Travel Tech Insider

It might be hard to tell at times, but we’re in the midst of a renaissance when it comes to the air travel experience. Everything from the aircraft we fly to the routes they take to the in-flight experience is getting a major redesign. The pandemic and subsequent Infrastructure Act provided the downtime and funds for our airports to get badly needed investment, enabling them to modernize their operations and overhaul the passenger experience into something that is actually pleasant. While it’...

11-26

54:28

We’ve talked a lot on the pod about the mythical Connected Trip concept, and the vision for a unified travel experience across all the different touchpoint throughout the journey. One that is personalized and understands the context of the trip — is it for work or for fun, with family or solo, international or local — and what type of support we might need throughout the journey. One key foundational element of this vision is the concept of identity: who you are, what are your preferences, a...

11-18

56:55

Last season we took a deep dive into the venture investing scene here in the US, including the different approaches taken by corporate ventures teams and institutional funds, and the growth of new platforms like studios and accelerators. Now it’s Europe’s turn. We’ll take a look at the European venture scene and what investors are seeing on that side of the pond. Valuations, M&A activity, implications of governmental regulation, and fundraising trends for both VCs and startups. The ecos...

11-12

01:09:42

Ancillaries! It’s such a nebulous term for the travel industry that it’s incredibly hard to figure out exactly how big the market is — but we know it’s massive and getting bigger by the day. In some cases, what we refer to as ancillary products are actually the primary reason for the trip to begin with! Think Disney park tickets or the surfing lessons you booked for that major milestone birthday trip. In other cases, they’re things we used to get for free before folks like RyanAir realized ...

11-05

52:29

Corporate travel has been ripe for disruption for quite some time, so why is it taking so long? Road warriors hate the tools they are compelled to use (and frequently bypass), travel managers hate the cat-and-mouse games they have to play to enforce policy on their employees and to police rates and configuration rules with their TMC partners. Suppliers hate the complexity involved in getting the right offers to the right customers. TMCs hate the goat rodeo of program leakage and shoe-horning...

10-29

57:50

The season finale is here! Episode 10 wraps up with some special guests to help us check in on the latest goings-on among all the hot topics we covered in Season 1. Cliffhangers abound... What's next with NDC, loyalty program changes, regulatory trends, and all things AI? Luxury and Zillennials, venture capital funding (or lack thereof?) and the future of destination marketing are all looking a little different from when we covered them just months ago. Thanks to Friends of the Pod Janette ...

03-12

01:19:37

This week we continue our deep dive into what we know so far about AI, and how it’s being used, being disruptive, being overestimated and perhaps underestimated across the travel ecosystem. In our last episode we spoke to two startup founders who have incorporated AI into their applications to get the perspective of the early-stage company and how AI is changing the landscape for these new players. Today we talk to two leaders from the other end of the spectrum, Marilyn Markham of AMEX Globa...

02-20

59:10

It’s been a little over a year now since ChatGPT burst on the scene like a cannonball into a pool, soaking us all. The initial waves have settled down, giving us a chance to see what kind of ideas and applications are making the best use of this fascinating technology. And while AI isn’t exactly new, the democratized access to it that ChatGPT introduced means virtually anyone can make use of large language models and generative AI tools without needing a PhD. This expanded access in turn is ...

02-13

57:43

The way we travel has evolved pretty dramatically since the pandemic. The traditional “Dream/Plan/Book/Go/Share/Repeat” lifecycle has essentially been replatformed as a result of macro trends like the shift to remote work, multiple rounds of stimmie checks, a growing loneliness epidemic, and an acute appreciation for authenticity and sustainability in the travel brands we engage with. We have more time, more money, and more desire to see the world, and we want to do it on our terms. We’re als...

02-06

01:07:32

The loyalty program as we know it was pioneered by American Airlines over 30 years ago. A lot has changed since then. As travel has become commoditized in many areas, suppliers and retailers have become more innovative and creative about attracting, retaining, and rewarding customers. While customers have become savvier about maximizing and sometimes even gaming the system. The premium credit card companies have added their own layers of complexity. And of course, the pandemic accelerated man...

01-30

56:04

To paraphrase Lenin (Vladimir, not John), “there are decades where nothing happens, and then there is NDC”. For those of us who have worked in travel tech for more than a few years, it may feel like decades are suddenly happening in months, if not weeks. And it’s not just technology innovations like NDC and AI that are shaking things up. The pandemic gave many companies breathing room to experiment with new commercial models that give their businesses more solid footing to ride out unexpecte...

01-23

57:58

The luxury travel segment has always been about high-touch service and premium experiences. In a rapidly changing post-pandemic world where AI turns the service model upside down, over-the-top experiences collide with sustainability concerns, and a renewed appreciation for authentic engagement fosters an even more fragmented landscape of travel providers, what does that mean for the luxury market? In this episode, guests, Stuart Greif, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer at Forbes Travel Gu...

12-26

47:27

When it comes to sexy startup ideas, the travel sector usually ranks at the head of the class. Nearly everyone travels, and thus can relate to the pain points that stem from the challenges inherent in an industry driven by legacy tech platforms, fragmented data, and unsophisticated business models. It’s an industry desperate for disruption. Even so, travel startups tend to get the side-eye from most VCs — despite spawning two of the most disruptive startups in the past decade in Uber and AirB...

12-19

51:41

Destination marketing is one of the biggest forces powering the travel industry that we rarely talk about. It’s the Goliath economic influencer hiding in plain sight, using its invisible hand to directly and indirectly guide the way we think about where to travel, how to travel, and what we do once when we get there. And it’s an industry in tremendous flux: Covid, “revenge travel”, rising interest rates, stimmy checks, overtourism, the ‘work from anywhere’ trend, sustainability, war, Gen Z &a...

12-12

56:38

Guest Mark Farrell joins the pod to talk about balancing the need for innovation against the need for regulatory guardrails to keep us safe and ensure fair competition. Mark is uniquely qualified to weigh in on this topic given his role as Managing Director at Thayer Ventures, a leading VC firm focused on the travel, transportation and hospitality sector, and his prior experience in government as a former San Francisco Mayor and City Supervisor. His time in politics coincided with the emergen...