Travel Pioneer Hank Armand
Hank Armand is a man whose credentials speak for themselves. He is something of a celebrity in the online travel industry in the United States, as he was one of the founding pioneers of online travel technology and he currently owns a number of the most successful travel sites on the Internet. He has been involved in the travel industry for more than 30 years and is truly what they would call an industry veteran. He started out with just only one small travel agency, which he set up in his early twenties as nothing more than a moneymaking scheme.
He had few high school qualifications and was unsure as to what to do with his life, however he was aware of the fact that in his small town there were not many travel agencies available. 30 years ago travel was something very different to what it is today; flying was considered a luxury and expensive option, and trains and buses were much more the norm. Leaving the country was also much more of a rarity reserved for their wealthier clients, and most people were more interested in interstate travel and weekend excursions.
He started small and was encouraged by the early success he received from the people in his local area. He then went on to open a number of outlets in other nearby towns and slowly build his empire over the next few years. By the time the advent of the Internet came along, he was already a millionaire in his own right and a truly dominant figure in the travel industry.He got his foot in the door early as far as online travel was concerned, and managed to start up some of the earliest and most successful online travel sites.
It is quite difficult to patent an online idea, which is why so many of his ideas help being copied and used by literally hundreds of competitors at this point. He is always innovating and coming up with something new, and despite being a number of years older than many of his competitors he is still reining in the online travel world as well.