Sanjay Vakil

Sanjay Vakil is the CEO and co-founder of DirectBooker, with a track record of driving innovation in travel and digital commerce at Google, Tripadvisor, and Time Out Group. A former aerospace engineer with a PhD from MIT, he brings deep expertise in AI, metasearch, and direct booking technology.

I was traveling with a friend and we’d both booked the same hotel. She booked through AMEX and I booked direct. We arrived at 11am. Guess who got to check in right away and who had to wait until 3pm? That’s when I became a DirectBooker.

Sanjay Vakil has played a pivotal role in shaping and shipping key products at industry giants like Google, Tripadvisor, and Time Out Group, with a focus on enhancing direct booking capabilities, optimizing digital advertising, and leveraging AI for personalization.

During his tenure at Google, Sanjay led teams across Hotels, Flights, Things to Do, and Vacation Packages. For Hotels, he led projects like Free Booking Links, Official Site badging, AI-powered price retrieval, and building Extranet tools to improve supplier visibility and direct revenue.

He's a seasoned product and engineering leader with a strong track record of driving innovation in travel, hospitality, and digital experiences. He spent the 90's at MIT training as an aerospace engineer culminating in a PhD – he's actually a rocket scientist.

With expertise spanning AI, metasearch, advertising technology, travel tech, and digital commerce, Sanjay continues to push the boundaries of how businesses engage with customers in an evolving digital world.