CEO Spotlight: Teresa Mackintosh of Aven Hospitality

The rebrand to Aven Hospitality might be fresh, but CEO Teresa Mackintosh has been in the role for more than six months, separating activities from Sabre, its former owner. 

Her initial priority was to prepare Aven for its future as a standalone business following its acquisition by asset management company TPG in 2025.

Next up is ensuring the business develops in line with the rapid pace of technological change in travel and provides what its hotel customers need. 

“As we think about what we’re doing with the business over the next few months and years, it really is evolving in that real-time pace. You can’t set a three or five-year strategy right now. You’re setting a three or six-month strategy,” Mackintosh said.

With her background in accounting, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and private equity, Mackintosh is not concerned about potential friction between investor expectations and customer requirements.

“My approach is a three-legged stool. I think of our customers—the hoteliers—as one key leg. Our employees are the second leg and our investors are the third. You have to keep all three in balance and not over-rotate toward any one of them, otherwise the whole stool tips over. In reality, if you get the customer piece right, everything else tends to stay in balance.”

The company has already decided its immediate areas for investment, including modernizing the platform to prepare for artificial intelligence (AI).

“As we move forward in time, we’re making a lot of investments in our booking engine and a lot of investments around payments and retailing, really driving to become the commerce hub for our hoteliers,” she said. 

Mackintosh also discussed challenges for the businesses, such as AI and how to prioritize investment and developments. Meanwhile, fragmentation is one of the biggest challenges for the wider hospitality technology industry.

“It’s probably the most fragmented ecosystem I’ve been involved with. There are a lot of players involved, many taking a small share of each trip. I think that will become more streamlined over time. As we move further toward agentic AI, some intermediaries could face disintermediation risk. What’s important to me is making sure we’re enabling hotels to really think carefully about which distribution channels work best for them.”

Mackintosh also provided insight on the future of SaaS as well as winners in losers in the direct versus intermediary distribution debate.

See below for the full interview with PhocusWire’s Linda Fox.