Orbitz Worldwide Reviews

Pros

Work/life balance
Benefits
On site/Off site training opportunity
Opportunities to work with multiple departments
Employee morale
Laid back office atmosphere, no dress code

Cons

Lots of homegrown software that takes time to troubleshoot
Faced paced industry, priorities are constantly being shifted (often with no alert)
Work hours can sometimes be long

Advice to Senior Management

Become more involved in the day to day activities of departments, often times questions are being asked on important issues that senior management seems to have no knowledge of. Make sure employees who are working above and beyond their positions are recognized.

Pros

Opportunity to work on projects that impact millions of consumers. Orbitz is on the cutting edge of a bunch of interesting fields esp in areas of technology, marketing and analytics. Great opportunity to learn while working with highly talented and engaged team members.

Fun, flat, non-hierarchical culture where ideas and execution are what matters. You can move around the global organization and broaden your experience set.

Nice HR benefits like a week off between Christmas and New Year, 401K w matching, frequent social events. Some cool travel industry discounts including access to some really spectacular industry rates at hotel chains including Fairmont, Starwood and Marriott, plus 20% off hotels booked on Orbitz.

Good work/life balance, and the Orbitz offices are on top of a major train station, making commuting really easy.

Cons

Ultra-competitive industry, the pace is very fast, there's always a lot of stuff to be done, and often the need for some tough prioritization decisions.

Over the last few years there has been a lot of effort devoted to platform migration, which has slowed down the pace of customer-impacting innovation. The good news here is that this migration work should be finished by the end of Q1 2012, which should allow us to step up the innovation that will impact consumers.

Chicago can be cold in the winter. But it's a world class city, with great restaurants, and loads of culture of all varieties.

Advice to Senior Management

Maintain the focus on measuring and rewarding strong performance, even if it can be uncomfortable at times. the caliber of the team has improved a lot over the last few years as a result of this.

Continue to focus on sharing information about what is going on across the company, there's a lot going on and it can be tough to keep track of everything. Weekly newsletter helps.

Pros

Across the board in most functions, the employees are some of the most talented and collegial I have ever had the chance to work with. The teams believe that they are doing something valuable and pull together to get things done.

Cons

First, the company operates in a supremely competitive space against larger and more successful competitors. As a result, it is under tremendous competitive pressure and takes on too many projects. Second, the company has a perception issue among its women employees that it is not a place where talented women have the opportunity to advance in their careers. The highest levels of the company are, almost without exception, male-dominated.

Pros

Great atmosphere, colleagues, compensation and opportunities to develop. The company cares about what each individual thinks, and they actively seek feedback to improve further.

Cons

Some key technology projects over the last few years have held back some of the more innovative work they might otherwise be further along the line. That said, times are changing, and with many of these projects now over, the velocity of innovation and development had ramped up significantly.

Pros

- Fun, smart, relaxed yet high performance culture
- Good communication and focus from senior leadership
- Overall good benefits

Cons

- Can use more structure around career paths
- More leadership training of top management

Pros

Work life balance is good - let you work from home if needed (for my job at least and everyone else in my group). Interesting and thought provoking work, smart people to work with that you learn from. Great benefits package that is reasonable comparitevely. Senior management is always sending out info on work and progress.
Group mentality so you're not on your own for projects unless you're an expert or something. Also quick turnaround on releases and project completions so you can actually see what you did live and get instant gratification.

Cons

Con of group mentality so recognition for work you did doesnt come too often, even by your boss so might be hard during review time.
The info that senior management is sending is sometimes excessive.

Pros

Lots of very smart people. Good camaraderie.

Cons

Salary sounds good until you compare it to the number of hours you are expected to work and be on call. They are in an industry that is being increasing squeezed. Watch out.

Advice to Senior Management

You are number three. Face it and change your business model. Google will have you for lunch.

Pros

Relaxed atmosphere, casual attire and decent perks. Lots of social events and opportunity to destress.

Cons

SLT doesn't really follow through on the mandates. The core company values do not trickle down.
Open honest feedback and communication virtually non-exsist. Many old timers just trying to stay of the radar. Diversity,pretty much limited to GLBT team members. Growth opportunities are recycled among a very few select individuals management level and above. Positions are created and filled before anyone knows of their existance. Work life balance, again provided for the choosen few.

Advice to Senior Management

Peel away some of the layers, some teams have way too many people between the worker bee and management. Those middle layers are busy justifying their exsistence, they are not interested in promoting the culture that makes us different. Re-evaluate positions, they have surely changed since the old Cendant days and do not reflect OWW. Value the entire workforce, there is vast un-tapped resources. Finally, get to know your teams, the leadership team walks by the lowly serfs, never speaking or making eye contact. What is that about?

Pros

Flexible work schedule, a light hearted work environment; work from home option and volunteer opportunities for a chance to give back to the community.

Cons

Amount of work load can at times be overwhelming. Response times from other departments can take longer than you would like but this goes with the type of company this is.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to seek out hidden talents for better job creation; as a worldwide company, strive for a better cultural awareness.

Pros

Orbitz is not for folks who want a slow moving, easy paced 9 to 5 structured job. Please apply in an Insurance company.
If you are looking for a truly Agile and flexible and cutting edge environment, this is a place to be. In my last 5 years or so I have worked on 50 different things. Some worked, some did not. But here's the beauty, no one shot me down for failures. Orbitz allows for creative leg room. As long as you are trying and adding value in some form or shape you are good. You will be working with sharp people who may challenge your ideas. There's no group think. If you know technology well, you can be a rock star from week 1. We don't have waterfall model. We are continuously building and delivering. Every week. There's no notion of 6 months release. You can be in production next day if your code is good.

Cons

It's super flexibility and fast agility can be overwhelming for people who need structure and time lines well defined. You can get lost in a web if you cannot keep pace with fast changing environment. You need to be good at multi-tasking.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest money, energy and time in next line of Good leaders. There's passion and energy. Recognize it and Channelize it.