Shows
Travel Tech InsiderSALON: The New Era of Investing - Lessons Learned for InvestorsIn 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 setting into a level of market maturity that keeps things in balance.Will the AI era follow same? Or d...2025-07-291h 01
The Skift Travel PodcastAI and the Future of Travel Startup InvestmentWhat do travel investors really think about AI, startups, and the future of travel? In this unscripted Ask Me Anything session, three top venture experts answer real questions from the audience – no slides, no pitches, just sharp takes and honest insights.
Host Sarah Kopit was joined for this conversation by Cara Whitehill (Vice President, Thayer Investment Partners), Gilad Berenstein (Founder, Brook Bay Capital), and Max Niederhofer (Partner, Heartcore Capital) at Skift Data+AI Summit earlier this month.
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/00...2025-06-2625 min
Travel Tech InsiderSALON: The State of VC in Travel: APAC EditionIn our first two seasons we took a deep dive into the venture investing scenes in both the US and European markets, comparing and contrasting the startup trends, approaches to risk, and styles of investing that are taking hold.Now we shift our focus east, and take a look at the state of the APAC VC ecosystem. Given the multitude of different countries, cultures, and currencies the region encompasses, it has a far more diverse customer base to tap into than the US or EU.How does that impact the type of startups that grow...2025-04-1556 min
Travel Tech InsiderSeason Finale | What’s on Tap for 2025Wrapping 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 joined by four of the leading thinkers, writers and question-askers in the i...2025-01-281h 13Travel Tech InsiderM&A Part 2: The Exit | Founders PerspectivesIn part 1 of our exploration of M&A trends in the travel sector, we talked to the bankers and advisors who have a front row seat to the circus that is the M&A process. Given this is their job day-in and day-out, they have a deep understanding of the steps involved in buying or selling a business, can anticipate the gotcha’s and stumbling blocks, and are primed to help their customers avoid pitfalls that can unexpectedly snag a deal.Now we turn to the other side of the table and talk to the founders for th...2024-12-241h 14
Travel Tech InsiderWhat’s Cooking with Food & Beverage Innovation?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, most trips revolved around food, drink, and relaxation. But even though we all know this, for some reason the arena of...2024-12-171h 15
Travel Tech InsiderM&A Part 1: Buyers, Sellers and the State of the MarketWe’ve spent a lot of time on the pod talking about startups, and now we’re going to shift gears to talk about the finish line, and what the climate is looking like for exits. The IPO market has been virtually non-existent the past couple years, and M&A activity (particularly for Big Tech) has been stagnant.That said, there is a ton of capital sitting on the sidelines, seemingly ready to jump in when conditions improve. Coupled with the volume of early-stage companies that have matured from concept to commercialization since the pandemic, this combination of d...2024-12-1059 min
Travel Tech InsiderThe Travelization of Finance with Bilt Rewards and Super.comThe 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 travel purchases and insurance-type products that help travelers protect their trip investments are all popular examples of this trend.Now we’re seeing the convergence of fintech an...2024-12-0355 min
Travel Tech InsiderAviation Innovation: What’s Up in the AirIt 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’s been over 30 years since the last flight of the Concorde, new aviation technology is opening up a...2024-11-2654 min
Travel Tech InsiderThe Future of Travel: Digital Identity & Universal ProfilesWe’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, and what relationships do you have with the various suppliers and service provid...2024-11-1856 min
Travel Tech InsiderThe State of VC in Travel: Europe EditionLast 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 ecosystem across Europe and the UK is has taken a big step forward in its...2024-11-121h 09
Travel Tech InsiderAre Ancillaries Becoming the Main Dish? With Elad Schaffer & Michael WolfAncillaries! 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 they could charge for...2024-11-0552 min
Travel Tech InsiderInnovation in Corporate Travel with Steve SinghCorporate 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 new technology services on legacy tech platforms.We’ve seen some innovation around th...2024-10-2957 min
Travel Trends with Dan ChristianVirtuoso Travel Tech Summit Highlights: Executive Round TableSend us a textWelcome to Season 4 Episode 7 of the Travel Trends Podcast where our host Dan Christian unpacks the highlights from the Travel Tech and Innovation Summit at Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas. Prepare to hear invaluable insights from industry leaders like Shane (Microsoft), Stuart (Forbes Travel Guide), Travis (Virtuoso), and Betsy (F Prime).Discover how venture capital is shaping travel tech with a panel featuring Cara Whitehill (Thayer Ventures), Miriam (Amadeus), and Betsy (F Prime), moderated by Gilad Berenstein. Learn about trends in advisor productivity and data standardization from Virtuoso's Travis.2024-09-1754 min
Travel Tech InsiderSalon: The State of Innovation - VC, Corporate VC and Venture StudiosFollowing 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, how can you best capitalize on the new ideas coming to market so you...2024-06-1854 min
Travel Tech InsiderSeason 1 FinaleThe 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 Roush, Daniel Green, Tiffany Funk, Bobby Demri, Michael...2024-03-121h 19
Travel Tech InsiderAI: What We Know So Far, Part 2 - The Big GuysThis 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 Global Business Travel, and Shane O’Flaherty of Microsoft, to hear how the...2024-02-2059 min
Travel Tech InsiderAI: What We Know So Far, Part 1 - The StartupsIt’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 driving the early commoditization of a sophisticated tech...2024-02-1357 min
Travel Tech InsiderSocial Commerce & the Zillennial Set: A New Paradigm for Travel?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 also seeing the stratification in how different generations of travelers are engaging across that t...2024-02-061h 07
Travel Tech InsiderState of LoyaltyThe 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 many changes to the structure of loyalty programs that were already being tested.So what does the state of loyalty look like...2024-01-3056 min
Travel Tech InsiderEmerging Business Models in Travel TechTo 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 unexpected economic dislocations like Covid, as well as more evolutionary changes to the in...2024-01-2357 min
Travel Tech InsiderWhat's Next for Luxury Travel?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 Guide, and Jim Bendt, owner of Pique Travel, a luxury travel agency in Minnesota, join the pod to share their unique perspective on the future of...2023-12-2647 min
Travel Tech InsiderInvestor Perspective: Why is VC in Travel so Tough?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 AirBnB. What is it about travel that makes it so tough for startups to get...2023-12-1951 min
Travel Tech InsiderDestination Marketing: Where Are We Headed?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 & the influencer demographic, TikTok and (of course) AI have all had an impact on how destinations...2023-12-1256 min
Travel Tech InsiderInnovation vs. RegulationGuest 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 emergence and rise of Uber, Lyft, and AirBnB, giving him a front-row seat to...2023-12-0147 min