Industry Ready to Catch Up in the World of E Commerce and If So, How?
- Letting Go of Fear | The Growth Spot with Calvin Tilokee
- Women Rising to the Top: Let Go of Fear | HSMAI Commercial Strategy Week Americas
- WHTT Weekly Social Media Marketing, Communication During COVID-19 & Beyond
- Turning overnight guests into lifelong advocates - The Digital Transformation Happy Hour
- Women in Travel Thrive - Day of Impact 2.0 - ALLYSHIP, Tech
- Masterclass: Social Media Marketing for Hotels
- Women in Travel THRIVE Presents: The Americas Day of Impact 2022
- Forward_LIVE Marketing
Awards & Articles
- Top 25 Hospitality Executives to Watch in 2025 - International Hospitality Institute
- International Women in Travel and Tourism Forum Awards 2024 Finalist - Women in Travel CIC UK
- Badass Women of the Year Finalist 2023 - Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce
- WINiT by GBTA - Top 50 Women in Travel
- Hotelmize - Top 30 Travel Industry Leaders to Get Inspired in 2022
- HSMAI - Top 25 Extraordinary Minds of 2021
Written by Mercedes:
- From Fragmented to Unified: Hospitality-Tech Future Is Connected
- Personalizing Pre-Stay With Big Data
- Hotel Marketers Must Learn To Survive Without Third-Party Browser Cookies
- Cyber Security Is Awakening as Key Concern for Hoteliers
- AI Brings Opportunities; Don't Fear a Skynet Scenario
- Workplace Flexibility Must Not Be Reserved Only for Working Parents
- Eight Problems Women Face in Building a Hospitality Career and Actions Steps That Can Help
- Keep Your Friends Close and ChatGPT Closer: AI in Hospitality Sales
- Chief Partnerships Officer at The Hotels Network Reflects on a Lifetime of Character Building
- Inclusion Is More Than Ticking Boxes, Filling Quotas
- How to Be Fearless: 8 Winning Strategies
- The Day We Discovered We Are Being Too Much
- Personalization: The missing link between social media and website conversions
- Stay Connected in Times of Social Distancing
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Memberships & Certifications
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- CIS (Certified Incentive Specialist) 2016
- SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Excellence) 2016
- CHDM (Certified Hospitality Digital Marketer) 2015
- HSMAI (Hospitality Sales Marketing Intl. Assoc.) 2015
- CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) 2014
- CIC (Convention Industry Council, US) 2014
- HSMAI South Florida (Board of Directors 2015-2018)
- IE Business School (Board of Directors 2013-2016)
- MPI (Member 2011-2015)
Speaking Engagements & Lectures
- Personal growth to reach personal success - “A door of change, imagine if” - BWH Hotels Women & Diversity Forum
- Top-Line Growth: Sales and Revenue Management Strategies - The Lodging Conference
- The Power of Personalization for Independent Hotels - HSMAI Annual Commercial Strategy Conference 2024
- The Modern Hotelier podcast - Strategies For Being Fearless in Hospitality (2024) Listen here!
- 1TourismWorld - Demystifying AI and Predictive Personalization in Hospitality (2024)
- AAHOA - Her Story at HerOwnership Conference (2023)
- HSMAI Curate - Demystifying Artificial Intelligence (2023)
- The Lodging Conference - Women’s Hospitality Innovation Council Roundtable (2023)
- The Lodging Conference - Build a strategy to sell your rooms and outperform market benchmarks (2023)
- HSMAI Ontario - Demystifying Artificial Intelligence in Hospitality (2023)
- HSMAI South Florida - Elevating Customer Experience (2023)
- ESADE Americas - AI and Predictive Analytics (2023)
- Predictive Personalization: How machine learning & predictive analytics are revolutionizing direct bookings - Small Luxury Hotels of the World Annual Conference (2022)
- The Growth Spot podcast with Calvin Tilokee - Letting Go of Fear (2022) Listen here!
- HEDNA - Is the hospitality industry ready to catch up in the world of ecommerce? (2022) Watch here!
- HSMAI Marketing Strategy week – The Lightning Round (2022)
- IE Business School, Mexico – Panel: The Future of Travel and Tourism (2022)
- WTTC - Sustainability Seen from HR's Eyes (2022)
- Les Roches Crans Montana Global Hospitality - How The Hotels Network is disrupting direct bookings (2022)
- Women in Travel THRIVE, in partnership with ORACLE – Get Valuable Career Advice from Exec Leaders (2021)
- Day of Impact 2.0 Women in Travel THRIVE - Allyship Tech (2021)
- Mountain Travel Symposium - A Mountain Destination Guide to Social Media (2021)
- Spain-US Chamber of Commerce and IE Business School – The Future of Travel (2021)
- Day of Impact 1.0 Women in Travel THRIVE – Building your Brand (2021)
- Skift & RateGain - Decoding America’s Travel Recovery: Data & Predictions (2021)
- Forward_LIVE - The Future of Travel Marketing (2020)
- WHTT Women in Hospitality & Travel-Tech - Social Media Communications and Travel Blogging (2020)
- Les Roches International School of Hotel Management - Social Media in Hospitality (2020)
- HTM, Hospitality Tech and Marketing Summit, Mexico - Digital Trends (2019)
- CTM, Cancun Travel Mart, Mexico – Women in Travel Tech (2019)
- CHTA webinar: Guest Experience Through Social Media (2019)
- My Hotel webinar: Tips for Maximizing the Guest Experience (2019)
- GMID, HSMAI, Miami, USA - The Future of Tech: A Mix of Realities (2019)
- HSMAI Carolinas, Greensboro, USA – Digital Marketing & Social Selling (2019)
- GHL annual meeting, Bogota, Colombia – Social Media Best Practices in Hospitality (2019)
- HSMAI Gulf Chapter, Memphis, USA – Social Media Best Practices in Hospitality (2019)
- HSMAI CDMX, Mexico – Digital Strategies (2018)
- GMID, Miami, USA – Blockchain in Travel (2018)
- Caribe University, Mexico – Social Media Trends (2017)
- HSMAI SF, Miami, USA – Virtual Reality (2017)
- FIU, Miami, USA – Professor Hospitality & Tourism Management (2015-2017)
- IE Business School, Spain – Master Tourism Management (2013-16)
- CVB Cancun & Caribe University, Mexico – Shopping Tourism (2014)
- IE Business School, Spain – Globe Shopper (2014)
- IE Business School, Spain – Shopping tourism as an economic engine (2013)
- IE Business School, Spain – Optimizing investment in Business Travel (2013)
- IE Business School, Spain – The strategic value of meetings and events (2012)
- Nebrija University, Spain – Master’s professor (2012-14)
Interested in having Mercedes speak at your event or conference?
About THN
The Hotels Network (THN) is an innovative technology company working with over 20,000 hotels around the globe. Boasting an international team of specialists with deep expertise in hospitality, product design and consumer marketing, the company offers clients a full-stack growth platform to power their direct channel. By leveraging a series of integrated tools and analytics, hotel brands can attract, engage and convert guests throughout the user journey.
In addition to price comparison, reviews summary and a full suite of personalization options, THN’s Predictive Personalization product harnesses machine learning techniques to predict user behavior and then automatically personalizes both the message and the offer for each user. The company’s latest innovation, BenchDirect, is the first benchmarking product for the direct channel, providing hotels with never-before-seen competitive data that completely changes the rules of the game.
THN’s mission is to improve the online booking experience, grow direct bookings and strengthen the relationship between hotel brands and their guests.
Products
BenchDirect™
Must-have hotel benchmarking analytics platform, for you to compare your performance to the market and competition. Learn More
Conversion & Personalization
A standard website is exactly the same for everyone yet every guest is different. Personalize the user experience, tailoring messages and offers to each individual to boost conversion rates. Learn More
Predictive Personalization
Predictive Personalization harnesses machine learning techniques to predict user behavior and effortlessly optimize campaigns for each and every user. Learn More
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