Shows
Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS4 E2. The Party Economy meets the Experience Industry and Batch is leading the wayGroup celebrations aren’t just trips. They’re high-intent, multi-booking moments. In this episode of Experience This!, we talk with the CEO of Batch about how celebration-driven demand is reshaping discovery, booking behavior, and operator strategy.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2026-02-0951 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS4E1 Driving an 85% repeat rate and bringing a 40 year old Tour Business into the digital ageSustainable Travel, Intellectual Travel, Niche, Luxury Travel, Food, Discovery, Small Groups. You name it and Mary Collins from Far Horizons and Blue Fern Travel covers it all. She's a rockstar and she joins Experience This! Travel to give us the full picture while also keeping us laughing.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2026-01-2256 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS3 E 15 Keyguides Connect - redefining the hunt for the perfect Tour GuideNick Gray, Co-Founder of Keyguides Connect introduces his approach to how Tour Guides are searched, booked and run their businesses.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2026-01-061h 02Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS3 E 14 Peek raises $70M and acquires ACME Ticketing and Connect & GOJosiah Filler, CRO at Peek joins the Experience This! Travel Show to discuss Peeks $70M raise and acquisition of Connect & Go and ACME Ticketing.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2025-11-2553 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS3 E13 James Lemon from Stripe talks Instant Checkout inside Chat GPTJames Lemon from Stripe joins us as we discuss Instant Check out in Chat GPT, the world of Agentic Commerce Protocol vs. Model Context Protocol and how operators can ready themselves for this new world.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2025-11-2351 min
Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS3 E 12 Rediscovering Groupon with Carrie Keplinger and Masha SharmaGroupon is dusting itself off, investing heavily in Tech, becoming an AI first company and dominating the Things To Do space. Listen in as Carrie Keplinger and Masha Sharma walk us through why the TTD vertical at Groupon has seen double digit growth for the past 6 quarters. Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2025-11-0247 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsAI Search with Scrunch.aiShow videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2025-11-0246 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 3. Episode 9 - Murray DeckerIn this episode we learn about multi-day tour tech from Murray Decker, founder and CEO, Tour Amigo. Tour Amigo is a leading SaaS platform for the multi-day sector. There are surprisingly few SaaS platforms for multi-day tech, and Murray discusses the challenges and the differences he sees with the Destination Experiences sector. Arival has just launched a new research study on multi-day, the first full study on tech and distribution since our 2021 landmark research project. Arival is also featuring a multi-day track at Arival 360 DC, Sept 30 - Oct 3, 2025.Show videos are posted on Yo...
2025-08-1249 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 3. Episode 6 - Chris Andrew, Scrunch AIThe show with Chris and co-hosts Lori Timony and Christian Watts was one of the most practical shows we've had about AI in a while. Scrunch is going deep with AI search, and Chris provides some great tips and ideas in this show, I highly recommend you take a listen to this quick clip and hear Chris's main points:"The first thing we've outsourced at scale to AI is BROWSING""The customer journey is changing radically""We're living in a new era of discovery""Customers move to simplicity with AI Search""Disruption o...
2025-03-3046 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 3. Episode 5 - Jessie Fischer - GuestOSGet introduced to Jessie Fischer, Founder & CEO, GuestOS. Jessie got an early start in the hospitality business, starting when she was 12 years old, working at her family's motel near Yosemite National ParkGuestOS is an AI-driven concierge platform tailored for the hospitality industry, aiming to enhance guest experiences through personalized, 24/7 multilingual support. Founded in 2023 by Jessie, the company leverages AI to automate and enrich guest interactions. Personalized Guest Interactions: Offers tailored recommendations based on guest preferences and behaviors, facilitating seamless communication via SMS and voice. Operational Efficiency: Streamlines hotel operations by managing reserv...
2025-03-0644 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsGreg Fisher, Founder and CEO of Wave Rez and Tripshock introduces his new book "Mastering OTA's."Greg Fisher, Founder and CEO of Tripshock and Wave Rez and author of "Mastering OTA's" joins the team at Experience This! Travel to discuss the need for and rise of niche OTA's, how Google is changing the search and buy landscape and of course, his new book and how it can help you grow your business.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate...
2025-02-2651 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsEpisode 52 - The Hosts Discuss (Argue?) About the Potential Disintermediation of OTAsHow will AI Agents impact OTAs and Google's Market share?We have a difference of opinion - shocking I'm sure.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2025-01-1925 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 3. - Episode 2: TikTok About To Go Dark / AI UpdateThe plan was to have an AI update with Tahnee Perry from A25 featuring a discussion about her toolkit (115 and counting!). But since this is the week (January 17 to be exact) that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold the U.S. ban on TikTok, we pivoted to also include Madi Rifkin, founder and CEO, Mount for her perspective. As a Gen Z entrepreneur with an "armyShow videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts a...
2025-01-1954 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 3. E1 - The Hosts Make their Predictions for 2025Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2025-01-151h 06Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 2 - The Final Episode. 2024 in ReviewThe Experience This! team joined an Arival Pro Insiders Meetup for a discussion about Bruce's top 10 trends from 2024.Not predictions or forecasts, but what were the top trends with a look back at the top trends from prior years.For this show, we use a Zoom format with a few guests participating live and in real time. Enjoy!Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:
2024-12-3156 min
Travel Trends with Dan ChristianLive from Arival: Interview Highlights Part 2Send us a textGet ready to immerse yourself in the future of travel! Part 2 of our exclusive series from Arival 360 in San Diego takes you behind the scenes of the dynamic tours and activities sector—a thriving heartbeat of the travel industry.This episode features insights from an all-star lineup of industry leaders, including:Sarah Dines, Chief Commercial Officer, Viator Lori Timony, Go City Kelsey Tonner, Guest Focus Shradha Bhatia, WithLocals Oliver Merneck Leverne, Secret Food Tours Ryan O'Grady, Fotaflo Alex Grant, Travel C...
2024-12-132h 28Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS2, E 21 Meet Justin BuzziRap, Going Viral, Mastering Content, Customer Retention, Franchising and more with Justin Buzzi, CEO and Founder of Get Up and Go Kayaking!Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2024-12-0552 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS2, Ep #20 Patricia Yates, CEO of Visit Britain/ Visit EnglandPatricia Yates, CEO of Visit Britain/ Visit England fills us in on her recent trip to China, Visit Britain's upcoming launch of the latest "Film Tourism" campaign "Starring Great Britain" and how DMO's should consider the challenges of regenerative tourismShow videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2024-11-1045 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS2 E.19. Erika De Santi of We RoadErika De Santi of We Road, Co-Founder and Chief of People Experiences joins Lori and Bruce to discuss We Road's secret sauce behind the companies highly successful growth strategy. Learn about how they are building communities one trip at a time.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2024-10-2748 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #48 - Andy Moss, MindtripJoin Christian and Bruce as we learn about Mindtrip, one of the hottest AI startups in travel. With a recent raise of $12M bringing their total funding so far to $20M, the group of 12 founders have experience from companies including Google, Apple, LinkedIn, ShopStyle, Roadster, Ariba. They're new to the travel industry and very confident they can duplicate their past successes. We have to admit, what they're working on has great potential and we love their approach of putting the traveler in the center of everything.They are specifically and definitely NOT a Trip Planner. H...
2024-09-251h 08Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #47 featuring The Godfather of Tours & Activities - Rod Cuthbert, founder, ViatorThe god-father of tours and activities, Rod Cuthbert, joined Experience This! hosts Lori Timony, Bruce Rosard and Christian Watts on the most recent Experience This! Travel show. What a pleasure to share stories with "the man, the myth, the legend"! Rod shared his amazing founding story and how Viator was created as a spinoff from a failed Sabre Corporation project (good thing for Rod). He gave a lot of credit to Dominique Exmann who pioneered the rollout of Viator-branded, exclusive 'Skip the Line' access and VIP experiences at iconic sites including Musée du Louvre (Louvre Museum) Vatican City Sta...
2024-09-141h 11Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsS2 Episode 14 Dan Christian of Travel Trends Podcast talks Multi Day ToursDan Christian of Travel Trends Podcast joins Bruce, Christian and Lori to discuss the growth of the Multi Day Tour Market highlighting distribution, tech, funding, raises and more!Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2024-08-1549 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsPete Comeau of Phocuswright joins us for a chatJoin Bruce and Lori as they sit down with Pete Comeau from Phocuswright to delve into PCW Barcelona, the future of Travel Tech investments, AI advancements, the Next Gen Traveler, and much more.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2024-07-1141 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #42: The Experience Economy, It's About Time Well SpentIn this episode co-hosts Lori Timony and Bruce Rosard are joined by special guest Aransas Savas, Strategic Lead, Meaningful Motivation and Co-host of The Experience Strategy Podcast, as a leader of the Stone Mantel Team. An an Experience Strategist, Aransas helps companies ranging from Fortune 100 to startups integrate coaching principles into their employee and customer experiences, enabling them to have a greater impact on customers, employees, and companies by providing more value. We talk about the Experience Economy, what it means and how it relates to our world of in-destination experiences. One of the biggest takeaways is S...
2024-06-0630 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsWhat's up with Airbnb Experiences?There's so much happening at Airbnb related to Experiences, some of it well known, and some of it still being discovered by our industry.The big news, of course, is that they are removing 5000 experiences from their platform. And the way they did it, sending emails to experience creators, giving them two weeks notice and just cancelling trips that are already booked taking place after June 30 has really rubbed most of us in the industry in the wrong way. But the fact is, there are a lot of other ways these experience creators can sell their tours...
2024-05-2555 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsNew Growth Strategies featuring Sarah Dines, Chief Commercial Officer, ViatorViator sells more experiences than anyone in the world, by a wide margin.And they want to ensure they stay in the lead by continuing to focus on their top of the funnel and user acquisition strategies. At the same time, they want to rely less on Google. Social commerce is in its infancy, but it's going to come soon and it's going to be huge. Social channels and video and platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest are getting closer to being one click away from a booking and Sarah is working to ensure that th...
2024-05-2555 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsExperience This! Show #39, Season 2, Show #9: The Future of SearchExperience This! Show #39 is one of our best yet. Today I heard three phrases I haven't heard before:SGE: Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) is a new approach to search results. It's an experimental search experience that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to provide users with quick and clear overviews of search topics—without having to click on individual webpagesSTS: Strategic Text Sequences. OK, what?Harvard researchers introduce Strategic Text Sequences (STS) to influence LLM-driven search, especially in e-commerce. STS strategically inserts token sequences into product information, boosting visibility and rankings. The framework ar...
2024-04-3055 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsBuilding Women Entrepreneurs in the Travel and Tourism IndustryMeet Iris Serbanescu, owner of Wmns Work a Tourism Business Accelerator Program for Women and Non-binary early stage entrepreneurs. Meet Megan Kennedy, founder of Good Trip Adventures and past participant in Wmns Work. Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2024-04-2546 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 2, Show 5: Distribution and Trade ShowsThe plan was to talk about distribution for the in-destination experiences sector. What's new, what hasn't changed. But the conversation started with discussions of trade shows and again, what's new and what hasn't changed. There were definitely some different points of view, surprise, surprise and our featured guest Peter Muttitt held his own with co-hosts Lori Timony, Christian Watts and Bruce Rosard.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, A...
2024-02-2453 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 2, Show 6: Weekend Update!Joined by Stephen Oddo from Walks (subsidiary of Hornblower Group), we discuss the latest updates with the Hornblower Chapter 11, the shake-up at the top of Rezdy & the Fareharbor connection, and rumors from Tripadvisor / Viator. This is a show not to be missed.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2024-02-2442 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 2, Show 4: Innovation (or lack of) in the Travel IndustryMeredith Rangel of Bookable Tourism joins us to discuss innovation in the Travel Industry. Is the industry lagging behind. Are some sectors ahead of others? Is the market too fragmented to create the right conditions for innovation?Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2024-02-2440 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 2, Show #3: Christian's Top 6 Gen AI Topics entering "Year 2"Who knows more than Gen AI for Experiences than our co-host Christian Watts? We say "nobody"!This show covers Christian's Year One overview and his prediction of what the top 6 topics for Gen AI will be for experiences as we enter "Year 2" of Gen AI.Here's a source for writing prompts that we mentioned on the show:beta.openai.comShow videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your p...
2024-01-2147 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 2, Show #2 - A Mini Masterclass in Brand Marketing with Catherine WarrilowIf you are looking for a mini masterclass in Brand Marketing, you have come to the right place. Catherine Warrilow, Director of Brand Strategy for The Plot, joins Bruce Rosard and Lori Timony in an "all you need to know about Brand Marketing in 45 minutes" discussion. This show is especially important for those smaller businesses that are unsure how to think about their brand and why they should. Follow that with actionable advice that Catherine freely provides.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follo...
2024-01-1535 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsSeason 2, Show #1: Bruce's Top Ten TrendsBruce's annual review of top trends for in-destination experiences with critiques from co-hosts Christian Watts and Lori Timony.Bruce's list includes the most important things for the in-destination experiences industry to be paying attention to. Here's an article Bruce wrote on these top trends going into 2024. Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2024-01-1346 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #30 - AI in Experiences, AI tour guides OR Human Tour guides. OR a hybrid approach.AI tour guides vs human tour guides.Obviously, AI tour guides have more information and facts. Clearly, AI tour guides can create better stories, as long as you don't need them to be true.I'd still bet on the human though.But there's a hybrid approach, where the AI (in this case a character - Miss Moneypenny) enhances a currently operating experience.Is this the way forward?Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us a...
2023-11-2959 min
Travel Trends with Dan ChristianArival 2023 Conference Review: Travel Experiences, AI, and Industry InsightsSend us a textIn this special live episode of the Travel Trends Podcast, host Dan Christian brings you the excitement of 'Travel Trends on Tour' live from the Arival 360 conference in Orlando, Florida, featuring industry experts Mitch Bach and Lori Timony, as they explore the incredible benefits of attending Arival events and share highlights from the 2023 conference. Prepare to explore the core of groundbreaking innovations showcased at Arival, including a lively discussion on the power and potential pitfalls of AI, understand the crucial importance of human connection in our businesses and at...
2023-10-3144 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsMeet Claus Raasted, the founder of The College of Extraordinary ExperiencesUncover extraordinary experiences with Claus Raasted, founder of the College of Extraordinary Experiences! Explore immersive learning, bringing people together organically, radical innovation, and the future of the experiences industry.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2023-10-1942 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsWhat's next in the world of experiences and what is an experience anyway?Christian, Bruce and Lori discuss the current and future state of experiences. What's a pop up experience and what about sports, dining, concerts? Are consumers still just buying the traditional products or is there a whole new world out there?Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2023-09-2938 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #26 - Focus on StartupsChristian, Bruce and special guest Tony Carne discuss a wide variety of topics including multi-city experience companies, wellness, passion travel, using AI for trip planning (yes again) and using AI as a tour guide. Startups and recent investments featured include Staples putting travel agents in their stores (what?), Boddy, Modern Adventures, Tailbox, Travelshift.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2023-09-2152 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #25 - Trip Planners - Chances of Success?Listen in as Lewis Krell (formerly of U Trip a Trip Planner start up now in the graveyard), Jeff Kischuk (of Tripian an up and coming start up), Bruce Rosard, Christian Watts and Lori Timony discuss the future of Trip Planners. Will we ever see one succeed?Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2023-08-0449 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #24 - The Experience EconomyThere are very few investors who focus exclusively on the Experience Economy.Michael Zeisser, Principal, FMZ Ventures, is one of the most prolific and he joined us for a fascinating conversation on his perspective.Michael's background includes the McKinsey ecommerce practice, working as a senior executive at Liberty Media, at the time the controlling shareholders of IAC including Expedia and TripAdvisor, then went to work at for Jack Ma at Alibaba where he lead international investments.He now runs a solo venture fund and is an investor and/or board member at companies including...
2023-07-2842 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #23 - Breaking News! Rezdy and Checkront MergeA major deal was just announced, with two of the leading reservation technology companies in the world merging. Rezdy, based in Sydney Australia and Checkfront, based in Victoria Island Canada power 1000's of operators around the world. Rezdy also provides connectivity to 1000's more operators with the Rezdy Channel Manager.Co-hosts Lori Timony, Christian Watts and Bruce Rosard are joined by Stephen Joyce, VP Content, Arival and original OG of Restech for the In-Destinations Experiences industry as co-founder and former CEO of Rezgo.There will be a lot more to come on the pros and...
2023-07-2038 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #21 - GetYouGuide raises another $194m - opinions from the industryA timely discussion with a variety of opinions. Many opinions. Lots of problems, not so many solutions.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2023-06-0645 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #20 - Niche OTAsOTAs are the fastest growing distribution channel for the Experiences Industry. And there are a lot of mixed feelings out there in operator land. In this session we focus on Niche OTAs. Niche OTAs focus on a region, on an activity type, or in the case of our guest Melanie White from Virgin Experience Gifts, a different type of distribution - gifting.This is a really interesting show that we encourage all operators to listen to and come up with ideas for new distribution channels.Arival wrote an article on niche operators with...
2023-05-2052 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #19 - Dynamic and Variable Pricing - What's the DifferencePricing, variable pricing, dynamic pricing - which one is right for you? What's the difference between variable and dynamic pricing?We are joined by two experts with strong opinions discussing how the experiences industry has a lot to learn from hotels and airlines. But will the infrastructure support advanced pricing?Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2023-05-2055 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #18 - Women in Travel Tech (part 2)Once again, Experience This! features two women who have advanced into the C Suite of travel tech. Susan DeBottis, Chief Growth Officer, Rezdy and Cady Wolf, industry veteran from Travelocity, Switchfly and Sojern and now founder and CEO of consulting firm A23 Advisors and Founder WiTT (Women in Travel Tech) join the Experience This! hosts to continue the discussion focused on womentin travel tech, especially focused on the Experiences sector.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts...
2023-05-0148 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #17 - News of the DayIt was pretty big news last week when Airbnb Experiences announced they were putting a pause on adding new experiences on the platform, including for existing experience hosts.Given that Airbnb has had such a big impact on the In-Destination Experiences Industry, there's a lot of talk about what comes next. In 2016 when Airbnb launched Airbnb Experiences that was the beginning of usage of the word Experiences in place of what the industry was then known as, "tours and activities". While the impact has been huge, the sales volume has not. That's the main topic o...
2023-04-2134 min
Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #16 - The New Funnel for Experiences - Content CreatorsYou're an Experience Creator, you get business with direct bookings and through distribution. Now there's a third funnel that is going to grow exponentially and be relatively low cost. Content Creators, also known as influencers have new platforms to work on to make your job as an Experience Creator easier to figure out who to work with, how to work with them, and what bookings they deliver. This show features two of those platforms, Sally Bunnell, founder and CEO, NaviSavi and Ryan McElroy, co-founder and CCO, Jerne. Lots to learn on this show!Sh...
2023-04-1553 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #15"Old school" chat bots, new chat bots powered by generative AI, what's the difference?Guests Daniel Pino and David Kunze have experience with both and the discussion was interesting as we peer into the not to far off future.Who will benefit most from this first wave of innovation from Generative AI? Experience operators? Restechs? Distributors?Listen in for our perspectives and share yours on our LinkedIn page.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and D...
2023-04-0938 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #14 - Cautious optimism for 2023 / Google Things to do update / AI at ArivalOn show #14 we had two guest stars, Alexi Tabrizi, Senior VP Global Sales, Big Bus; and Tina Kyriakis, found and CEO, Alternative Athens join us to talk about their experience talking to 100s of people at Arival and ITB. We talked about where the Experiences industry is right now, hint: "Cautious Optimism" , the ever changing but must use Google Things to do, and the extraordinary keynote and follow up breakout session by Marc Mekki including a dramatic case study featuring the AI version of Alan Turing. Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Co...
2023-03-2649 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #13 - The Rebirth of Alan Turing and What it Means for ExperiencesHost Christian Watts and Marc Mekki, "Innovation & Design Thinking Speaker" who presented the keynote at Arival 360 Berlin that everyone is talking about. During Arival, Marc brought Alan Touring to life in a remarkable display of using Generative AI. He gave himself a challenge (and showed how he accomplished it) to create a tour company in less than 4 hours with less than 100 euros. Christian and Marc get the conversation going on the impacts of AI on the Experiences industry that we can't even begin to comprehend.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe a...
2023-03-2038 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsEpisode #12 - Women in ExperiencesWomen In Experiences - climbing up the ladder, challenges along the way, gender pay gap. Dominique Sidley from Merlin, Judy Gauthier from Go City and Natalie Hernandez from Xplorie join Lori, Bruce and Christian to discuss the state of Women In the Destination Experiences industry leadership today.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2023-02-2442 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #10 - Social Platforms & InfluencersWe are joined in this show by Marica Mackenroth Brewster, founder & CEO, Von Mack Agency. We talk about the "Trip Hacks experiment" , YouTube, Tiktok, Instagram, new influencer platforms, MrBeast and more.Link to video belowShow videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2023-02-0943 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsEpiside #9 - News Update and ChatGPT Pitch Show InfoOur hosts Lori, Christian and Bruce talk about Destination Experiences news, investments and upcoming events.Introducing a ChatGPT Pitch session, live streamed on LinkedIn on Wednesday February 15 at 12:00pm EST. This pitch session is for innovative, future ideas that have not been developed yet. What would you build if you had $150K and needed a product ready for market by June 1 2023?Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your...
2023-02-0238 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #8 - Immersive ExperiencesThis is a great episode featuring Vince Kadlubek, co-founder, former CEO and visionary, Meow Wolf; and Ana Araque, co-founder, Imagine Experiences and a 30 year veteran of the travel industry. Highlights of the show include super interesting answers to "what's an immersive experience"? Ana talking about Imagine Experience's James Bond and other experiences featuring live entertainers. My personal highlight was listening to Vince talk about Immersive Experiences, leading to our discussion about Passion Travel (a concept we discussed with Dan Christian from Dharma on show #3), and then to Transformational Travel.Great show...
2023-01-2545 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsEpisode #7 - The latest from APAC. China opens, Tech, Loyalty & moreThis show starts to scrape the surface of what to expect in APAC as China begins to re-open to inbound and outbound travel. We feature three experts, Baidi Li of Go City, Hannah Pearson of Pear Andersen and CC Chan of Global Tix to chat about the latest from APAC including Tech, Loyalty programs, when will China business really return and what will they expect when it does.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever...
2023-01-1958 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #6 - Experiences Industry News UpdateCo-hosts Lori Timony, Christian Watts and Bruce Rosard discuss the latest news happenings in the Experiences sector. China's re-opening, India, Corporate Event Experiences, NFTs and more.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2023-01-1237 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #5 - Talking about GroupsShow #5 covers an often overlooked opportunity in the Experiences Industry - Group Sales. Instead of chasing individual sales withe high acquisition costs, groups represent "old school" distribution and a great way to build a base of business. Hear from two experts discussing their views on this critical channel for success, Joe Martin, Uplevel Tourism and Fabio Monteiro, SUMMIT One VanderbiltShow videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify...
2023-01-0540 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #4 - The most widely read articles on arival.travel in 2022, Passion Travel, moreThis show features Janelle Visser, editor for Arival reviewing the most read articles on arival.travel in 2022. We are also joined by Dan Christian from Dharma who discusses the passion economy and how it is fueled by content creators and influencers. Next the conversation jumps into OTA's and distribution, and women in travel tech.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2022-12-2847 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #3 - Top 10 Trends: 2022 ----- > 2023In this episode we discuss the Top 10 trends in the Experiences Sector - looking back to Bruce's predictions in 2022 and forward to 2023. Guests Carlee Stellfox Loya, Robin Harnish, and Dan Flores join the discussion.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2022-12-2340 minExperience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #2 - The End of GetYourGuide Originals (for now!)Co-hosts Lori, Christian and Bruce are joined by Stephen Oddo, President of Walks and Devour Tours and Jose Arozarena, founder & CEO, Amigo Tours to talk about GetYourGuide's decision to end its Originals program.Program Note: On March 6, 2023 at the Arival 360 Berlin event, GetYourGuide announced that Originals is back in a modified version (which is consistent with what they said when they decided to end the program in Q4 2022.) Stay tuned for an update with Experience This! and more special guests.Video Link belowShow videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!
2022-12-141h 18Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and OpinionsShow #1 - The PilotCo-hosts Lori Timony, Christian Watts and Bruce Rosard introduce the Experience This! Show. What is it? Why is it? How is it?Including brief introductions and a conversation about ChatGPT in the experiences sector of the travel industry.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.
2022-12-0829 min