Smarter Travel Reviews

Pros

A lot of effort is made to hire only good engineers. Work on large scaling problems is interesting. Use of new technology and tools is embraced. A very fun place to work. Happy hours every Friday in the winter.

Cons

Marketing department is run incompetently. Upper management is very slow to respond to changes. Development on old products devolves into endless rounds of A/B testing with no new features. Eternal optimism about meeting numbers that are always missed with no real changes as a result.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more proactive with the core brands sites. Yes, eventually might Google beat us here, but we don't need to accept that inevitability. The core brands should not be sacred (cash) cows, new features should be added and we should attempt to put these sites back into growth mode rather then their current "hope the bleeding doesn't continue" mode.

Pros

Great benefits and exciting industry.

Cons

Lack of growth opportunities within company.

Pros

- the employees (not management) are friendly
- there is a good work life balance
- it is a good place to get experience in an online advertising enviroment.

Cons

- no career development or mentorship.
- no internal knowledge sharing.
- disorganized
- unprofessional
- human resources is dismal, there is no one to turn to if you are facing issues or problems.
- the "perks" ie free lunches, snacks, parties do not help to boost morale in a struggling industry
- many people are granfathered into management positions that have no experience and should not be there.
- employees wasting company resources are often giving other positions instead of being dealt with properly.
- CEO is clueless as to how people live and only cares about the revenue figures.
- There is no careerpath, people are supposed to be happy staying in entry level positions while they seem peers who are unqualified move up.
- Managers are not taught to help employees but rather are just watching their own back and making sure their job is safe.

Advice to Senior Management

- go back to how things were 5 years ago, when employees were valued instead of mediocrity and the bottom line.

Pros

The culture at Smarter Travel is one of the greatest things about working there. The people are laid back, smart and fun to be with, so that made it a pleasure to work with most everyone.

Cons

Some times it was a bit of a grind, but that's just the way work is, so not really a valid complaint.

Advice to Senior Management

It is a pleasure to show up to work at Smarter Travel when you know how much of a chance you have to thrive in a fun environment where innovation happens. Continue to encourage that atmosphere.

Pros

Highly profitable, strong team, good location

Cons

No cooperation, no knowledge sharing. Individualism and competition instead of collaboration.

Advice to Senior Management

Change the culture from a dungeon to a start-up, at least in the engineering.

Pros

*Fun environment - great people, biweekly snack, travel is a fun vertical!
*Still a young company - there's a lot of flexibility to define your role within your dept. and the company.
*Good benefits, stable and successful company even in this tough economy.

Cons

*Absolutely no mentoring or career development. There's little chance for internal promotion - managers are brought in from the parent company and are not always a good fit. Strong individual contributors end up leaving the company in order to move up.
*Bad work/life balance. Workloads are heavy and the hiring process is slow, meaning multiple departments are understaffed. Flex schedules are only available to recent parents.
*Low morale, some depts are worn down and paranoid about being laid off
*Company culture has changed as the parent company has become more involved (and not for the better)

Advice to Senior Management

*Develop your individual contributors - they're your strongest asset! Make opportunities clear and promote from within.
*Make flex time available to everyone.

Pros

You can move upward / forward in direct correlation to your level of effort.
Fantastic General Manager.

Cons

Originally was a 'start-up' and has lost much of that feel as it becomes 'corporate' and lagged down in red-tape with the addition of new senior management.

Advice to Senior Management

Lose the red tape. Get back to the get-it-done and open feel of a start up versus a 'the-management-team-needs-to-review-and-discuss-this' environment.

Pros

Opportunity for career growth, smart, fun people, great new office space

Cons

Travel industry is struggling right now but that is actually keeping things interesting and challenging in a positive way.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in your employees through training and development and continue to communicate the road map ahead.

Pros

Respect for people, variety of brands, great team camaraderie, and, good work-life balance

Cons

The company has grown so much the current building is very tight - but they are moving to a new fantastic space in Jan 09

Advice to Senior Management

Keep thinking about the people - it's what makes the company special

Pros

The quality of my co-workers. Without a doubt, this company has some of the best and the brightest -- and they are fun to work with.

Cons

None that I can think of. With the recent acquistion some initial concerns, but things seem to be getting better, not worse.

Advice to Senior Management

Manage the fast growth carefully. With a lot of new people starting it's critical to make sure we don't lose the fun and speed of a small company.