Travel Tech Insider

In this emerging AI era, what’s different this time when it comes to tech investing? We’ve seen major disruptions before, both business model (eg, internet > mobile > social > AI) and cultural/structural/economic (eg, ZIRP, gig workers, Covid, remote working, cloud computing). Prior eras followed a similar playbook: irrational exuberance leading to the trough of despair, followed by the emergence of a handful of market leaders with escape velocity and long tail of minor players, all ...

Wrapping up season two of the Travel Tech Insider podcast, we turn the tables on our favorite trade media voices to hear what they’re keeping an eye on for 2025. What are they most excited to cover? What under-the-radar trends do they think will have an outsized impact on the ways we plan, shop, book and experience travel? And how do they go about their day-to-day jobs in the media world, identifying stories and cultivating their sources to find their unique angles and insights? We’re j...

Dining out, room service, fine dining, continental breakfasts, a fancy cocktail, and food and drink in general have always been a part of the travel experience and hospitality offering. Today more than ever before Michelin Stars, hidden gems, street eats, food tours, cooking classes, Agriturismo, and gastropubs are the central aspirations of an enormous percentage of the traveling public. As we learned from 100’s of millions of travelers at Utrip, for most Americans, and everyone else too, m...

The fintech sector has expanded massively beyond its origins as a way to modernize and connect the plumbing across the various segments of the financial services world. The intersection of fintech and travel — the “Financialization” of the travel sector — is leading to some incredibly interesting applications that help consumers find value and help merchants more efficiently serve those consumers. Alternative forms of payment, loyalty program extensions, creative new approaches to funding tra...

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...

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 ...

Following up from our Season 1 episode on the investor perspective in travel tech, we bring you the latest from the front lines of venture capital and corporate innovation. What, if anything, has changed for the ecosystem in the past year? Are we bullish or bearish on where the innovation market is heading for travel, hospitality and mobility? If you’re a startup in this space, how should you be thinking about fundraising now? And if you’re heading up innovation within a corporate enterprise,...

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...