Partner with Expert Hotel Digital Marketing Consultants

Pioneers & Thought Leaders

HeBS Digital principals and experts are recognized "thought leaders" in Internet strategies for the hospitality and travel verticals, and have pioneered many of the best practices in hotel Internet marketing and direct online distribution. HeBS Digital's hospitality marketing consultants are frequent guest speakers and presenters at industry events, industry association events, major brand conferences and annual GM meetings, hospitality marketing conferences, university-sponsored associations, and government and state-sponsored tourism events.

In-House Expertise

Our hospitality marketing firm has in-house experts on every aspect of the hospitality industry and hotel Internet marketing, including Direct Online Channel strategy consulting, search engine optimization (SEO), copywriting, search engine marketing (SEM), email marketing, social media, mobile marketing, and more. This means that all HeBS services are performed by our in-house hotel Internet marketing consultants, which translates to quicker turnaround times, more customized campaign management, highly personalized solutions and a resolute dedication to your success.

Global Presense

HeBS Digital serves its clients with over 80 in-house experts located in global offices in New York City, Las Vegas and Europe. 

Our Management Team:

Max Starkov

Max Starkov is President & CEO at HeBS Digital. Max is a recognized "thought leader" in Internet marketing strategies in hospitality and is a frequent guest speaker and presenter at industry events and conferences. His eBusiness expertise is sought after by a diverse client portfolio of top tier hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel chains, hotel management companies, resort and casino companies, franchisees and independents, as well as major Wall Street investment banks and financial institutions.

Max has spent his entire professional career in hospitality and travel. He has an extensive Internet marketing and online distribution experience. He co-founded and served as CEO of three eBusiness companies: Travelbreak.com 1995-2000 (Innovative direct supplier-to-consumer online travel marketplace, ranked 3rd in traffic after Priceline.com), WhaleMedia.com 2000-2001(Winner of the coveted Microsoft RAD Award for hotel online booking systems), and HeBS Digital (since 2001). Under Max's leadership, HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the "best practices" in hotel Internet marketing and direct online channel distribution, and has won many prestigious awards for its groundbreaking website design and Internet marketing campaigns.

Max received the prestigious HSMAI "Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing" honor for 2008.

In 2010 Max was appointed to serve on the HSMAI Digital Marketing Council, the highest hotel internet marketing authority in the country, commissioned to monitor and educate HSMAI members about the emerging trends and innovations happening in hotel digital marketing universe.

Max has written numerous reports, conducted industry research, and published articles in major travel and hospitality publications. Since 2001 he has been teaching, as an adjunct professor, graduate courses on eCRM and Internet Marketing and Distribution at New York University's prestigious Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism Studies.

Max has an MS in Economics of International Tourism and an MBA degree, Beta Gamma Sigma Honors, from Fordham University in New York.

Jason Price

Jason Price is Executive Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Accounts at HeBS Digital. Jason's expertise in eMarketing and eDistribution crosses all hospitality business models from flag hotels to independent properties, resorts, and casinos. He provides extensive business development expertise from advising strategic partnerships to capital acquisition, particularly to technology providers in the Travel and Hospitality verticals. As Vice President of two eBusiness companies prior to HeBS, he was a recipient of the 2001 Microsoft Retail Application Developer Award for its ASP technology in the hospitality industry. Prior to HeBS, Jason worked for top advertising agencies on Madison Avenue: copy supervisor for Lowe McAdams, a division of Interpublic Group of Companies, and department supervisor of FCB (now know as Draft FCB), both in the medical communications divisions. In his previous career Jason trained as a masters level Epidemiologist for hospitals in Boston and New York City.

Jason has authored numerous articles and white papers in hospitality and technology and is a frequent guest lecturer for HSMAI chapters, industry conferences, and runs graduate level research projects with The Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management. He has also written two books. The Executive MBA: A Insider's Guide to the Executive MBA for Working Professionals (Xlibris, 2004) and Insider's Guide to the Executive MBA (Xlibris 2011) and director of EMBA World www.EMBAWorld.com. Jason has an MBA degree through the executive program of Fordham University in New York and an MS in Epidemiology and a BA in Economics from the University of Massachusetts.

Jason received the prestigious HSMAI "Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing" honor for 2011.

Mariana Mechoso Safer

Mariana Mechoso Safer is Vice President, Marketing at HeBS Digital.

Mariana oversees all HeBS advertising, marketing and public relations. She also heads the HeBS Digital Las Vegas office, helping the team to develop and implement website optimization and digital marketing strategies for HeBS Digital's strategic accounts. Her responsibilities for these clients include Direct Online Channel strategy consulting, project management services, Internet marketing campaign management, eCRM, and more. She has been instrumental in developing award-winning Internet marketing campaigns and website re-design and optimization projects for HeBS Digital clients. Mariana is a trained professional in Omniture, the world-class website analytics and campaign tracking and reporting application.

Mariana's professional experience includes over ten years of work in the global travel and tourism industry. She has held travel management and group travel management positions in the United States, England, and Australia in leading hospitality and tourism companies, including STA Travel and world-renowned attractions such as the Westminster Abbey in London.

Mariana is bilingual and holds an M.S. degree in Travel and Tourism Management from New York University's Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management and graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology from UCLA.

Tara Rattigan

Tara Rattigan is Vice President, Client Services Dept. at HeBS Digital. Tara oversees the Client Services Dept. at HeBS, which includes the Account Management Dept., the SEM Dept., the Analytics & Reporting Dept., and the Copywriting & SEO Dept.

Tara also conceptualizes and implements website optimization and Internet marketing strategies for HeBS hotel clients. Her responsibilities include website optimization and search engine marketing services, Internet marketing campaign management, online PR services, and project management services. Tara is a trained professional in Omniture, the world-class website analytics and campaign tracking and reporting application. She is also is a Qualified Google Advertising Professional.

Tara's expertise benefits from her professional experience in both the public relations and travel & tourism industries. At a world renowned public relations firm in New York City she has worked with a range of travel and tourism accounts gaining a valuable understanding of communications and media relations. She has worked on projects and key research studies on trends in the hospitality and travel & tourism industries and destination marketing, including a benchmark research study "Marketing Trends in the Mountain Resort Industry".

Tara holds an M.S. degree in Travel and Tourism Management from New York University's Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management, where she was the recipient of the Preston Robert Tisch NYC & Company Foundation Leadership in Tourism Scholarship. She graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Jaan Paljasma

Jaan Paljasma is Digital Technology Architect at HeBS Digital.

Jaan is a web, mobile and desktop application development virtuoso who oversees the state and direction of HeBS Digital’s digital technology applications. Jaan works with HeBS’ internal teams – as well as clients – to conceptualize and develop new digital marketing applications to meet and exceed clients’ needs. A technically skilled system architect and proactive team leader, Jaan has more than 14 years of programming experience.

Jaan has flourished in a number of roles since joining HeBS Digital in 2007, including Lead Programmer and Manager, Web Applications Development. Jaan’s major accomplishments at HeBS include development of the HeBS CMS Premium, CMS Enterprise, TripAdvisor gateway and Google Hotel Pricing Ads gateway. Before arriving at HeBS, he honed his leadership skills and programming knowledge working in an array of capacities for companies such as Regio AS, Wap Oneline OY. During his career, Jaan has worked as a Web and Desktop Applications Programmer, Business Software Developer, Project Manager, and more.

In addition to his expert-level experience with languages such as PHP, ASP.NET, JavaScript, C#, Python and Node.js and databases like Oracle, MS SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Jaan has earned a number of certifications, including MICROS Opera Web Services OWS, Oracle Spatial Fundamentals + Advanced, and two MCP Certificates from Microsoft. He attended Tallinn Technical University in Tallinn, Estonia, and has worked as a high school computer teacher.

Brian Kotula

Brian Kotula is Director of Sales at HeBS Digital. He leads the sales team to deliver award-winning digital marketing services, website design and development packages and online channel consulting services.

Before joining HeBS Digital, Mr. Kotula was the National Director of Sales for Signature Worldwide, a leading provider of business and training solutions for the hospitality industry. His focus was to assist hotels and management companies to provide legendary customer service. He also served as the Director of Sales and Corporate Marketing Manager for Open Hospitality. Mr. Kotula’s other professional titles include Vice President of Business Development and Sales, Northeastern United States, for Luxe Worldwide Hotels and Regional Vice President of Sales for HotelRevMAX.

The New Jersey native spent 13 years in Wall Street's financial services arena before he returned to New York University to earn his Masters degree in Hospitality Studies and Asset Management at NYU’s Tisch Center for Hospitality, Travel, Tourism and Sports Management. He co-founded the NYU Tisch Center Alumni Society and served as its first president for 2005-06. In 2007, Brian started NYU’s Hospitality’s first ever Alumni Mentorship program. Mr. Kotula is also an active member and past president (2002-04) of the HSMAI (Hospitality, Sales, and Marketing Association International) Big Apple chapter. He also was a member of MAPTA, Metropolitan Association of Professional Travel Agents.